Monday, November 7, 2011

Holy Ghost Girl:A Memoir by Donna M. Johnson~ Crazy Book Tours with review


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 278 pages
  • Publisher: Gotham (October 13, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1592406300
  • ISBN-13: 978-1592406302


About the book:
A compassionate, humorous story of faith, betrayal, and coming of age on the evangelical sawdust trail.
She was just three years old when her mother signed on as the organist of tent revivalist David Terrell, and before long, Donna Johnson was part of the hugely popular evangelical preacher's inner circle. At seventeen, she left the ministry for good, with a trove of stranger-than-fiction memories. A homecoming like no other, Holy Ghost Girl brings to life miracles, exorcisms, and faceoffs with the Ku Klux Klan. And that's just what went on under the tent.
As Terrell became known worldwide during the 1960s and '70s, the caravan of broken-down cars and trucks that made up his ministry evolved into fleets of Mercedes and airplanes. The glories of the Word mixed with betrayals of the flesh and Donna's mother bore Terrell's children in one of the several secret households he maintained. Thousands of followers, dubbed "Terrellites" by the press, left their homes to await the end of the world in cultlike communities. Jesus didn't show, but the IRS did, and the prophet/healer went to prison.
Recounted with deadpan observations and surreal detail, Holy Ghost Girlbypasses easy judgment to articulate a rich world in which the mystery of faith and human frailty share a surprising and humorous coexistence.

My take on this book:
"Holy Ghost Girl" easily transported me to the days when tent revivals were a part of my summers during the seventies. In those days tent revivals were as much a part of my summer as playing baseball or picnics. As a young girl I remember the excitement that swirled around those meetings and how I felt sitting in those ginormous tents watching as someone might become slayed in the spirit or start speaking in tongues.It all seemed very exciting in a weird sort of way, and in this memoir the author captures the essence of the tent revival circuit, often describing in vivid detail the meetings and the healings that took place. 


In this memoir the author was just three years old when her divorced mother signed on as an organist in the David Terrell tent revival ministry. The author's descriptions made me feel as if I was right there in the car as they traveled from town to town. She gives us a real behind the scenes look at how life was while traveling along on the tent revival circuit. From fastings to healings to tussles with the KKK because of racial tensions in the south there was plenty to make this book intriguing and hard to put down.


While I have never heard of David Terrell this book has certainly piqued my interest making me want to learn more about the  man and his ministry.

my rating 4/5

About the author:
Donna Johnson has written about religion for The Dallas Morning News and other publications. Holy Ghost Girl won the Mayborn Creative Nonfiction Prize as a work in progress. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, the poet and author Kirk Wilson.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the review. This one is coming soon to my mailbox.

    ReplyDelete

Your wonderful comments make my day, thanks for dropping by!