Friday Book Report: Front Porch Prophet by Raymond Atkins

Written by Raymond Atkins, The Front Porch Prophet is Southern storytelling at its best.  It was published in 2008 by Medallion Press.

Welcome to Sequoyah, Georgia where A.J. Longstreet was born and raised and is still carving out a living.  Sequoyah is your typical small, southern town; from the elderly neighbor that cannot drive to the trigger happy constable that shoots first and asks questions later.  The residents of Sequoyah aren’t just residents, they are a part of this town, and their roots are buried deep in the red Georgia clay.  Everyone has a story here, and A.J takes a trip down memory lane while battling with the ideas of mortality and the meaning of life.  His memories of the past and the people he’s known for years help him make one of the toughest decisions he’s ever had to face. 

Eugene Purdue and A.J. have been friends since childhood.  They’ve shared and done many a memorable thing together and sometimes have even gotten into situations better left forgotten.  After a falling out due to Eugene’s lack of responsibility and anger management, he reenters A.J.’s life with terminal pancreatic cancer and one big favor to ask of A.J.  He want’s A.J. to kill him when the time comes.  This is one favor that A.J. isn’t sure he can accept, and after a lot of reminiscing and soul-searching, A.J. has to decide if he can be the one to undertake this difficult task.

I really enjoyed this book.  Atkins brings the small town of Sequoyah to life with beautifully described characters, scenery and everything in-between that gives a small town its charm.  His storytelling is compelling, and while reading I felt like he was telling me the story instead of reading it.  I swear I kept hearing the narrator from “The Dukes of Hazzard” in my head every time Atkins took us to A.J and Eugene’s past.  There’s a lot of reminiscing in this book, and while most times I think it would detract from the overall plot, in this book it gave the characters a backstory that allowed for more depth and color.  It’s one humorous vignette after another, and although it can get a bit confusing going back and forth from past to present and keeping the timelines straight, I thought all the nostalgia this book displayed just added that touch of southern charm that makes this book as endearing as it is.

Sometimes the small town characters can seem a bit outlandish, but for the most part I think Atkins did a great job telling their story.  You could really envision Brickhead, the simple-man looking for love and the quirky Callahan family that named their offspring after their favorite authors.  I really loved A.J. and his wife Maggie (born Margaret Mitchell Callahan) and I wish Maggie was more involved in this story.  While Eugene may have been A.J.’s past, Atkins makes it very clear that Maggie is his present and future.  She is his rock, and despite everything else changing, Maggie is always there.  There are lots of secrets A.J. has tried to keep, but I loved that he always told Maggie everything, even the painful and heartbreaking ones.  A.J. doesn’t keep things from his wife, and I found that solidarity between them so admirable.  Personally, I was more interested in Maggie and A.J.’s story, but I think that has to do with me being a woman.  Men would find the random acts of stupidity Eugene and A.J. get into as young adults humorous and maybe even a little reminiscent of times long since forgotten.

I highly recommend this book.  It’s about life and death and everything in-between, but it’s not depressing, in fact it’s very funny and very well told.  It’s also about real relationships and all those people and the tiny decisions we make each day that make us who we are.  If you’ve ever lived in a small town (like me) this book will captivate you and you’ll find yourself reminiscing about the “good ol’ days” when life seemed less complicated.  I give this book an A- grade; it’s got stellar writing and a great story to go with it.  The characters are vivid and charming and the storytelling is some of the best I’ve read in a long time.  It’s humorous and uplifting despite the fact that death is eminent.  It’s does have some harsh country-boy language and I wouldn’t recommend for younger readers, but if you’re looking for a great Southern story about life, death and the decisions in-between I would suggest you pick up The Front Porch Prophet.  You won’t be disappointed, I certainly wasn’t.