The Gospel Singer

By: Harry Crews, Kevin Wilson - foreword

Narrated by: Matt Godfrey

When a local man returns to Enigma, Georgia, as a successful traveling evangelist, the townspeople, who idolize him, begin to attribute him with healing powers he knows he doesn’t have. The celebrated first novel of Harry Crews, in its Penguin Classics debut.

A Penguin Classic

In Crews’ first novel published in 1968, a gifted, idolized singer returns to his poor hometown and a life and family he is so far removed from he now holds them in contempt. The Gospel Singer reveals the absurdity of blind religious faith and idol worship and the hypocrisy that results with the offering of money or sex. Crews grapples with race, gender, religion, and place and steps back to divulge the secrets of his characters - including a dead girl awaiting the gospel singer’s melodious eulogy, his dysfunctional family, a murderer, the zealous town residents, and a traveling freak show. This darkly comic, bitingly satirical, grotesque, and violent - yet strangely empathetic - first novel displays Crews’ brilliant literary talent that garnered critical acclaim and a cult following.

©1988 Harry Crews (P)2022 Penguin Audio

honest southern gothic

and the narrator nailed the main characters southern dialect.
hard too listen to in public or with friends but a damn brutal use of storytelling should be that way

The gospel singer

This book is an incredibly slow burn but keeps you intrigued the entire time. It starts by seemingly going nowhere until the end and you just sit there in shock. Harry Crews does such a good job at describing everything that it all comes together in the end. This book is definitely not for the light hearted, and there are A LOT of n-words; but the novel sits apart from anything else.

Elvis was supposed to star in the movie

Harry crews knew how to write a novel! If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to come from a small town to become a national or international musician this is most likely what it feels like. The anxiety, the perception and the hope that an audience can put on a performer can weight heavily.

Excellent all around

Harry Crews was absolutely one of a kind. I have most of his books and each of them are truly great in their own way. Do yourselves a favor and immerse yourselves into the world of Harry Crews. You will not regret it. RIP.
JST-

Character studies like no other southern writer

How did I miss out on Harry Crews?
Not included in any of my southern tomes but he is a worthy story teller.
Crews included every freak and abhorrent character to be found in one story.
Seems predictable at the outset, but the plot twists and turns so many times that the ending is a shock!
I will be reading more of his books now.

Dark, gritty Southern Lit

What starts out hilariously over-the-top turns into something fascinating and possibly deep (I'm still figuring out what it all means).

Wickedly funny satire of tent revival culture

The Gospel Singer is wickedly funny Southern Gothic literature pushed to its most extreme limits. Crews parodies the institution of tent revivals, taking on racism, misogyny, poverty, illiteracy, ableism, dishonesty, and a whole host of other human and societal failings as he explores the hypocrisy, greed, and blind faith and superstition so often found in the human component of religious institutions. Crews takes aim at everyone and everything with savage wit. If you are easily offended, this is probably not the book for you. But if you like satire, the absurd, and unconventional and irreverent ways of reflecting on culture and society, Crews is hilarious.