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A Handbook of American Prayer
A man walks into a bar. A dispute ensues, and the bartender kills him. He's sentenced to ten years for manslaughter. In prison, the convict, Wardlin Stuart, writes prayers addressed to no god in particular. Inexplicably, his prayers — whether it's a request for a girlfriend or a special favor for a fellow inmate — are answered, be it in days or weeks. When his collection of supplications, A Handbook of American Prayer, is published by a New York press, Stuart emerges a celebrity author. Settling into a new life in Arizona, he encounters a fundamentalist minister. The two are destined for a confrontation. In the interim, it seems that the god to whom Stuart has been praying has manifested himself on the earth. In this short novel about America's conflicting love triangle — celebrity, spirituality, and money — Shepard negotiates the thin line between the real and the surreal, expounding upon violence and redemption along the way. This story of an unlikely American messiah shows why The Wall Street Journal has compared Shepard, an award-winning author, to Graham Greene, Robert Stone, and Ward Just.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 4, 2004
8 people are currently reading
276 people want to read
About the author
Lucius Shepard
296 books158 followersBrief biographies are, like history texts, too organized to be other than orderly misrepresentations of the truth. So when it's written that Lucius Shepard was born in August of 1947 to Lucy and William Shepard in Lynchburg, Virginia, and raised thereafter in Daytona Beach, Florida, it provides a statistical hit and gives you nothing of the difficult childhood from which he frequently attempted to escape, eventually succeeding at the age of fifteen, when he traveled to Ireland aboard a freighter and thereafter spent several years in Europe, North Africa, and Asia, working in a cigarette factory in Germany, in the black market of Cairo's Khan al Khalili bazaar, as a night club bouncer in Spain, and in numerous other countries at numerous other occupations. On returning to the United States, Shepard entered the University of North Carolina, where for one semester he served as the co-editor of the Carolina Quarterly. Either he did not feel challenged by the curriculum, or else he found other pursuits more challenging. Whichever the case, he dropped out several times and traveled to Spain, Southeast Asia (at a time when tourism there was generally discouraged), and South and Central America. He ended his academic career as a tenth-semester sophomore with a heightened political sensibility, a fairly extensive knowledge of Latin American culture and some pleasant memories.
Toward the beginning of his stay at the university, Shepard met Joy Wolf, a fellow student, and they were married, a union that eventually produced one son, Gullivar, now an architect in New York City. While traveling cross-country to California, they had their car break down in Detroit and were forced to take jobs in order to pay for repairs. As fortune would have it, Shepard joined a band, and passed the better part of the 1970s playing rock and roll in the Midwest. When an opportunity presented itself, usually in the form of a band break-up, he would revisit Central America, developing a particular affection for the people of Honduras. He intermittently took odd jobs, working as a janitor, a laborer, a sealer of driveways, and, in a nearly soul-destroying few months, a correspondent for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a position that compelled him to call the infirm and the terminally ill to inform them they had misfiled certain forms and so were being denied their benefits.
In 1980 Shepard attended the Clarion Writers’ Workshop at Michigan State University and thereafter embarked upon a writing career. He sold his first story, "Black Coral," in 1981 to New Dimensions, an anthology edited by Marta Randall. During a prolonged trip to Central America, covering a period from 1981-1982, he worked as a freelance journalist focusing on the civil war in El Salvador. Since that time he has mainly devoted himself to the writing of fiction. His novels and stories have earned numerous awards in both the genre and the mainstream.
Toward the beginning of his stay at the university, Shepard met Joy Wolf, a fellow student, and they were married, a union that eventually produced one son, Gullivar, now an architect in New York City. While traveling cross-country to California, they had their car break down in Detroit and were forced to take jobs in order to pay for repairs. As fortune would have it, Shepard joined a band, and passed the better part of the 1970s playing rock and roll in the Midwest. When an opportunity presented itself, usually in the form of a band break-up, he would revisit Central America, developing a particular affection for the people of Honduras. He intermittently took odd jobs, working as a janitor, a laborer, a sealer of driveways, and, in a nearly soul-destroying few months, a correspondent for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a position that compelled him to call the infirm and the terminally ill to inform them they had misfiled certain forms and so were being denied their benefits.
In 1980 Shepard attended the Clarion Writers’ Workshop at Michigan State University and thereafter embarked upon a writing career. He sold his first story, "Black Coral," in 1981 to New Dimensions, an anthology edited by Marta Randall. During a prolonged trip to Central America, covering a period from 1981-1982, he worked as a freelance journalist focusing on the civil war in El Salvador. Since that time he has mainly devoted himself to the writing of fiction. His novels and stories have earned numerous awards in both the genre and the mainstream.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 14, 2011
I'm hesitant to try to write any kind of review of this novel for fear of running out of superlatives. I also run the risk of sounding like a sycophant. I like nearly everything Lucius Shepard writes, but to me he has always excelled at the novella first, the short story second, and the novel a significantly lagging third. A Handbook of American Prayer, however, forces me to re-evaluate my assessment.
This is a book of extraordinary relevance and resonance, beautifully rendered in the sort of effulgent prose one expects from Shepard but with a spare and direct trajectory for its protagonist that is far less common in the author's work. Wardlin Stuart's narration blends the hard, blunt language of his prison experience with the poetic phrasing and sharp-edged metaphors that lead to prayerstyle and his route out of obscurity. I'm not interested in recounting the plot; you can find out about that in the novel's summary above. It has its surprises, and the characters follow some surprising paths in the process of revelation and, maybe, redemption.
Everyone's a sinner in this novel, but it's not a religious book, not in the way that word is used in publishing houses or reading circles. It has a hint of deism, a dash of transcendentalism, a shadow of Nietzsche whispering at the edges, and at the end it offers no easy answers to the questions about man and spirit that it raises. This is Shepard's best realized and cohesive novel, and everyone should read it. I can't fathom why it took me so long to do so, but I know I'll be reading it again.
This is a book of extraordinary relevance and resonance, beautifully rendered in the sort of effulgent prose one expects from Shepard but with a spare and direct trajectory for its protagonist that is far less common in the author's work. Wardlin Stuart's narration blends the hard, blunt language of his prison experience with the poetic phrasing and sharp-edged metaphors that lead to prayerstyle and his route out of obscurity. I'm not interested in recounting the plot; you can find out about that in the novel's summary above. It has its surprises, and the characters follow some surprising paths in the process of revelation and, maybe, redemption.
Everyone's a sinner in this novel, but it's not a religious book, not in the way that word is used in publishing houses or reading circles. It has a hint of deism, a dash of transcendentalism, a shadow of Nietzsche whispering at the edges, and at the end it offers no easy answers to the questions about man and spirit that it raises. This is Shepard's best realized and cohesive novel, and everyone should read it. I can't fathom why it took me so long to do so, but I know I'll be reading it again.
March 8, 2015
Yeah, this was a dud. A slacker works as a bartender and winds up killing someone in a drunken brawl. He goes to prison and after being shivved begins a secular practice of praying for a certain end. It happens. He theorizes about this event and cultivates a poetic vision of such. It catches on with the inmates and before you can say John Doe he's paroled, married , famous and becoming ever-so-influential. Wait before you can mutter A Face In The Crowd there is tension and doubt in his marriage and dark, dubious forces are soon lurking about. Everything then becomes like an outtake of Carnivale, even with extended scenes in Mexican cantinas, just like the show. I won't allow this misstep to discolor my appreciation for Shepard.
2.5/5 stars
2.5/5 stars
July 22, 2012
Wardlin is a cynical bartender with no great love for people when he's receives a 10 year prison sentence for manslaughter. In prison, following a fight with a fellow prisonmate in which he comes off faring poorly, he develops something he calls prayerstyle. He writes poetic prayers to no discernable god and when his prayers produces the girlfriend he asked for, other prisonmates start asking him to compose prayerstyles for them too, with mostly positive results. Out on parole, his life takes turns he had not expected, he get married to a woman who manages to center him, the book he wrote on prayerstyles takes off like a rocket, gaining him fame and elevating him to near rockstar status. This brings him into a contentious showdown with a fundamentalist preacher and things escalate to violence.
The questions of what part religion plays in the lives of many and how society creates and builds the cult-like celebrities are subtly raised and analyzed. You feel sorry for Wardlin,a man you see trying to stay grounded despite his fame, starting to question himself and the inspiration for the prayersytles. Just as he considers giving up prayerstyles, he meets his fictitious god.
This is a wonderful study of conflict and in staying true to yourself or letting yourself be tempted into a world of shallow glitz.
The questions of what part religion plays in the lives of many and how society creates and builds the cult-like celebrities are subtly raised and analyzed. You feel sorry for Wardlin,a man you see trying to stay grounded despite his fame, starting to question himself and the inspiration for the prayersytles. Just as he considers giving up prayerstyles, he meets his fictitious god.
This is a wonderful study of conflict and in staying true to yourself or letting yourself be tempted into a world of shallow glitz.
April 20, 2020
Po dlouhý době knížka, která si zasloužila pět hvězd. Magický realismus s hlavním hrdinou jako vystřiženým z Bukowského próz, americký fanatismus a láska uprostřed pouště. #iloveit
October 3, 2010
This book opened a vein of American culture I haven't really seen explored a lot: the nature of "spiritualism". Perhaps I'm not reading the right things, but I feel like I've never seen this issue so honestly addressed. It's fiction, it's got a little magical realism, but it for the most part it could be a very plausible satire of American spirituality.
This book plays out that particular American spiritualism that so many people I know flirt with, but that tends to exists as a negative to organized religion. Everyone has met someone who says,
"I'm not religious...I am spiritual" Or,
"I don't believe in God....but sometimes I pray"
Or observed that people only in their loneliest, darkest moments find the desire to be "reborn" and find faith in something greater to themselves...even if they refuse to give their faith a name.
This is the story of a spiritual celebrity named Wardlin Stuart, who while in prison for murder, has a spiritual revolution and turns his life around for the better...he attributes these changes to the power of his prayers, but upon having his "Handbook for American Prayer" published, his smaller spiritual journey is eclipsed by his own celebrity.
Wardlin exemplifies this sort of "spiritual" person...and after finding a method for his faith, he writes the "Handbook" in an effort to share his discoveries and help others. What he discovers is that a popular spiritual belief, even if it isn't under a church or "organized religion", quickly demands and evolves its own organization.
Under the weight of his own success, Wardlin becomes that spiritual leader. The media and the market become his very democratized church.
This book while it offers a kind of optimism about anyone's potential for being reborn and reinventing themselves as a better human being, also suggests that the modern tendency towards individual "spiritualism", is inseparable from commercialism, consumerism, the urge for instant gratification, and the obsession with celebrity...and he does this all without being preachy.
I definitely fit the stereotype of someone who is "not religious, but spiritual." Detractors of "spiritualism" (like the Catholic church) bring up the very good point that a person can't be spiritual alone, that they must be part of community...they criticize "spritualism" as a sort of self-justified self-absorbtion and narcissism. At times, I've countered this argument by saying that it's not selfishness as much as a distrust of organized religion that drives people from churches. This book doesn't necessarily take a side on the issue, but it does make it clear that "spiritualism" is more symptom of our American consumerism and media culture than we think it is.
Enjoyed it very much and kind of wish he could write a sequel.
This book plays out that particular American spiritualism that so many people I know flirt with, but that tends to exists as a negative to organized religion. Everyone has met someone who says,
"I'm not religious...I am spiritual" Or,
"I don't believe in God....but sometimes I pray"
Or observed that people only in their loneliest, darkest moments find the desire to be "reborn" and find faith in something greater to themselves...even if they refuse to give their faith a name.
This is the story of a spiritual celebrity named Wardlin Stuart, who while in prison for murder, has a spiritual revolution and turns his life around for the better...he attributes these changes to the power of his prayers, but upon having his "Handbook for American Prayer" published, his smaller spiritual journey is eclipsed by his own celebrity.
Wardlin exemplifies this sort of "spiritual" person...and after finding a method for his faith, he writes the "Handbook" in an effort to share his discoveries and help others. What he discovers is that a popular spiritual belief, even if it isn't under a church or "organized religion", quickly demands and evolves its own organization.
Under the weight of his own success, Wardlin becomes that spiritual leader. The media and the market become his very democratized church.
This book while it offers a kind of optimism about anyone's potential for being reborn and reinventing themselves as a better human being, also suggests that the modern tendency towards individual "spiritualism", is inseparable from commercialism, consumerism, the urge for instant gratification, and the obsession with celebrity...and he does this all without being preachy.
I definitely fit the stereotype of someone who is "not religious, but spiritual." Detractors of "spiritualism" (like the Catholic church) bring up the very good point that a person can't be spiritual alone, that they must be part of community...they criticize "spritualism" as a sort of self-justified self-absorbtion and narcissism. At times, I've countered this argument by saying that it's not selfishness as much as a distrust of organized religion that drives people from churches. This book doesn't necessarily take a side on the issue, but it does make it clear that "spiritualism" is more symptom of our American consumerism and media culture than we think it is.
Enjoyed it very much and kind of wish he could write a sequel.
March 7, 2020
Nakladatelství Gnóm má cit pro zajímavé tituly. Ne vždycky mi padnou do noty, ale zajímavost jim rozhodně upřít nemůžu. A to samé platí o knize s nepříliš sexy názvem Americká modlitební příručka. Je to kniha, která už stojí na hraně mezi fantastikou a… omlouvám se za použití toho slova… vážnou literaturou. Příběh je tu jen startovním výstřelem k úvaze, jak si vytváříme náš svět, jak lžeme sami sobě a jak občas ty lži začnou žít kolem nás. Nebo to nejsou lži?
Hlavní hrdina začne svůj příběh zabitím člověka, za což se dostane do vězení, kde se začne modlit. Ale ne k nikomu konkrétnímu, spíš jen zaciloval svá přání pomocí pronášených textů. A hele, začne mu to fungovat. Stane se z něj nejprve hvězda vězení a po propuštění i národní celebrita… která se ovšem trochu odlišuje od všech možných dalších mesiášů, duchovních vůdců a proroků. Stane se z něj Bižuterní Ježíš. Jenže samozřejmě celebrity jsou pod dohledem a mají své nepřátele. A navíc se zdá, že modlitby na svět přivolaly i něco navíc.
Knížka, až na akčnější finále, přináší spíše úvahy nad podobou moderní spirituality a hrdinovu nedůvěru v sebe sama než strhující děj. Je to poetická, ironická, fantaskní, filozofující knížka. Na mně už to chvílemi bylo „příliš mnoho slov“, ale nedá se upřít, že dobře poskládaných, zajímavých a občas i vtipných. Ostatně, autorův nejoblíbenějších sf tvůrce byl Jack Vance, kterého mám taky rád. A možná je to v jeho stylu trochu poznat.
Hrdina je tu spíš v roli pozorovatele, jeho hlavní misí je udržet nohy na zemi a neztratit kontakt s realitou. Asi nejzajímavější postavou knihy mi přišel tajemný „Pán osamění“, který připomínal trochu méně vulgárního Negana z Živých mrtvých. Přemýšlel jsem proč… a došlo mi, že je to jistotou. Z obou sálá jistota ohledně toho, co dělají, pocit, že mají situaci vždycky pod kontrolou (a to, i když ji nemají).
Je to knížka, která sice nebyla určená pro mě, ale určitě ve mně z ní něco zůstane.
Hlavní hrdina začne svůj příběh zabitím člověka, za což se dostane do vězení, kde se začne modlit. Ale ne k nikomu konkrétnímu, spíš jen zaciloval svá přání pomocí pronášených textů. A hele, začne mu to fungovat. Stane se z něj nejprve hvězda vězení a po propuštění i národní celebrita… která se ovšem trochu odlišuje od všech možných dalších mesiášů, duchovních vůdců a proroků. Stane se z něj Bižuterní Ježíš. Jenže samozřejmě celebrity jsou pod dohledem a mají své nepřátele. A navíc se zdá, že modlitby na svět přivolaly i něco navíc.
Knížka, až na akčnější finále, přináší spíše úvahy nad podobou moderní spirituality a hrdinovu nedůvěru v sebe sama než strhující děj. Je to poetická, ironická, fantaskní, filozofující knížka. Na mně už to chvílemi bylo „příliš mnoho slov“, ale nedá se upřít, že dobře poskládaných, zajímavých a občas i vtipných. Ostatně, autorův nejoblíbenějších sf tvůrce byl Jack Vance, kterého mám taky rád. A možná je to v jeho stylu trochu poznat.
Hrdina je tu spíš v roli pozorovatele, jeho hlavní misí je udržet nohy na zemi a neztratit kontakt s realitou. Asi nejzajímavější postavou knihy mi přišel tajemný „Pán osamění“, který připomínal trochu méně vulgárního Negana z Živých mrtvých. Přemýšlel jsem proč… a došlo mi, že je to jistotou. Z obou sálá jistota ohledně toho, co dělají, pocit, že mají situaci vždycky pod kontrolou (a to, i když ji nemají).
Je to knížka, která sice nebyla určená pro mě, ale určitě ve mně z ní něco zůstane.
July 9, 2014
What an amazing, astonishing novel! So subtle, so beautifully written, every word choice the perfect one. Some of the references feel dated, it's true -- Larry King is no longer on the air; Sharon Stone is no longer prevalent in the public eye -- but these details nonetheless help ground the story with just the right amount of realism for the sly, understated metaphysical aspects to have that much greater power. The plot meanders a bit in the first half, which I suppose is what happens when the narrator, Wardlin Stuart, is basically meandering through life, but it picks up considerably in the second. My only real issue with the novel is that the female characters are portrayed reductively: most of them are defined as sex partners of the male characters, or trying to become their sex partners; all of them manage to have their breasts mentioned in some way. If you tend to notice that kind of thing, which I do, it starts to stick out. Still, looking past this shortcoming, the novel blew me away. This is my first Shepard book, but I doubt it will be my last. I'm only sorry it took me this long to discover him, what with my friends raving about his work to me for years now, and that I did so only after his untimely passing earlier this year.
March 5, 2020
Tahle knížka ve mně zanechala spoustu super dojmů. Je to žánrově těžko zařaditelný příběh, ale šmrncnutý magickým realismem, a na to já slyším. Zvlášť s tím, jak děj graduje, se tahle složka ozývá víc a víc. Konec je snový a strhující. Skvěle vykreslená atmosféra na hranicích USA a Mexika – ještě teď cítím za nehty pouštní písek. Jemná, ale jasná narážka na nejen americký materialismus, povrchnost. Filozofický přesah. Prostě radost číst.
Bonus: dvojí verze obálky, nahlédněte pod přebal.))
Bonus: dvojí verze obálky, nahlédněte pod přebal.))
March 9, 2020
Víkendová oddechovka z útrob malého, českého nakladatelského zázraku jménem Gnóm. Pominu-li perfektní ilustrace, dvojí verzi obálky a super kýčovitou nálepku na konci, kterou si můžete nalepit někam na svý fáro, jedná se o velký překvapení. Neotřelej příběh kombinující super poezii z dob starý dobrý betanický školy, trochu rádoby magickýho realismu a společenský satiry vám servíruje jedno životní moudro za druhým a vy se u toho královsky bavíte.
AMERICKÁ MODLITEBNÍ PŘÍRUČKA DO KAŽDÝ RODINY!!!!
AMERICKÁ MODLITEBNÍ PŘÍRUČKA DO KAŽDÝ RODINY!!!!
May 24, 2023
Nakonec přidám i pátou hvězdičku, tohle bylo totiž hodně dobrý. Docela dlouho jsem váhal, jestli si to mám vůbec pořizovat, ta "Americká modlitební příručka" mě až tak nelákala. Ale je to fakt dobrá, chytrá, originální, trochu filozofická ale i docela drsná knížka, a Wardlin, ten "Bižuterní Ježíš", mi taky hodně seděl.
Kdyby se dohodli Tarantino s Lynchem, mohli by podle téhle příručky natočit vážně dobrej film. Jestli je někdo znáte, zkuste jim to navrhnout.
Kdyby se dohodli Tarantino s Lynchem, mohli by podle téhle příručky natočit vážně dobrej film. Jestli je někdo znáte, zkuste jim to navrhnout.
March 8, 2017
The author is criminally underrated. My vote for one of the best American books written in the last 20 years. A harrowing look at faith, the penal system, fame, love and evil, all done in Shepard's trademark virtuosic style combining magical realism with streetwise grit. Don't miss out on his short stories either! Such as The Jaguar Hunter, a great collection.
March 8, 2020
This book pretty much defies categorization; I'd hate to be the one to try to put it in a single genre compartment. The central idea was enormously intriguing to me right from the start and the way it was explored was truly remarkable; at times, the story seemed a parody of modern life and our need to monetize and commercialize everything, even something as personal as one's faith. At other times it seemed to be an ode to the industrious spirit of mankind and our self-sufficiency. The peculiar, one could even say blasphemous nature of the prayers was almost beautiful in its portrayal, and so was Shepard's voice, ever so strong and decisive in what it was trying to say. Not to mention that he is truly a masterful stylist: there were passages in this book that were so good I was rereading them instantly, and the climactic scenes in a decrepit, haunting maquiladora setting were so eerie that I was almost stunned by how good they were; as good as the best you can find in the weird fiction genre. Plus the way Shepard managed to portray the horrible slums of Mexico both echoes and equals any of the the writings of McCarthy and Bolaño (all I've read so far on Mexico makes me want to steer well clear of it, I've read too many scenes taking place there that were literally the stuff of nightmares). Anyway, I wouldn't want to leave the impression that it's a horror book, not by a long shot. It's not fantasy or pure fiction either. It walks that hard-to-define middle ground, and walks it really well.
May 13, 2021
Recenziu pre Fandom.sk napísala Ena:
Viera je súkromná vec o ktorej sa s vami niektorí porozprávajú s radosťou a iní vás pošlú niekam. Existuje veľa vier a náboženstiev, rovnako aj kvantum bohatých televíznych kazateľov, zarábajúcich na naivite svojich ovečiek. Tiež máme množstvo chudobných bohabojných ľudí s veľkým srdcom a s chuťou pomáhať tým, ktorí to potrebujú. No čo ak si odpykávate desať rokov natvrdo a zrazu vás osvieti? Možno Duch Svätý, možno radiácia či nejaké to svinstvo, čo spoluväzni minulú noc uvarili na povzbudenie. A vy si sadnete a začnete písať modlitby za lepšie podmienky, príchod nadržanej frajerky, za chutnejšie žrádlo, pre seba aj iných väzňov. Čo spravíte potom, keď sa všetky začnú plniť?
Wardlin Stuart pláva svojou nezáživnou existenciou bez zjavného záujmu o svet. A to až do dňa, keď sa dostane do väzenia. Cely sú plné primitívov a psychopatov, čo sa mu takmer stane osudným. V podstate to osudným bolo, lebo istá udalosť ho priviedla na myšlienku modliť sa. Nie nejako obyčajne, ako to robia ostatní veriaci. Wardlin si začne písať vlastné netradičné modlitby...
Celú recenziu nájdete na Fandom.sk https://www.fandom.sk/clanok/recenzia...
Viera je súkromná vec o ktorej sa s vami niektorí porozprávajú s radosťou a iní vás pošlú niekam. Existuje veľa vier a náboženstiev, rovnako aj kvantum bohatých televíznych kazateľov, zarábajúcich na naivite svojich ovečiek. Tiež máme množstvo chudobných bohabojných ľudí s veľkým srdcom a s chuťou pomáhať tým, ktorí to potrebujú. No čo ak si odpykávate desať rokov natvrdo a zrazu vás osvieti? Možno Duch Svätý, možno radiácia či nejaké to svinstvo, čo spoluväzni minulú noc uvarili na povzbudenie. A vy si sadnete a začnete písať modlitby za lepšie podmienky, príchod nadržanej frajerky, za chutnejšie žrádlo, pre seba aj iných väzňov. Čo spravíte potom, keď sa všetky začnú plniť?
Wardlin Stuart pláva svojou nezáživnou existenciou bez zjavného záujmu o svet. A to až do dňa, keď sa dostane do väzenia. Cely sú plné primitívov a psychopatov, čo sa mu takmer stane osudným. V podstate to osudným bolo, lebo istá udalosť ho priviedla na myšlienku modliť sa. Nie nejako obyčajne, ako to robia ostatní veriaci. Wardlin si začne písať vlastné netradičné modlitby...
Celú recenziu nájdete na Fandom.sk https://www.fandom.sk/clanok/recenzia...
August 11, 2009
This book is a really interesting meditation on the state of America today, with our yearning for meaning and our dueling tendencies of blind faith and crippling doubt. The main character, Wardlin Stuart, works out a philosophy he calls prayerstyle while in prison. His prayers seem to work, not because of any higher power, but because of the supplicant's will. Yet when a higher power seems to intervene, Wardlin can not trust that there is such a thing as divinity or that he himself has any sort of power. Wardlin is a really interesting character and his voice is convincing and honest. And given the way many people in America today are given to talking about the power of prayer, Shepard's look at the possibilities of prayer is timely and insightful.
December 1, 2021
Připadalo mi, jako by se během čtení několikrát změnil žánr knihy. A asi jen jeden z nich mi neseděl tak docela.
Musím teda dát plný počet. Do škatulky fantasy bych to asi zrovna nezařadila, ale román, akční bojovka, trochu motivační literatura, vyberte si...
Musím teda dát plný počet. Do škatulky fantasy bych to asi zrovna nezařadila, ale román, akční bojovka, trochu motivační literatura, vyberte si...
June 30, 2012
I love how Shepard switches from philosophical musings on how celebrities handle the limelight, commercialization of the sacred, and the unintended consequences of changes in an organic movement that the founder never intended it to go, to the more mundane issue of being secure in ones relationship with a soul mate to the magic realism drug-induced action in Mexico.
Even though this is suppose to be a satire, it does shed light on the mechanism of how intention prayer works. According to Shepard, intention prayer works by focusing the mind toward an end result. As they say, one has to continuously see it before it comes true. Prayer has the added benefit of creating a certainty that becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy in an uncertain world. Prayerstyle is a technique that uses self-actualization visualization combined with discrete manageable goal setting techniques.
The issue I think here is that Freedom of Religion in whatever the person believes in is very important. It matters less what the person believes than the outcome of that belief. If that belief makes the person a better man, then it is good for him. But as Wardlin finds out, when one prays without a God doubt creeps up and cynicism rules. After all for all its faults via dogmatic doctrine, organized religion does ground people and buttress them from emotional highs and lows from their success and failures that Wardlin now experiences. For the freedom of religion to thrive for everyone, the founding fathers made it a part a must that separation of church and state is a must by outlawing any established religion by the state.
I think the description of the love affair between Wardlin and Therese is cute from the writing to the meeting that had the potential to be awkward but wasn't instead they had an instantaneous connection. Therese met Wardlin while the latter was in jail for murder and the former was trapped in a life that she does not want to lead due to the lack of money. Therese states that Wardlin has opened her up to "wanting" more from her life again. But unlike how she previously did it with being "goal-oriented" toward other peoples shoulds, she will attempt to go with the flow hoping that it will lead her to her other "wants" in life.
I love the love affair between Wardlin and Therese as somehow genuine in its ability to move effortlessly between talking, fcking, and sleeping together in a continuum. In San Francisco, Therese discovers the seductive quality of slow-burning type of relationship in her relationship with the elderly Mr. Kim. The type of relationship relies on the other person to start fantasizing about the other and thus seduces them. I like the obsessive quality of this type of relationship but at the same time, I have never acted on it. Although Wardlin is attracted to the illicitness of extramarital affair, he does not act on it. Wardlin's loyalty even for the wrong reasons is admirable because Sue's attempted seduction of Wardlin came after his testosterone was high after a certain sense of accomplishment.
I think this book makes fun of televangelists and other people who make money in the self-help industry or peddling religion. I think it is hilarious how Wardlin pushes his followers to see how far he can push their buttons with his BS before he loses credibility with them.
The book brings up interesting quandary between the Creator, Wardlin, and his fundamentalist follower, Wardlinites, when the followers take the creation in ways not intended by their followers such as making Buddha a "God" when all he was trying to do is show people a way to enlightenment, or the Crusaders using war as a means to propagate a peaceful Christian faith, or in politics the uncompromising Tea Party vs Reagan who ushered guidelines of a new era of relationship b/w govt. and its citizen but knew when to compromise. Bush is correct when he said that Reagan would not be right enough to be a candidate for Tea Party members.
Again, prayerstyle when it becomes commercialized can have unintended consequences such as ousting a leader as an apostate if they no longer conform to the party line as many moderate vanguards of the Republican party getting ousted from office when they want to compromise rather than stick with the Tea Party position. Or when the defense-industrial complex motivates the people they are firing to place pressure on Congress to save jobs by growing the deficit because it means more profit for defense industry but not good for the country as a whole.
Is it worse to believe the meme one is espousing as a new creed or is it worse thinking it you are espousing BS. A good example of this is a politician stump speech. Do politicians think what they are saying is BS or after enough times saying a stump speech do they actually start believing what they are saying? I guess to what extent does repetition make one believe in the thing they are saying and when does it become artificial? In the book, Wardlin seems to create a "Lord of Lonliness" by focusing on his prayerstyle.
I enjoy the parallels that Shepard showcases between Wardlin's cult of personality and a megachurch preacher both putting on a performance and shows. But whereas Wardlin has some doubts about the authenticity of his shows, Treat actually believes and buys into his megachurch show. But Treat has a good point, does the self-help secular industry encourage idolatry by displacing faith in God with their own secular solution or is just an adjunct to faith in God as Wardlin asserts? Just to make clear that Treat is in it just to make money, Shepard has him planning to assassinate Wardlin and take the prayerstyle method and just insert Jesus in it.
An anthropologist separates prayerstyle from organized religion because whereas the former is just a focus of will to create things the latter hides itself in the cover of absolute truth so when something does not work one is always to blame for "lacking faith". Since faith is subjective, there is always room to say it is a lack of faith that makes a person fail.
If one does not read the fine print, health insurance can be made worthless especially for uneducated consumers.
How does an introvert handle unwanted celebrity status. I think the book is interesting how it teases out how celebrity status can change a person by creating a public face that can dominate ones private life. How does one keep commercial success from changing the person within? Does a celebrity become what the crowd wants him to be? Can a person stay true to himself, if he becomes a public figure or does the public own him so much that everything he says becomes inauthentic? Bill Clinton is the president that comes to mind when I state this because in one-on-one he seems like a genuine guy but when the lights are on, he thrives in it and it is hard to know whether he is being authentic or just putting on a show. As with any celebrity, there are those that gun for a celebrity just because he is famous. Unwanted media attention can be daunting can imprison the celebrity who never asked for it. Even though Wardlin is rich because of his notoriety, he feels he is imprisoned in his celebrity status and both the benefit and the ill-will that that provides him. I like how Wardlin and Therese escape the limelight through traveling to Patagonia for a year only coming back for Wardlin's tour.
He also makes fun of the media circus that surrounds the "the story of the month" from secular self-help vs evangelical religon to politics. Soundbites taken out of context in order to maximize publicity is what hurts people the most.
In enjoy how Shepard makes fun of the commercialization of "authenticity" and the "me", politics, religion, sex, to love. I love how Shepard uses commercialization of sex as a symbol for desperate isolationism.
I love how Shepard uses magic realism throughout the book so one does not know whether the Lord of Lonliness is hallucination of a very stressed out Wardlin or if he is just another Wardlinite. It is appropriate that Wardlin sees things through the eyes of prayerstyle. I love how Shepard makes us wonder whether Darrin is just another extremist Wardlinite or if he is the actual manifestation of Lord of Lonliness by Wardlin's thoughts.
I like how he questions who decides what the difference between delusions and societal beliefs are. After all although 2 billion people believe in Christ, an objective analysis would count the belief of those people as delusional.
Even though this is suppose to be a satire, it does shed light on the mechanism of how intention prayer works. According to Shepard, intention prayer works by focusing the mind toward an end result. As they say, one has to continuously see it before it comes true. Prayer has the added benefit of creating a certainty that becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy in an uncertain world. Prayerstyle is a technique that uses self-actualization visualization combined with discrete manageable goal setting techniques.
The issue I think here is that Freedom of Religion in whatever the person believes in is very important. It matters less what the person believes than the outcome of that belief. If that belief makes the person a better man, then it is good for him. But as Wardlin finds out, when one prays without a God doubt creeps up and cynicism rules. After all for all its faults via dogmatic doctrine, organized religion does ground people and buttress them from emotional highs and lows from their success and failures that Wardlin now experiences. For the freedom of religion to thrive for everyone, the founding fathers made it a part a must that separation of church and state is a must by outlawing any established religion by the state.
I think the description of the love affair between Wardlin and Therese is cute from the writing to the meeting that had the potential to be awkward but wasn't instead they had an instantaneous connection. Therese met Wardlin while the latter was in jail for murder and the former was trapped in a life that she does not want to lead due to the lack of money. Therese states that Wardlin has opened her up to "wanting" more from her life again. But unlike how she previously did it with being "goal-oriented" toward other peoples shoulds, she will attempt to go with the flow hoping that it will lead her to her other "wants" in life.
I love the love affair between Wardlin and Therese as somehow genuine in its ability to move effortlessly between talking, fcking, and sleeping together in a continuum. In San Francisco, Therese discovers the seductive quality of slow-burning type of relationship in her relationship with the elderly Mr. Kim. The type of relationship relies on the other person to start fantasizing about the other and thus seduces them. I like the obsessive quality of this type of relationship but at the same time, I have never acted on it. Although Wardlin is attracted to the illicitness of extramarital affair, he does not act on it. Wardlin's loyalty even for the wrong reasons is admirable because Sue's attempted seduction of Wardlin came after his testosterone was high after a certain sense of accomplishment.
I think this book makes fun of televangelists and other people who make money in the self-help industry or peddling religion. I think it is hilarious how Wardlin pushes his followers to see how far he can push their buttons with his BS before he loses credibility with them.
The book brings up interesting quandary between the Creator, Wardlin, and his fundamentalist follower, Wardlinites, when the followers take the creation in ways not intended by their followers such as making Buddha a "God" when all he was trying to do is show people a way to enlightenment, or the Crusaders using war as a means to propagate a peaceful Christian faith, or in politics the uncompromising Tea Party vs Reagan who ushered guidelines of a new era of relationship b/w govt. and its citizen but knew when to compromise. Bush is correct when he said that Reagan would not be right enough to be a candidate for Tea Party members.
Again, prayerstyle when it becomes commercialized can have unintended consequences such as ousting a leader as an apostate if they no longer conform to the party line as many moderate vanguards of the Republican party getting ousted from office when they want to compromise rather than stick with the Tea Party position. Or when the defense-industrial complex motivates the people they are firing to place pressure on Congress to save jobs by growing the deficit because it means more profit for defense industry but not good for the country as a whole.
Is it worse to believe the meme one is espousing as a new creed or is it worse thinking it you are espousing BS. A good example of this is a politician stump speech. Do politicians think what they are saying is BS or after enough times saying a stump speech do they actually start believing what they are saying? I guess to what extent does repetition make one believe in the thing they are saying and when does it become artificial? In the book, Wardlin seems to create a "Lord of Lonliness" by focusing on his prayerstyle.
I enjoy the parallels that Shepard showcases between Wardlin's cult of personality and a megachurch preacher both putting on a performance and shows. But whereas Wardlin has some doubts about the authenticity of his shows, Treat actually believes and buys into his megachurch show. But Treat has a good point, does the self-help secular industry encourage idolatry by displacing faith in God with their own secular solution or is just an adjunct to faith in God as Wardlin asserts? Just to make clear that Treat is in it just to make money, Shepard has him planning to assassinate Wardlin and take the prayerstyle method and just insert Jesus in it.
An anthropologist separates prayerstyle from organized religion because whereas the former is just a focus of will to create things the latter hides itself in the cover of absolute truth so when something does not work one is always to blame for "lacking faith". Since faith is subjective, there is always room to say it is a lack of faith that makes a person fail.
If one does not read the fine print, health insurance can be made worthless especially for uneducated consumers.
How does an introvert handle unwanted celebrity status. I think the book is interesting how it teases out how celebrity status can change a person by creating a public face that can dominate ones private life. How does one keep commercial success from changing the person within? Does a celebrity become what the crowd wants him to be? Can a person stay true to himself, if he becomes a public figure or does the public own him so much that everything he says becomes inauthentic? Bill Clinton is the president that comes to mind when I state this because in one-on-one he seems like a genuine guy but when the lights are on, he thrives in it and it is hard to know whether he is being authentic or just putting on a show. As with any celebrity, there are those that gun for a celebrity just because he is famous. Unwanted media attention can be daunting can imprison the celebrity who never asked for it. Even though Wardlin is rich because of his notoriety, he feels he is imprisoned in his celebrity status and both the benefit and the ill-will that that provides him. I like how Wardlin and Therese escape the limelight through traveling to Patagonia for a year only coming back for Wardlin's tour.
He also makes fun of the media circus that surrounds the "the story of the month" from secular self-help vs evangelical religon to politics. Soundbites taken out of context in order to maximize publicity is what hurts people the most.
In enjoy how Shepard makes fun of the commercialization of "authenticity" and the "me", politics, religion, sex, to love. I love how Shepard uses commercialization of sex as a symbol for desperate isolationism.
I love how Shepard uses magic realism throughout the book so one does not know whether the Lord of Lonliness is hallucination of a very stressed out Wardlin or if he is just another Wardlinite. It is appropriate that Wardlin sees things through the eyes of prayerstyle. I love how Shepard makes us wonder whether Darrin is just another extremist Wardlinite or if he is the actual manifestation of Lord of Lonliness by Wardlin's thoughts.
I like how he questions who decides what the difference between delusions and societal beliefs are. After all although 2 billion people believe in Christ, an objective analysis would count the belief of those people as delusional.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2025
A poetic read, but one that falters towards the end. It starts off as a straightforward story - a quiet man who ends up in prison on a manslaughter charge after a bar fight he wasn't looking for finds him nonetheless. While incarcerated, he finds his (decidedly nonreligious) salvation in writing prose poem prayers for fellow prisoners him who request them, the focused repetition of which brings about the desired wishes of the orator. What starts as a hobby while he's in prison takes a star turn upon his release, when the prayers are collected into a book and sold to the public, earning him both fame and an unwieldly collection of adherents. It's an interesting commentary on desire, faith, and religiosity in contemporary society, and the poems which are included are lyrical and beautiful.
However, the last 60 pages devolve into a strange fever dream in which the protagonist is chased by the hired hands of an evangelist jealous of his successes, a chase which ends in a (forcibly) hallucinatorily drugged sequence in a bar along the US-Mexico border and the violent ends/mysterious disappearances of nearly all involved except our hero. I kind of wish the author hadn't gone for the Big Ending here, but I suppose that without it, it may have been hard to tie up loose ends or present anything resembling a climax.
However, the last 60 pages devolve into a strange fever dream in which the protagonist is chased by the hired hands of an evangelist jealous of his successes, a chase which ends in a (forcibly) hallucinatorily drugged sequence in a bar along the US-Mexico border and the violent ends/mysterious disappearances of nearly all involved except our hero. I kind of wish the author hadn't gone for the Big Ending here, but I suppose that without it, it may have been hard to tie up loose ends or present anything resembling a climax.
February 15, 2023
Lucius Shepard writes gorgeous prose, and often deals with difficult subjects, such as Latin American dictatorships. This has probably put off some people who would enjoy his work.
This book is about an ex-con who served ten years for manslaughter, and got through it by developing a secular style of prayer that seemed to work for him. After he gets out, he marries the woman he met through correspondence, and writes a book about his 'prayerstyle'. It becomes a big hit.
The most interesting part of the book is the meditation on prayer, how it is practiced, what is its purpose, and whether it can be done without adherence to religious dogma.
Unfortunately, Shepard reveals his penchant for demonizing the villains by setting up a strawman who is a televangelist and a raving lunatic about prayerstyle. However, in this day of political invective that can encourage adherents to violent acts, it resonates.
The violent climax did not really work for me. It seemed over-played.
This is not my favorite Shepard, but there are stretches of beautiful writing in here that I'm glad I found.
This book is about an ex-con who served ten years for manslaughter, and got through it by developing a secular style of prayer that seemed to work for him. After he gets out, he marries the woman he met through correspondence, and writes a book about his 'prayerstyle'. It becomes a big hit.
The most interesting part of the book is the meditation on prayer, how it is practiced, what is its purpose, and whether it can be done without adherence to religious dogma.
Unfortunately, Shepard reveals his penchant for demonizing the villains by setting up a strawman who is a televangelist and a raving lunatic about prayerstyle. However, in this day of political invective that can encourage adherents to violent acts, it resonates.
The violent climax did not really work for me. It seemed over-played.
This is not my favorite Shepard, but there are stretches of beautiful writing in here that I'm glad I found.
May 7, 2020
This was a fascinating book; though, I don't know how interesting it would be if I hadn't stumbled across a modern equivalence, called the Court of Atonement, over a year ago. The Court of Atonement is a form of secular prayer and so many of the things that Wardlin questions concerning what he calls "prayerstyle" are very familiar to my own questions concerning any secular prayer. What is real? Delusion? Is there an objective power using the will of the mind or is it all psychology (we create what we think bc by the very thinking we are primed to noticed- the secret behind Bryne's the Secret) and how is it knowable? Of course, the bottom line that I have figure out, as has the protagonist- it isn't knowable. That's the point. But for him, like me, those of us who want to KNOW, are desperate to know, bc we are simply incapable of belief, this life is a limbo land of seeking. Entertaining? Frustrating? Yes.
September 1, 2024
I purchased this book at a second-hand shop in New York City, and while my interest in this book came from the blurb about Concord Free Press on the back of it, I’m glad that I picked it up. However, I’m not sure the absurdity of it worked for me. I often struggled to understand Wardlin, and found the brevity of the description of his time in prison, and the sparse evidence of reflection on his crime to make the book feel lacking. Between the Lord of Loneliness, who arguably only existed in Wardlin’s mind, the generalized portrayal of many of the book’s women, and the seemingly out-of-place escalation at the end of the novel, I’m just not sure this was the book for me.
May 15, 2020
Pocit, že jde o promyšlené, syté a v každé větě nabité dílko. Člověk oceňuje styl psaní, věty jsou malá umělecká díla, baví, ale není to banální. I pointa je fajn - a toho jsem se trochu bála. Nečte se to kvůli ději, ne nutně. Autor umí. Rozhodně milé překvapení.
April 10, 2021
Well-written engaging story that is a quick read and hard to put down. Crisp, believable characters and lifelike dialog. I like to think that the author wrote the poetry then built the book around it.
June 1, 2023
Jako obvykle u Gnómu za mě velký dobrý. Chvílema nevíte, zda čtete satiru, fantasy, černou komedii, existenciální román nebo co jako. A víte co? Vlastně všechno dohromady. Originální mix žánrů, zábava i mrazení.
July 30, 2023
Dočetla jsem se o knize leccos, nejčastěji že je žánrově velmi obtížně zařaditelná. To je pravda. Nevěděla jsem do čeho jdu, ne všechno se mi líbilo, ale ten námět a hodně dobrý překlad, stály za to a obohatily mě a přiměly k napsání příspěvku na blog: https://www.laniusminor.cz/post/modli... .
August 17, 2024
Reads like Phillip K Dick and Don DeLillo thrown in a blender. It mostly works, and the book gives you plenty to chew on, but goddamn the dialogue is awful
September 9, 2024
This was... Interesting. American Gods but more philosophical. Ending was a little too sacharine / discordant.
December 21, 2011
Given the title of this book, the story starts at an unlikely point, with the narrator, Wardlin Stuart, lashing out in anger and killing a man. That’s the first chapter. Stuart then describes his time in prison, serving his sentence for manslaughter. While he’s there, he stumbles upon something that will change his life beyond all recognition. His discovery, that he can compose poetic prayers that seem to be answered, saves his life in prison. After being paroled, he publishes a collection of these prayers in what becomes a surprise best-selling book. Suddenly, Wardlin is a celebrity and finds himself thrust into a role he never sought, as the founder of a new religious movement. Of course, this same process creates enemies, and Wardlin eventually must confront them, and the difficult moral choices they represent.
This book is hard to characterize…it is never entirely clear if something supernatural is going on, or if there are perfectly natural explanations for everything. It is clear that the narrator himself is uncertain of much of this as well, and it creates some of the tension that he feels regarding his celebrity. The exploration of the cult of celebrity here is interesting, especially when told from the point-of-view of a reluctant celebrity. We can see just how invasive the public limelight can be and the terrible price it can exact on those in the center of attention.
An interesting and unconventionally entertaining book, that asks a lot of questions, but answers very few, leaving the reader to ponder what, if any, moral lessons can be gleaned.
This book is hard to characterize…it is never entirely clear if something supernatural is going on, or if there are perfectly natural explanations for everything. It is clear that the narrator himself is uncertain of much of this as well, and it creates some of the tension that he feels regarding his celebrity. The exploration of the cult of celebrity here is interesting, especially when told from the point-of-view of a reluctant celebrity. We can see just how invasive the public limelight can be and the terrible price it can exact on those in the center of attention.
An interesting and unconventionally entertaining book, that asks a lot of questions, but answers very few, leaving the reader to ponder what, if any, moral lessons can be gleaned.
August 1, 2013
What can you say about a book that is given totally free with the caveat to help out a person or charitable institution with a donation? This is one of these books given away free by Concord Free Press. I don't remember what my donation was when I received it, I only recall that I made a donation to something (American Diabetes Association, maybe?).
Well, I finally read it, and found it to a darkly humorous book about religion in America, sort of. Wardlin Stuart kills a man (or be killed) and is sent to prison. There, he encounters more violence and comes up with a prayer to protect himself. He calls it "prayerstyle" and it seems to work for him and then others. Invoking the Lord of Loneliness starts Wardlin down a path that leads to his wife Therese (one of the only really decent people in the novel) and eventually to people who want to make Wardlin into a god himself. Wardlinites become crazed and protective stalkers, and those in fundamentalist Christian religions become even more crazed and want to kill Wardlin. He just wants to be left alone, but neither the Wardlinites, the fundamental religion people, nor the Lord of Loneliness seem to want the same thing.
Impressive vocabulary used throughout, and there are certainly deeper meanings beyond the words, but am not willing to paint my one fingernail black.
Well, I finally read it, and found it to a darkly humorous book about religion in America, sort of. Wardlin Stuart kills a man (or be killed) and is sent to prison. There, he encounters more violence and comes up with a prayer to protect himself. He calls it "prayerstyle" and it seems to work for him and then others. Invoking the Lord of Loneliness starts Wardlin down a path that leads to his wife Therese (one of the only really decent people in the novel) and eventually to people who want to make Wardlin into a god himself. Wardlinites become crazed and protective stalkers, and those in fundamentalist Christian religions become even more crazed and want to kill Wardlin. He just wants to be left alone, but neither the Wardlinites, the fundamental religion people, nor the Lord of Loneliness seem to want the same thing.
Impressive vocabulary used throughout, and there are certainly deeper meanings beyond the words, but am not willing to paint my one fingernail black.
Read
December 18, 2009A story of a man who alternates infuriatingly quickly between fancying himself a God and pious humbleness. Chock full of run-on sentences and author recognized bad poetry, bad analogies, and confusing diction, this story was nothing short of irritating to read. In reflection, the story lacked noticeable flow or recognizable development. At the end, I felt I had read the same chapter twenty or so times, with a brief fifteen pages or so being the only deflection from that routine.
Quotes:
1. When people look back at things they're ashamed of having done and say it must have been another person who did those things, and they have no idea who that person was, what they're actually saying, though they may not understand it, is that they do know that person and they don't know who they are now.
2. We're all sociopaths to an extent, benign ones for the most part, capable of squeezing ourselves into whatever dress is required for success in a particular environment.
3. Yet wasn't opportunity and self-manipulation at the heart of everything people felt?
4. I would confess all of that and decorate the confession with a demon laugh and pledge my soul to Satan on Oprah if that would be the glue that held us together.
Quotes:
1. When people look back at things they're ashamed of having done and say it must have been another person who did those things, and they have no idea who that person was, what they're actually saying, though they may not understand it, is that they do know that person and they don't know who they are now.
2. We're all sociopaths to an extent, benign ones for the most part, capable of squeezing ourselves into whatever dress is required for success in a particular environment.
3. Yet wasn't opportunity and self-manipulation at the heart of everything people felt?
4. I would confess all of that and decorate the confession with a demon laugh and pledge my soul to Satan on Oprah if that would be the glue that held us together.
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