In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

by Jean Shepherd

A beloved, bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana, reissued in a strikingly designed paperback edition.

Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean Shepherd: a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant--and utterly hilarious--works of comic art. In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations.

In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage "You can never go back." Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth.

A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Christmas, Short Stories, Book Club, Classics, Comedy

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Jean Parker "Shep" Shepherd Jr. was an American storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film A Christmas Story (1983), which he narrated and co-scripted on the basis of his own semi-autobiographical stories.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Through my brain nightly danced visions of six-guns snapped from the hip and shattering bottles – and a gnawing nameless frenzy of impending ecstasy. Then came my first disastrous mistake. In a moment of unguarded rashness I brought the whole plot into the open. I was caught by surprise while pulling on my high-tops in the kitchen, huddled next to the stove, the only source of heat in the house at that hour of the morning. My mother, leaning over a pot of simmering oatmeal, suddenly asked out of the blue:

‘What would you like for Christmas?’

Horrified, I heard myself blurt: ‘A Red Ryder BB gun!’

Without pausing or even missing a stroke with her tablespoon, she shot back: ‘Oh no. You’ll shoot out one of your eyes…’”
- Jean Shepherd, In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash

One of life’s widely accepted general rules is that “the book is better than the movie.” Of course, like all rules, there are exceptions, and A Christmas Story is one of them.

Based in part on Jean Shepherd’s In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, A Christmas Story has far exceeded its source material in terms of quality, popularity, and lasting cultural resonance. Bob Clark’s 1983 film about a young boy’s quest to get a BB gun on Christmas has risen beyond mere classic status to weave itself into the very fabric of the holiday, becoming as much a part of the iconography as a decorated pine tree.

I’ve seen A Christmas Story countless times in my life, due in no small part to the yearly twenty-four-hour marathons on TBS and TNT. On the other hand, In God We Trust, having been read once, will go back on my bookshelf, and will probably stay there untouched until the bookshelf gets moved.

This is not to say that Shepherd’s episodic novel is not good. It is! It’s just good in a very different way from the cinematic version that is as much a part of my Christmas tradition as Charles Dickens, a turkey, and midnight mass.

***

Given its backstory, the most important thing to say about In God We Trust is that it is not technically a Christmas book.

To be sure, it contains the saga of young Ralphie Parker and his hopes for a Red Ryder air-rifle, but that is only a small part of it. Most of the book – including some events that made it into A Christmas Story – take place outside of the holiday.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, obviously. Nevertheless, since most modern readers picking this up probably started with the movie, it’s helpful to calibrate expectations. If you go into this simply to compare movie to book, and book to movie, it’ll be a disappointment. But if you’re willing to engage, In God We Trust benefits from a natural storyteller recounting a very specific vanished world.

***

Before finding immortality with A Christmas Story, which he narrated in his inimitable voice, Jean Shepherd was a monologist, humorist, and radio star who made his living by spinning amusing, semi-autobiographical tales from his Great Depression-era childhood.

Thus, in a very real way, opening In God We Trust is like turning on a big old Zenith Aztec, settling into an armchair, and waiting for a familiar voice to burst out of the crackling static. Indeed, the best way to read this is to imagine Shepherd narrating it himself.

***

In God We Trust is a series of vignettes that are presented as flashbacks as two old friends reminisce in a bar. In the “present,” an adult Ralph – Shepherd’s alter ego – arrives home in fictional Hohman, Indiana, in order to write a story for a New York publication. Over beer and liquor, Ralph and his buddy Flick rehash their Hohman childhoods. Each shared memory becomes its own separate chapter. Once that chapter ends, Shepherd puts us back in the bar to tee up the next one.

As far as storytelling structures go, this is not exactly a unique framework. Still, it is sturdy, effective, and keeping with In God We Trust’s old fashioned charm.

***

Aside from the conceit of Ralph having a half-drunk conversation with a boyhood friend, In God We Trust is essentially a short-story collection. Like many such collections, the stories are of varying tone and quality. Some were great. Others forgettable.

The most famous flashback is the first one. Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid contains the skeleton that would later become A Christmas Story, with young Ralphie determined to get himself a BB gun, while the adults in his life conspire to prevent him from shooting out his eye. Having picked this up on the basis of the movie, I was a little disappointed to discover that the Red Ryder account ended before page fifty, with over two-hundred pages still to go.

Pushing onward, though, I soon found that Shepherd had more than one trick up his sleeve, including a memorable fishing trip, a fight with a bully, and – yes – the Old Man winning a major award. The highlight of In God We Trust comes near the end, with a deftly-landed one-two punch consisting of a hilarious sequence in which young Ralph writes a book report on The Decameron of Bocaccio to impress his teacher, followed by a tragicomic episode involving Indiana’s personal tax assessor.

***

In God We Trust is often classified as Americana, a nostalgic look back to the allegedly-halcyon days when things were simpler and better. Certainly, there is an aspect of that here, especially in a story about Pulaski’s candy shop that feels like a Saturday Evening Post cover come to life.

Despite the comforting old timey vibe, Shepherd writes with a surprisingly sharp edge that is completely missing from the blurred margins of A Christmas Story. Having come from New York City wearing English flannel, Italian shoes, and a Rolex watch, the adult Ralph is mostly disdainful of Hohman. Shepherd vividly describes the bombed-out landscape of Indiana during the Great Depression, dotted with shuttered businesses and rusted-out cars. He also paints a horrifying picture of environmental degradation, with factories belching toxic gasses, and sewage being released into the lakes and rivers.

Though limned with a certain fondness, Shepherd does not pretend that the past existed in some sepia-toned vacuum. Instead, he lets his stories unfold in a realistic context that adds texture and depth.

***

Ultimately, whatever the merits of In God We Trust, it is probably fated for footnote status. No matter what, it will always be known as the seed that grew into A Christmas Story. That’s not altogether a bad thing, because at least it will always be known.

[Paul Haspel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this collection of vignettes by a well-known humorist, one gets a sharp, knowing depiction of Midwestern U.S. life during the Great Depression – and finds the literary basis for one of the best-loved Christmas films of all time: Canadian director Bob Clark’s A Christmas Story (1983). Fans of the film should be aware that not all of the stories told in Jean Shepherd’s 1966 book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash necessarily have a Christmas connection; but that reality should not prevent readers from enjoying these stories that use wild exaggeration to convey the hyperbolic qualities of a child’s imagination.

Jean Shepherd grew up in the industrial city of Hammond, in northern Indiana. He attended Indiana University, served in the U.S. Army during the Second World War, and after the war found his way into radio, where his mellifluous voice and his gift for storytelling secured him a loyal following on Chicago-area radio stations. His radio stories, as it turned out, translated well to the printed page – and, ultimately, to cinema.

The narrative frame for In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash centers around Ralph Parker (the fictional stand-in for author Shepherd). Ralph, who is now a New York City author, has travelled back to his hometown of Hohman, Indiana, to write about life there. As Ralph puts it, he has been given the task of writing a piece “for an Official magazine on The Return Of The Native To The Indiana Mill Town” (p. 18). He makes his way to a bar that is owned by his boyhood friend Flick; and as Ralph and Flick drink and reminisce over the course of a day, a series of stories of their boyhood life in Hohman flow forth.

The chapter “Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid” may be of greatest interest to fans of A Christmas Story. It is a delightful paean to “Lovely, beautiful, glorious Christmas, around which the entire year revolved” (p. 26) – and many of the beloved features of the film are to be found here. Young Ralphie wants a BB gun for Christmas, but Ralph’s mother is concerned that “You’ll shoot out one of your eyes” (p. 30). Similarly, the local department-store Santa Claus, enthroned upon an elevated throne next to a red chute down which children slide after they have stated their Christmas wishes, responds to Ralphie’s request for a BB gun by stating that “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid! Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!” (p. 38), before sending Ralphie down the red chute. Ralphie fulfills an elementary-school language-arts assignment by writing about how he wants that BB gun for Christmas; he gets a B (rather than a C-plus, as in the movie), and his teacher, Miss Bodkin, notes in the margin that “You’ll shoot your eye out. Merry Christmas” (p. 40).

When Christmas comes, there are the horrors attendant upon Ralphie’s having to open his present from his Aunt Clara, who “had for years labored under the delusion that I was not only perpetually four years old but also a girl” (p. 42). Luckily for the novelistic version of Ralph Parker, Aunt Clara’s gift is only “A pair of fuzzy, pink, cross-eyed, lop-eared bunny slippers” (p. 42), rather than a full-fledged pink bunny suit as in the movie. And Ralph eventually gets his BB gun for Christmas, only to suffer an unexpected injury as a result. It’s all there, Christmas Story fans.

Chapter IV – “The Counterfeit Secret Circle Member Gets the Message, or The Asp Strikes Again” – includes another Christmas Story staple: young Ralphie’s anxious wait for his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, so he can decode the “secret messages” that are broadcast during his favorite radio show. We learn a bit more in the book than we do in the movie about the Little Orphan Annie show that Ralph so loves – for instance, that Little Orphan Annie “had this friend named The Asp, who whenever she was really in a tight spot would just show up and cut everybody’s head off. I figured that if there was anything a kid of seven needed, it was somebody named The Asp – especially in our neighborhood” (p. 51).

As in A Christmas Story, Ralphie eventually gets his decoder ring, and gets to decode the secret message on a broadcast of Little Orphan Annie – only to find that the secret message is an Ovaltine commercial. The grown-up Ralph recalls how “I sat for a long moment…staring down at my Indian Chief notebook. A crummy commercial!” A sadder and wiser Ralph “pulled up my corduroy knickers and went out to face the meat loaf and the red cabbage. The Asp had claimed another victim” (p. 56).

In “My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award That Heralded the Birth of Pop Art,” an ill-fated attempt by the adult Ralph to gain the interest of a pretty young lady at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art takes him back, in imagination, to another Christmas Story highlight – a time from his Indiana childhood when his father won a major award that turned out to be a lamp shaped like “a life-size lady’s leg, in true blushing-pink flesh tones and wearing a modish black patent leather pump with spike heel” (p. 90). This lamp –loved as a symbol of victory by Ralph’s father, despised as a profanation of the family home by Ralph’s mother – leads to what the grown-up Ralph describes as “the greatest single fight that ever happened in our family” (p. 94), and admirers of A Christmas Story may enjoy seeing how the “Battle of the Lamp” is set forth in greater detail and nuance than what one sees in the film.

“Grover Dill and the Tasmanian Devil” shows Ralph fighting back against, and defeating, the local bully. In the movie, the bully is Scut Farkas with his “yellow eyes”; here, the bully is Grover Dill, Scut Farkas’ “toady” from the film. The story has its introduction when Flick points out to Ralph that the grown-up Dill, now a perpetually drunk and quarrelsome ironworker, is one of the regular customers at Flick’s tavern. Ralph frames the story of the fight by discussing how he saw a picture of a Tasmanian devil in a nature magazine and immediately saw it as an authentic representation of “that ravening Carnivore, that incorrigibly wild, insane, scurrying little beast – the Killer that is in each one of us” (p. 112).

From there, we are led into the story of how, tripped by Dill on an otherwise ordinary day, Ralph unexpectedly lost his temper, attacked Dill, and got the better of him in a street fight. Ralph recalls that Dill “fought back like a fiend! But I guess it was the first time he had ever met face to face with an unleashed Tasmanian Devil” (p. 116). He further reflects that during the fight “I had woven a tapestry of obscenity that as far as I know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan”, and concludes by describing how “I learned then that Bravery does not exist – just a kind of latent Nuttiness” (p. 118). As in the film, Ralph’s fears that he will face dire parental punishment for his outbreak of violence turn out to be unjustified, and a new understanding develops between Ralph and his mother as a result.

The closest thing to the “King of Cusses” episode from the film occurs in a chapter wherein Ralph hears a ribald story told by his Uncle Ben, repeats it to his friend Casmir, and is then questioned about it by his mother:

“Were you just out with Casmir? By the fence?”

“Yah…yeah, we were playing, we didn’t do nothing!” I said.

“Now, wait a minute. Do you know what this word means?” And she says this word – which, by the way, to this day I have never again heard my mother use.

“Yeah, yeah, I know – ah…” Long pause.

“What does it mean?”

“Ah – well, it’s about a Hockey thing there.”

“Oh, I see.” (p. 150)

It’s clear enough what word Ralph used! Ralph overhears his mother assuring Casmir’s mother that “I don’t think either of them know what it means” (p. 151), and later on Ralph’s father and mother have a good laugh over the whole episode. In contrast with the movie, no one’s mouth is washed out with Lifebuoy soap.

Similar themes – of the elusive and ambiguous qualities of language, and of young people coming to terms with the rules and norms of adulthood – characterize “Miss Bryfogel and the Frightening Case of the Speckle-Throated Cuckold.” In this vignette, Ralphie, who has a crush on his pretty young English teacher Miss Bryfogel, dreams of writing a book report that will separate him from his classmates. In his parents’ room, Ralph finds a book that he believes will be “the golden key to Miss Bryfogel’s passionate heart. Not only was this book almost totally incomprehensible, it was about friars and abbots, counts and countesses, knights-errant, kings nd queens, and a lot of Italians.” But the reader senses that young Ralphie may be headed for trouble after reading the summary of the first story in the book: “Massetto of Lamporeccio feigneth himself dumb and becometh gardener to a convent of women, who all flock to lie with him” (p. 209).

If you haven’t already figured out what book Ralphie discovered in his parents’ room, then I will leave you to make that entertaining discovery for yourself. Suffice it to say that young Ralph learns that he was incorrect in his original belief that “cuckold” meant the same thing as “cuckoo.”

The alert reader will already have noted that many of the stories contained within the In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash collection have nothing to do with the Christmas season, or with the movie A Christmas Story. Indeed, I found that I enjoyed this book most as an example of Midwestern regionalism, with its evocative descriptions of life in a fictionalized Hammond, Indiana, during the Great Depression – as when the grown-up Ralph, looking back to his Depression childhood, describes the importance of the Orpheum movie theatre in an industrial town where the industries are all shutting down:

Outside those sacred doors [of the Orpheum theatre] crouched the pale gray wolf of Reality and the Depression. On the skyline, the dark, sullen hulk of the steel mills lay silent and smokeless, like some ancient volcano that had burnt itself out, while the natives roamed the empty streets and told wondrous tales of the time when the skies were lit by the fires of the steel crucibles. And there was something that occupied them all, called Work. Even the word “Work” itself had an almost religious, mythological tone. (p. 238)

One can read In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash for its ties to A Christmas Story and the Christmas season – or as a fine example of the kind of Middle American humor that looks back to Mark Twain and forward toward David Letterman. Either way, I would encourage you to read the book aloud. A key reason for the success of A Christmas Story, I firmly believe, is that the filmmakers had the eminent good sense to have Shepherd read his work out loud as narrator, with that great radio voice of his. In print, as on the radio, Shepherd’s voice conveys the elements of exaggeration and incongruity that give his humor its piquancy – as surely as Christmas comes to Hammond, Indiana, every 25th of December.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

To borrower some of Jean Shepherd’s own words, I chose to read In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash in order to prepare for the . . . .

“Yearly bacchanalia of peace of earth and good will to men.”

Save your breath if you want to tell me “it’s too early” or “it’s not even Thanksgiving yet” because this is pretty much me . . . .



By the time Christmas actually rolls around I’m usually ready to curl up in a ball of blah so I’m all about faking it ‘til I make it and that means starting early. Now that I’ve acquired a taste for audiobooks I thought what better way to get the spirit moving through me than listening to the soothing sounds of Shepherd as he narrated me toward motivation. Alas, the porny librarian proved that he/she does live on porn alone as the audio was not an option. (Have no fear, porny librarian, you’re still my boo.)

Anywho, I settled for the eCopy and had a pretty enjoyable time experiencing new vignettes about crappie fishing and blind dates and faulty roman candles. And while creative license was taken with some of the selections such as this fabulous gift from Aunt Clara . . .



Being merely slippers rather than a full suit and this memorable moment . . . .



Being a mash-up of a little Santa’s Village mixed with a World’s Fair attraction or the quest for the Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring having a bit more depth . . . .



It was still like old home week when Ralphie spun yarns of finally acquiring his 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time . . . .



Or when Ralphie beat the crap out of that awful Grover Dill or when the Old Man finally received his major award . . . .



While drinking the afternoon away at Flick’s tavern.

3.5 Stars due to lack of audio as well as the lack of some of my favorite moments such as the Triple Dog Dare . . . .



Or showing mommy how the piggies eat . . . .



But hey, at least it inspired me to get "the soft gleam of electric sex gleaming in the window" . . . .

[JimZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was born and raised in the town that Ralph comes back to in this book, named Hohman Indiana. Actually it's in Hammond Indiana. In Hammond there is a community center named after him (http://www.gohammond.com/departments/...). He refers to Warren Harding Elementary Grade School which is still there, and Cleveland Street and I know a guy who grew up on that street... And of course the movie, Christmas Story which TNT broadcasts on Christmas Day nonstop....scenes from that movie are in Chapters 2 (Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid) and 10 (My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award that Heralded the Birth of Pop Art". I think the Chinese restaurant is one of the only Chinese restaurants we had in Hammond called Cam-Lan restaurant. There are so many people who grew up in Hammond that go nuts (with euphoria) when I mention that place that I would assume it is one and the same place that is described in the book.

Anyway, each chapter is a "story" that Ralph tells of his childhood and they are all precious and funny. I'm glad they made a movie out of his stories!

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels very different from the movie, which I wasn't expecting, but it was enjoyable reading this as it lends an aura that is missing in the movie. Where the movie seems focused mostly on the childhood aspect, the book seems more equally focused on both the childhood and then the adult years to the book than that. The book has more of an aura of nostalgia as it looks back over the years, and not as much of the childhood, except when reliving the memories of those years.

I wanted to read this one mostly because it's one of my younger (if not young) brother's favourites, and I remember him wanting to find a signed first edition copy of it - which he eventually found.

[Tressa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan."

I can't remember if I ran out and bought In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash after seeing A Christmas Story on cable back in '83, or if I bought it before the movie just because the title caught my eye at some used bookstore, but it’s been a prized possession for decades. If you're like me and thousands of others who love this movie, you'll enjoy this book. The book fleshes out the characters, and it’s fun to learn the reasoning behind some of the throwaway movie scenes like why Ralphie gave the old man a can of Simoniz for Christmas.

The nostalgic vignettes of In God We Trust are grittier than the lighthearted movie. One of the funniest running gags in the movie is the father’s epic (but G-rated) battle with the furnace; in the book, he’s not afraid to let the expletives rip at his wife: “FOR CHRISSAKE, STUPID, I SAID THE G&^%$N DAMPER!”

In God We Trust was written in 1966 and is the story of Jean Shepherd’s life, served up essay style. The stories take place during the Great Depression in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana (really Hammond, Indiana). The adult Ralphie returns to Indiana and visits Flick at the bar Flick inherited from his father, and they reminisce about the old days…

In one of my favorite stories—"The Endless Streetcar Ride into the Night, and the Tinfoil Noose"—the teenage Ralphie reluctantly agrees to go on a blind double date with Schwartz and his girlfriend, Helen. Ralphie expects to spend the evening with a skinny, pimply girl, but still he dresses to impress in his boxy, electric-blue sports coat and tie with the blood-red snail painted on it. He cannot believe his good luck when his blind date turns out to be a knockout who “makes Cleopatra look like a Girl Scout.” On the train ride to the movies, he talks to impress, rolling on and on like “Old Man River.” And then the light bulb blinks on above his head:

I’m suddenly getting fatter, more itchy. My new shoes are like bowling balls with laces; thick, rubber-crepe bowling balls. My great tie that Aunt Glenn gave me is two feet wide, hanging down to the floor like some crinkly tinfoil noose. My beautiful hand-painted snail is seven feet high, sitting up on my shoulder, burping. Great Scot! It is all clear to me in the searing white light of Truth. My friend Schwartz, I can see him saying to Junie Jo: “I got this crummy fat friend who never has a date. Let’s give him a break and…”

I AM THE BLIND DATE!

If you don’t get your fill of The Christmas Story gang this year as the movie plays in a loop on Christmas Eve, just pick up In God We Trust when you can. It's all there, and more: the Bumpus hounds; the leg lamp; the furnace; Little Orphan Annie and the Ovaltine secret decoder; schoolyard bullies; Flick and Schwartz. And don't miss the story "'Nevermore,' Quoth the Assessor, 'Nevermore.'" It is pure gold.

[Brian Hodges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, this is the book that "A Christmas Story" was based on. But don't read it expecting it to have the same innocently charming humor as the movie. Don't get me wrong, this book is quite humorous, but it is told in a much more wry and sarcastic manor than the movie. In fact, the stories that made it into the Christmas Story narrative aren't even the funniest ones. The best story as far as I'm concerned is the one about a drunk neighbor who tries to set up a fireworks display on the fourth of July and nearly blows up somebody's house. I actually laughed out loud at that fun.

All in all, a fun read as long as you're not expecting to get "A Christmas Story" in print form.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I generally subscribe to the mantra "the book is always better," when comparing books to movies made or inspired from the material so it's always interesting when I find a case where it's decidedly not. There were many times where I told myself to just allow this to go the way of the DNF pile but I really try and stick them out if they are for book club and less than 300 pages. I am sad to say I was not rewarded for my efforts. There are some books that just don't stand the test of time and this is one of them. I found this so dated that most of the references went way over my head, with the resulting effect being reader apathy. Throw in multiple references of casual homophobia, sexism and xenophobia and it became less appealing as the pages turned. I'm not sure I ever laughed out loud once although the chapters that were culled for A Christmas Story did bring forth some nostalgic sentiment. The other chapters were just too meandering and long-winded and despite the promise of a big payoff at every intro to each chapter, I remained solidly uninterested and unimpressed every time. A disappointing read.

[Randee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book surprised me in that it wasn't what I was expecting it to be. I thought it would be a book of humorous essays. In fact, I was thinking in the beginning that Jean Shepherd must have been the David Sedaris of his day. There are funny stories to be sure. "A Christmas Story" the movie that runs 24/7 during December is based on only two chapters in this book. But, there are also stories that aren't humorous and are not meant to be humorous. Mr. Shepherd's look back on his youth growing up in Indiana during the Depression is never dull. I like memoirs of a past America that no longer exists. His story about the local theater owner who enticed people to the movies by giving every woman who attended a piece of dishware from a 100 piece set sparked my imagination. I've heard of people who collect Depression era dinnerware that movie theaters gave away, but I was never familiar with the details. Lots of interesting stories and a few laughs.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with his sophomore release, Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, Jean Shepherd created and loosely based the holiday film A Christmas Story out of select chapters within this book, of which has become a holiday tradition within many households.

Over the serpentine line roared a great sea of sound: tinkling bells, recorded carols, the hum and clatter of electric trains, whistles tooting, mechanical cows mooing, cash registers dinging, and from far off in the faint distance the "Ho-ho-ho-ing" of jolly old Saint Nick.

It tells the story of Ralph, who is back in his hometown of Hohman in the steel belt of Indiana, a stand-in for Shepherd’s own town of Hammond. Ralph is in town on business, but can’t wait to talk to his old buddy Flick, the owner of Flick’s Tavern. With drinks loosening both of their tongues, Ralph goes on to tell a series of nostalgic stories from their childhood.

Semi-autobiographical and nostalgic, Shepherd tells us these endless, fascinating tales that we would normally scratch our heads to their truthfulness, but are so busy laughing at the hilarity of Shepherd’s comical genius to care. There are 31 chapters within the book, each its own unique story with short one to two pages in between to surface back to Flick’s Tavern amid the bar nuts, booze, and nostalgia.

Growing up during the Great Depression, Ralph recalls how he told everyone that all he wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB Gun, only to be dismayed when everyone he tells, informs him that, “You’ll shoot your eye out kid.” We also see Ralph as he goes on a family trip to Chicago, goes on his first date, learns how evil tax assessors are during the Depression, falls in love with his literature teacher, and will do anything to buy a Black Jawbreaker from Old Man Pulaski’s Candy Shop.

"I want a Red Ryder BB gun with a special Red Ryder sight and a compass in the stock with a sundial!" I shouted.
"HO-HO-HO! YOULL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT, KID. HO-HO-HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

I mean, if Santa says you’ll shoot your eye out, you should probably listen…

We are told that Jean Shepherd was the comical mastermind that bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris. I suppose that’s true…

And in the middle of the lake, several yards away, are over 17,000 fishermen, in wooden rowboats rented at a buck and a half an hour. It is 2 A.M. The temperature is 175, with humidity to match. And the smell of decayed toads, the dumps at the far end of the lake, and an occasional soupçon of Standard Oil, whose refinery is a couple of miles away, is enough to put hair on the back of a mud turtle. Seventeen thousand guys clumped together in the middle, fishing for the known sixty-four crappies in that lake.

Crappies are a special breed of Midwestern fish, created by God for the express purpose of surviving in waters that would kill a bubonic-plague bacillus. They have never been known to fight, or even faintly struggle. I guess when you're a crappie, you figure it's no use anyway. One thing is as bad as another. They're just down there in the soup. No one quite knows what they eat, if anything, but everybody's fishing for them. At two o'clock in the morning.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book by a great humorist. The classic movie, "A Christmas Story" is based on one of the stories in this book. That movie is narrated by the author Jean Shelpherd. Very, very enjoyable.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dad was a nineteen-fifties father. He was rushing off to work when we got up the morning, would come home for dinner, then settle into his chair with a pipe, a book or the papers, feet up, to listen to classical music until he went to bed. Mom did the day-to-day; she was the peace-keeping force in the house, he the ultimate weapon, occasionally referred to, but never employed. A flip of the top of his paper, a look would send us scurrying. In town his presence was more in his things--his workroom, his car, his pipe, his chair, his coats, his records, his books--than in person. We held him in awe, but we barely knew the man.

Dad didn't know much about kids. We were, like the dog, companions for a long hike in the woods--well, not quite as good as the dog until we got big enough to keep up with him and the dog. And, indeed, things were best on weekends when in the woods with him. This, doubtless, reminded him of the good parts of his own childhood, of summers in Michigan particularly, and there he had things to show us, things to tell us about. There he would share something of himself, at least of his younger self and the remnants remaining in the little time he had outside of work, outside of fixing the house or the car or whatever project he had going in his basement.

Things improved, however, thanks to the books. Dad had, compared to others' dads, lots of books, books going back to his college days, books that had belonged to his dad. Dad also had a suspicion about television. For much of my childhood, we didn't have one and when we finally got a hand-me-down from his mother we weren't allowed to watch it except to watch it with him. That meant a lot of educational television, plays and ballets and foreign films, the occasional talk show or news report, and, exceptionally, anything with Diana Rigg, the British actress. So, I started reading a lot as soon as I learned how and much of it was what was at hand.

That, the reading, helped me become "close" to Dad, close enough at least to be able to talk, to ask him for reading recommendations, to discuss politics intelligently. We never got--indeed, we still aren't--intimate. That always made him uncomfortable. But he started respecting me for that at least, even though I often was trying for something more personal.

So, I know my dad very much through the books he's read and reads, the music he listens to, the political commentators he approves of and stuff he thinks entertaining. On the comedic side his favorites were all wry: Carl Sandburg (whom he had known as a child), James Thurber and, most to my liking during early adolescence, Jean Shepherd.

Jean Shepherd writes mostly about his family either from the perspective of a child or with evident sympathy for this perspective. His childhood, like my dad's, was during the depression at the southern reaches of Lake Michigan. His childhood, unlike my dad's, is painted in warm colors, remembered as, I suppose, Dad would like to, but can't quite, recollect his own.

[Guy Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Guy walks into a bar…

Basically this is a story, rather stories, a man tells while visiting his boyhood home. He drops in to see his friend who owns the local bar. Together they wax reminiscent about the good old days over beer and Boilermakers. Their interactions are really just interludes introducing a memory of yesteryears.

Jean Shepard is best known for his screen play and narration in the 80’s Holiday Classic “A Christmas Story” so when reading this novel it is easy to hear the voice of the adult Ralphie. The stories within the novel hold many discussions of a time long past. First published in 1966 the stories of a depression era North Western Indiana Town of boys, their families, girls, bully’s, teachers, neighbors, and of course Red Rider and his trusty air rifle.

The Book is much more than the film many say this book is based on. I am here to tell you that there are stories and images the film shared, but it is just a taste of the nostalgia and humor this book delivers. As a kid of the 70’s running loose in the neighborhood I can relate to even these stories of the late 30’s and early 40’s. Sure my old man was not into the same cars as Ralphie’s. My old man was more into whatever he could afford. A VW Bug, a Karmann Ghia, and the coup de gras of his 70’s purchases’ a Monte Carlo. Each forever in some form of disrepair.

The writing is very visual and descriptive. The language is a little superfluous. There are more adjectives in a sentence than I have ever heard before. We are introduced to the fictional Hohman in this way:

“Hohman, Indiana, is located in the extreme Northwestern corner of the state, where the state line ends abruptly in the icy, detergent-filled waters of that queen of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan. It clings precariously to the underbody of Chicago like a barnacle clings to the rotting hulk of a tramp steamer.”

Few nouns, proper or not, are left alone. They are lead to by several creative adjectives to insure you are properly placed in the moment and insure that you can not only see, but feel and smell the thing.

I enjoyed this very much. It is a fun roll and actually took me back to some of my youthful indiscretions my particular pack of misfit friends got ourselves into.

Jean Shepard is a hell of a story teller. Many of the stories woven together here were actually first published in Playboy in the early to mid-1960’s. Proving there were worthy articles in the magazine. Mr. Shepard is indeed a gifted humorist and writer.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming and funny, "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" is a novel of interrelated vignettes containing the short stories that eventually became the classic holiday movie, "A Christmas Story." In the book, Jean Shepherd tells the sometimes heartbreaking and dark, but tongue-in-cheek, laugh-out-loud stories of growing up in a Northern Indiana mill town during the Great Depression.
Whether he's describing visits of the personal tax assessor, raffles at a movie theater, or anticipating Christmas in childhood, he brings to life in vivid detail the world of a bygone era, when material wealth wasn't the throwaway ephemeral chattel of life that it is now.
I was fascinated not just with his humor, but hearing about the way he described school, neighborhoods and town life -- much like the way my mom remembers this type of community; she also grew up in northern Indiana and remembers the lifestyle and culture of the place, even though she's a generation younger.
As this December marks Indiana's 200th birthday, I'm trying to read books by and about Indiana authors, so Shepherd is a natural pick -- highly recommended.

[Tom Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masterful writing by a talented storyteller. Jean Shepherd's tale of coming home to Indiana is sweet nostalgia for a Midwestern kid like me, long since moved away to escape the bitter cold. It's warm sweaters, grandma's cooking, childhood freedom, all rolled up in one. I read it at Christmastime (of course!) and it sets the exact right mood for holiday cheer. But there's more to the book than a celebration of Christmas, though that's what it's most famous for. The collected stories are fond remembrances of Americana and celebrations of -- to borrow Shepherd's penchant for semi-ironic importance by way of capitalization -- celebrations of Childhood and of Life Itself.

4 stars out of 5.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

After watching "A Christmas Story" for the millionth time during the holidays I was craving more of Jean Shepherd's humor. I was familiar with his radio show but was pleased that there was a book version of many of his stories. This is a funny and entertaining read and you can see his influence on modern humorists' storytelling. It reminded me a lot of Bill Bryson's recollections of growing up in suburbia (a few decades later). The stories area loosely connected by meeting up with an old pal at a bar and they reminisce about growing up. His sarcasm and poking fun of the people of his town is excellent and the dialogue is genuine. Loved it.

[spoko · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually started reading this just before Christmas, but kept putting it down to read/finish other things. In case you’re not at all familiar with it, this is the book that the movie The Christmas Story is based on. My advice: If you like that movie, avoid this book. If you don’t like that movie, forget this book exists.

The cover blurb says that Shepherd bridges the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris. But he’s neither as concise as Thurber nor as interesting as Sedaris. Neither is he as funny nor original as either one of them. Basically, Shepherd has maybe a half-dozen humorist tricks that he uses over and over again. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll recognize them. There’s the “stuff of legend” trick, for example, where he remarks in one way or another that a particular event is still part of the lore of Cleveland Street to this day. Funny in the movie, not so much in the book—especially by the seventh time he uses it. There are a very few others, and these are the devices he turns to over and over again throughout the book.

And don’t even get me started on the frame. I’m not a big fan of frames as a storytelling device anyway, but (a) Shepherd’s particular frame is a really lame one, and (2) he’s not satisfied with just one frame, so most of the book exists within a double frame. Basically, the premise of the book is that he’s going back to his hometown and hooking up with an old friend (Flick, who’s in the movie) for drinks. They are bullshitting and Shepherd completely dominates the conversation with wistful stories from their youth. But he begins most of these stories for Flick by talking about some event that’s happened to him recently in his Life in the Big City. This is the double frame I’m referring to. You can imagine how annoying this gets.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. It’s a crappy book, and I only bothered finishing about 3/4 of it. It’s pretty rare that I consciously give up on a book, but I just can’t waste any more time with this one. Obviously, if I could have given it less than 1 star, I would have.

[Blair Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash is a collection of hilarious anecdotes and memoirs about Shepherd’s childhood in the fictional town of Hohman Indiana. Many of these stories would be incorporated into the film A Christmas Story in which he also cameos. Shepherd’s writing is superb with a tint of nostalgia. The chapter about the old man’s major award (leg lamp) is literary gold.

“Victory is heady stuff, and has often proved fatal to the victors.”

“Beer brings out the philosopher in me.”

“Demand always controls price; never quality.”
-Jean Shepherd

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book that inspired A Christmas Story. I read the whole book in the movie narrator's voice.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each Christmas I re-read A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd. It is a collection of short stories on which the movie is based. I recently decided to purchase the author's three full collections of short stories.

In God We Trust (All Others Pay Cash) is the first of those three. (Eleven of the fifteen stories were new to me.) Shepherd had an interesting way of pulling everything together. He starts in Chapter 1 by going back to his hometown as a middle-aged adult. In a local bar, he finds Flick, his childhood friend, as the bartender. They start reminiscing and Shepherd tells stories. Between each they reminisce some more.

If you enjoy Americana or are just a major fan of the movie, you will love this collection. It would be easy to say that the best stories are those used in the movie but the others are just as interesting. And, you will find scenes throughout and minor occurrences that you will think "aha, that's where it came from".

Shepherd's voice sang through each story. I read them with his rhythm and cadence. Even though he is describing a childhood a few generations before my time, it still rang true. From the childhood guilt you would feel if you got away with something or the joy of getting a "free" gift with purchase (my favorites were the Smurf glasses we got at Hardees.) There is a lot of laughter to be found in the stories but also the heartfelt reality of hard times.

This was originally published in 1966 and read through today's eyes, it would be easy to bristle at some of his language and his references to women. But, the truth is, I was able to give him a pass here. Getting a sense of who he was, I feel he deserves it as there really was no negative intent. Others might disagree and that's fine. For me, though, I think you do have to look at the period in which a book was written and make some allowances.

Anyway, I wanted to include a snippet so that you can understand what a genius Shepherd was at articulating something that you've always felt but have never been able to put into words. In this scene Ralph has repeated a very inappropriate joke with very inappropriate language to his neighbor. When his Mom finds out, she confronts him and he admits telling the joke but she knows that he didn't 'get it' when he says that one of the words he used was related to hockey (this continued to make me laugh even as I typed this). Ralph is afraid that the hammer is about to drop when she goes to talk to the neighbor. Enjoy:

"About half an hour later I hear her out in the back, talking over the fence to Mrs. Wocznowski. And I am frantically trying to hear what she is saying. I'm out in the kitchen, next to the icebox. This is terrible, because I know I have done something awful, and yet I don't really know. You know what I mean? You don't really know, you just know that what you have done is unspeakable. Unspeakable! You not only feel that it was unspeakable, you feel untouchable. I mean, you're just really rotten! To the core. You are never going to make it up the ladder of human virtues. You are never again going to be accepted into the race. Ever. You know that sickening feeling? It takes a hundred years to grow out of that one, if ever!"

Ralph's Mom proceeds to explain to Mrs. Wocznowski that they boys didn't understand the joke. Mrs. W is crying and upset. Ralph's Mom is trying to hold back laughter.

4/5 stars.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard not to hear Jean Shepherd's voice as you read this book, especially if you know him best as the narrator of the movie A Christmas Story. The movie was adapted from sections of this book, sometimes verbatim, though some parts of the movie came from stories that didn't happen at Christmastime. Shepherd is one of the modern masters of hyperbole, building his tales on great towering word structures until it's hard to know what's real and what's imaginary. (Since this is a fictionalized narrative a la Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon or John D. Fitzgerald's Adenville, there's probably a lot of truth mixed up with fiction.) As with other episodic novels, my overall rating is influenced by my liking some of the stories better than others, as well as my general (and unjustified) disappointment that they weren't all about the young Ralphie of the movie.

[Devon Stearns (DevonsFairlyRelaibleBookPicks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hard enough to put down, chapter after chapter. Ralphie narrates his story, mixed in with A Christmas Story about his life in childhood to adolescent hood. From where he climbs up the slide and tells Santa that the Red Ryder BB gun was what he wanted and not the football that was so called suggested from the big man, Santa Clause himself before sliding away down into the fake snow laid on the ground inside the mall. What I most loved about this book was that not only were his stories were bringing up some of my own of my own childhood memories. Ralphie will always be my favourite character not only because of his wittiness but the fact that it was lighthearted, fun and pure enjoyment of what was truly like of being a child all over again.

[Terry Cornell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites! Many of the stories from the book were incorporated in the movie Christmas Story. Written with the same humor and nostalgia, while filling in some of the details. Highly recommended,

[Derick Lugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean Shepherd nails the hilarity and chaos of growing up, with stories like the famous “Red Ryder BB Gun” and the ridiculous leg lamp that I now want in my life.

The writing is sharp, the humor is timeless, and Shepherd’s voice makes it feel like you’re sitting down with an old friend swapping stories. If you’ve ever loved the classic movie, 'A Christmas Story', this is a must-read.

It’s funny, warm, and just plain brilliant!

[Peter Tillman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Checked out from library and tried a bit. Very clearly not for me! More "humor" I didn't get.

[Unsolved ☕︎ Mystery · Rating 4 out of 5]

- My Description -
This is an insight into the life of a young boy.
The book has a bundle of short stories, including Ralphie Parker's pursuit of the Red Ryder 200 shot carbine-action air rifle.

Adult Ralphie goes back to his hometown, as he recounts his memories. The author switches back and forth, with adult Ralphie talking over old times with his friend Flick.

- My Review -
I love the movie, "A Christmas Story" which was based on this book.

While the book was a bit wordy, it was a fun read.

The ending, I didn't like how it was never explained what happened to his parents. If they were still alive or what they were doing. Same thing with Randy. Nothing was ever said about adult Randy.

The first part of the book, I could actually "hear" Ralphie's adult voice (from the movie) reading the words along with me. Yes, it was wordy, but it worked. Like the movie, the book had a sarcastic sense of humor, which I liked.

The second part of the book reminded me a lot of the sequel to "A Christmas Story" titled "It Runs In the Family". The book had short stories that were shown in the sequel.

The sequel pales in comparison to "ACS" but this book made me appreciate/understand the sequel more.
Now, I might even buy the DVD of the sequel. =)

Anyway, I enjoyed it. After all these years of watching/loving the Christmas classic, I finally read the book. =)

Merry Christmas All. =)

[Christopher Litsinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up as a holiday read (it's largely known as "the book that the move A Christmas Story is based on"). I have memories of loving these stories when my middle school teacher would read them, but in retrospect I think I just remember him loving the stories. Next time I'll just watch the movie.
This is really a collection of short stories held together by a sort of lame and annoying narrative contrivance. On top of that, each of the stories themselves begins with a "Remembrance of Things Past" sort of introduction to the story itself. Between the two, the stories themselves are okay, but more interesting from an anthropological standpoint than in and of themselves. If you're trying to get a sense of growing up in the mid-west during the Great Depression, this might be a fine place to start.

[Heather Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 15 year old LOVES the movie A Christmas Story, so I thought it’d be fun to listen to the book it was based off of together. The audiobook did not disappoint. Read by Dick Cavett and loaded with hilarious sound effects and music, it was a perfect listen. We laughed the whole way through. If your older kid is a fan of the movie, I highly recommend sharing this with them — but, proper warning, there is language in the book (mostly G**d***). It isn’t littered through the whole book but specific spots do contain a good amount. This is something I’m willing to overlook because we talk it out, but I’d want to give a heads up to parents who are especially sensitive to it and certainly to parents of younger kiddos.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Make no mistake, Jean Shepherd is a fantastic humorist and essayist. This collection is entertaining and definitely well-written. It's unfortunate, however, that Shepherd's masterwork, "A Christmas Story," has rendered almost everything else he ever did a footnote. Doesn't matter how funny or how clever his other stories are- you'll always be comparing them to the brilliant writer and raconteur's turn as narrator and author of the most beloved holiday slice-of-life comedy ever made.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The essays the movie A Christmas Story are based on. If you like that movie then you'll enjoy this book. An interesting glimpse at blue collar life in the Midwest in the 1930's.