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 Writing.Com Item ID: #1412862
 Title:  Danny Gospel by David Athey
 Item Type: Static Item
 Brief:  My review of the book
 Last Modified: 04-11-2008 @ 7:00pm
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When I first read Danny Gospel by David Athey, I jumped right in and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a ride of theme park proportions with something unexpected at every turn. Although I saw it as lighthearted and humorous, I knew there was something more to it.

On second reading I saw the dark side. The humor I saw on first reading was of the "if I don't laugh, I'll cry" variety. Danny is a lost individual. It's understandable. He lost most of his family and he lost his family farm. He even lost his real name in a sense, since he's still known as Danny Gospel because his family was a gospel singing group, although he no longer sings. There are other losses and the losses of 9/11, though not personal, are perhaps just too much for Danny.

Danny just wants a normal life and, probably without realizing it, he starts out on a journey to find it. He doesn't know where he is or where he's going and he didn't know what to do about it until, in October of 2001, an average, lovely woman appears in his bedroom and kisses him. He still doesn't really know what he should do, only that he has to do something.

Danny Gospel is written in first person, so we get Danny's slightly skewed view of things. There were points in this story when I wondered what was "real" and what was Danny's imagination. It's deftly written so that we are never quite sure. I found nothing in the book predictable, and yet it all makes sense and follows logically, taking into account Danny's state of mind. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end.