Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream God - Softcover

Powers, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0445042877 ISBN 13: 9780445042872

Publisher: Warner Books, 1978

Synopsis

All religions have worked hard to give you the impression that I’m a stiff; the kind of guy you’d never invite to a party. . . . I like laughter and the people who do it; from the twitterers to the chucklers to those whose laughter roars out in a gallop of explosions. To me, laughter is taking a bite out of life and saying, “Just right.”
 Signed: God Clever yet cynical Tim Conroy, a failed idealist with a chip on his shoulder, is unable to find a secure place for himself in 1960s South Side Chicago. He narrates his bittersweet struggles with God, sex, career, and education in a voice that evokes an Irish Catholic Holden Caulfield. This poignant, skillfully told tale concludes John R. Powers’s memorable coming-of-age trilogy that includes The Last Catholic in America and Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?

About this title

Book Description:

The concluding novel in John R. Powers’s memorable trilogy set in mid-twentieth century South Side Chicago is the poignant tale of an ambitious and gifted young man from a blue-collar neighborhood who struggles to find his place in a world that seems riddled with insincerity. He narrates his bittersweet battles with God, sex, career, and family in a voice that evokes an Irish-Catholic Holden Caufield. The first two novels in Powers’s trilogy have also been reissued in the Loyola Classics series.
 

About the Author:

John R. Powers was born in 1945 on the South Side of Chicago. He earned a BA in sociology from Loyola University Chicago and an MA and a PhD in communications from Northwestern University. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Studs Terkel, a Chicago radio personality and writer known for his oral histories (Hard Times, The Good War). Powers was a professor of speech and performing arts at Northeastern Illinois University for six years. He also created and hosted a number of specials for Chicago public television during this time. Powers’s stories first appeared in the form of articles written for Chicago magazine. The novels followed in quick succession: The Last Catholic in America, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, and The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice-Cream God. He has written one other novel, The Junk-Drawer Corner-Store Front-Porch Blues, as well as Odditude: Finding the Passion for Who You Are and What You Do. He and his wife, JaNelle, have two daughters, Jacey and Joy. He lives in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and is a motivational speaker.

About this edition

• Publisher: Warner Books
• Publication date: 1978
• ISBN 10: 0445042877
• ISBN 13: 9780445042872
• Binding: Paperback