Ray Blackston
Flabbergasted (2004)
Author: Ray Blackston
Genre: Romance/Gentle/Christian
Plot Summary:
Jay Jarvis, stockbroker extraordinaire, is transferred from Dallas to a new office in Greenville, South Carolina. Jay’s real estate agent informs him that Greenville’s churches outnumber the bars twenty to one, so single guys like Jay go to church to meet single women. Soon Jay begins attending North Hills Presbyterian Church and becomes involved in the singles group there. Allie Kyle, a mysterious brunette missionary from Greenville, immediately intrigues Jay from the moment that he meets her. A singles group weekend to Myrtle Beach proves profitable for Jay because he is able to spend more time with Allie, as well as his best friend Steve and Steve’s lime green loving object of affection named Darcy. On this weekend trip, Jay learns of Allie’s poetical talents, missionary work in Ecuador, and quirk for throwing food. Throughout the trip, the singles ponder the question: “Would Jesus drink a beer on the beach with his friends?” The singles return to Greenville, Allie returns to her work in Ecuador, and Jay is offered a major job in New York City. The two seem to be growing apart because they are so far away and Allie begins dating another missionary, but Jay’s relationship with Christ grows stronger everyday, especially after a near-fatal fishing accident that lands him in the hospital and inspires questions of what happens after we die. Jay finds a singles ad online that sounds suspiciously like Allie. Jay ponders whether this is a divine wake-up call for him to go and be with her. Could it be part of God’s plan?
SPOILER: Jay responds to the ad, which, of course, was placed there by a lonely Allie. The singles group is made to believe that Jay is moving to his new job in New York, he takes a plane to Ecuador, not New York, in a surprise turn of events. At the end of the novel, we find Jay and Allie as happy as can be living in the jungles of Ecuador and enjoying an existence based on Christian ideals, not materialism.
Geographical Setting: Greenville, South Carolina; an Ecuadorian jungle village
Time Period: Contemporary (2004)
Series: Greenville, S.C. trilogy - Book One
Appeal Characteristics: Very little actually happens in the book, plot-wise, yet Flabbergasted still manages to feel fast-paced, throwing its characters into situation after crazy situation. Written in a humorous tone, it offers a quirky look at the lives of twenty-something Christian singles. It's straight out of the fledgling "lad lit" genre, reading something like Bridget Jones' Diary as written by a Christian guy. The book is peppered with bizarre characters - an old Baptist minister who catches sharks just to pet them on the head and return them to the ocean, a church janitor who composes haikus, Allie's best friend Darcy, who speeds along in a lime-green Cadillac convertible, and a married surfer dude who still hangs around with the singles group because - well, no one really knows why. At the end of the book, readers feel like they've gotten to know Blackston's characters, and will likely be sad to let them go - luckily, there are sequels!
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed Flabbergasted will be happy to know that it's the first in a trilogy. The second book, A Delirious Summer features Neil Rucker, a missionary home on furlough at the suggestion of his Spanish student, Jay Jarvis (of Flabbergasted. He hopes to break his long dateless streak in Greenville, South Carolina. The final book of the trilogy is Lost in Rooville, which sends the missionaries of the first two books on a trip to Australia. More books that fans of Flabbergasted< might enjoy are Boo, by Rene Gutteridge, and its sequel, Boo Who. In Boo, the small Indiana town of Skary is horrified when its resident horror novelist, Wolfe Boone, suddenly gets religion and starts dating the girl next door. Gutteridge's books feature the same humor and quirky characters that readers of Flabbergasted are likely to enjoy. Another book with a similar feel, although this time coming from the female point of view, is Kristin Billerbeck's What a Girl Wants, in which main character Ashley Stockingdale, successful patent attorney, struggles through the mishaps of a Christian single girl on the dating scene. Again, the humor and the light-hearted Christian tone will likely be appealing. Another "chick-lit" type book is Sharon Ewell Foster's Ain't No River featuring materialistic black lawyer Garvin Daniels, who's trying to keep her rich 70-year-old Grandma away from a young man she suspects is a fortune hunger. African-Americans who enjoy Christian fiction will especially enjoy Foster's portrayal of black middle-class life. Finally, readers who enjoyed Flabbergasted for its humor and quirky take on single life and are willing to venture out of Christian fiction might enjoy Tom Robbins or Nick Hornby. For Robbins, I'd recommend starting with Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which features Sissy Hawkshaw and a similar crazy, meandering style of writing to Flabbergasted. For Hornby, I'd suggest High Fidelity, the story of Londoner Rob Fleming, who loves his not-so-successful record store and struggles with commitment to his lawyer girlfriend. Similar to Flabbergasted, Kristin Billerbeck’s Ashley Stockingdale series that begins with What a Girl Wants is a Christian chick lit series that follows the humorous life of Ashley Stockingdale, a patent attorney on a quest for love and an understanding of Christ. Monday Morning Faith by the prolific Christian author Lori Copeland presents a Christian missionary love story in a more serious tone. Following a missionary named Sam into the New Guinea jungle, Johanna Holland reevaluates her decision to follow Sam. A fellow “Christian dude lit” book by Rick Dewhurst called Bye Bye Bertie follows the humorous life of Joe LaFlam, a second-rate detective that looks into the disappearance of the sister his beautiful blonde client, Brittany Mulligan. Christian romance writer Lisa Samson in her novel The Church Ladies is a sobering and sarcastic novel that follows the local “church ladies” who are looking for comfort from church members in a bitter world. In the group meetings, women confess affairs, the deaths of children, and the rejection of Jesus by family members. The quintessential “chick lit” novel Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding could be a possible next book for some readers that enjoyed Flabbergasted. This comedic novel written in diary form details friendships, boyfriends, career, and family life of Bridget Jones, although readers should be wary of extensive foul language and a few sexual scenes.
Red Flags: None.
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