The Calling of Jujubee Forthright

by Scott Philip Stewart

Click here for information on the author

In the best tradition of southern novels comes the story of a quirky yet lovable 300-pound auctioneer who leads a pack of misfits on a grace-full revival where salvation is on the auction block for the lowest bidder.

This modern-day rendering of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Sinner is set in the north Georgia hamlet of Medlyn, home to high-brow Presbyterian Wentworth College and fundamentalist Mt. Sinai Bible Institute. Sandwiched between these two venerable institutions is the not-so-venerable Town & Country Auction, run by larger-than-life auctioneer Jujubee Forthright. A mysterious glowing lawn gnome shows up at the auction, and then the real fun begins.

Charged by Jesus to go forth and be right, Jujubee embarks on a mythic journey with his boon companions in tow. The merry bands sets off to an island off the Georgia coast where the lowest bidders-as the world reckons them, the ones Jesus called the least of my brethren, the sinners, the poor, the lonely and down-hearted - will answer an "Alter" call. Coincidentally, the highly (self) esteemed faculties of both Wentworth and Mt. Sinai are holding their retreats on the same Island, and there is reckoning to be done. The "movement" gains momentum as it approaches the coast ... just as a hurricane threatens to hit the island.

As he did in his book, The Healing of Ryne O'Casey (Faithwalk, 2004), author Scott Philip Stewart creates characters who are wise, funny, and unforgettable. Reader beware: you'll miss these folks when the book is done. (Faithwalk, 2006)

The Calling of Jujubee Forthright is an interesting story. Interesting in the most cautious sense of the word. I just didn't get it. I am searching for something genuine to say about it, but am coming up with trite responses.

I think the author must have been trying to be real, and the name of the main character "Jujubee Forthright" explains it all. I guess the main character is trying to be "forthright" in his presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The name "Jujubee" explains the quirkiness of the main character - a quirkiness I had a very hard time buying.

Here is a description of Jujubee from the book:

pg. 94 "Jujubee forthright - it struck me again - for all the tics and tacks his face made, and he was a man of a thousand expressions, with those on-again-off-again eyes doing their lazy blink like a lighthouse beacon, and that big head bobbing like a buoy in the bay: That face never smiled." (c) Scott Phillip Stewart

I guess I was unable to suspend my disbelief in the reality of such a character. I just don't know people like Jujubee. I don't often meet people who go around praying things like,

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you. Here we are, Lord Jesus, stuck in the middle with you. The meat in a Medlyn sandwich." (c) Scott Phillip Stewart, The Calling of Jujubee Forthright, pg. 172.

I have seen people quote scripture in prayers, but not the lyrics to a secular song. It is so quirky that I feel as if it is being disingenuous. If you know Jujubee, you know he is not trying to be showy so I am really at a loss for understanding him. Perhaps you have to know The South to understand such a character. Perhaps you have to be Scott Phillip Stewart to understand this character. Just because he is so different from myself, does not mean he is to be devalued as a Christian in any sense of the word. He is free to express himself to God in a manner that is real to him (here I am talking as if Jujubee is a real person!)

The best I can say of this book is the language of the sentences are full of body and essence like a well-chosen wine. It draws you in and makes you want to read more simply for the pleasure of the words on the page, put in just that sequence. It also had me thinking and wrestling with it, trying to understand the character and the story that meanders here and there, meeting different characters along the way. The plot seemed to take a long time to get anywhere - and it lost me along the way. Even the pleasure of the sentences rolling though my mind wasn't enough to keep me tuned in.

I have read some very complimentary reviews of this novel (click here for one) so I I know that some people really like it. I, however, never made it through the entire book.

If you are looking for a flamboyant, original character in an atypical novel, then this is the story for you. It is clever, if not simple, in its complexity (to borrow a phrase from the author), in the retelling of the parable of Jesus. Condemnation of the "Presbyterian Wentworth College" and the "fundamentalist Mt. Sinai Bible Institute" is clearly a rebuke against established organizations and people conforming to the "establishment's" beliefs of what real Christianity is. Equating the Presbyterians with the Pharisees of Jesus' time may be doing them a disservice as I know of some very down-to-earth, service oriented Presbyterian and fundamentalist churches that are very concerned about the down-trodden and preaching the real message of Jesus reaching out the "least of these". I find it somewhat arrogant in its presentations of these organizations as being snooty and "high-brow" and "fundamentalist", clearly not a positive thing. Just as Jujubee breaks the stereotypes of what makes genuine Christians, the stereotype of these high-brow Presbyterians and Fundamentalist Christians is reinforced in this novel. Although breaking the mold with Jujubee, the author constrains the Presbyterians and Fundamentalists within their perceived mold. (No, I am not Presbyterian nor what I would consider Fundamentalist!!)

Okay, I had far more to say than I first thought.

If you have something different to say, I'd be happy to post your review here.