Book Review and Giveaway: Holy Ghost Girl

'Holy Ghost Girl'
Author: Donna Johnson


Format: ARC
Published: Gotham; Oct. 2011
Pages: 278
Genre: Memoir
Grade: B
Source: TLC Book Tours


Synopsis: She was just three years old when her mother signed on as the organist of tent revivalist David Terrell, and before long, Donna Johnson was part of the hugely popular evangelical preacher's inner circle. At seventeen, she left the ministry for good, with a trove of stranger-than-fiction memories. A homecoming like no other, Holy Ghost Girl brings to life miracles, exorcisms, and faceoffs with the Ku Klux Klan. And that's just what went on under the tent.
As Terrell became known worldwide during the 1960s and '70s, the caravan of broken-down cars and trucks that made up his ministry evolved into fleets of Mercedes and airplanes. The glories of the Word mixed with betrayals of the flesh and Donna's mother bore Terrell's children in one of the several secret households he maintained. Thousands of followers, dubbed "Terrellites" by the press, left their homes to await the end of the world in cultlike communities. Jesus didn't show, but the IRS did, and the prophet/healer went to prison.


My Take: Can somebody please explain to me why I find books, memoirs mostly, that deal with books with horrible parents fascinating? Is it so I know what not to do? I mean, I find them seriously fascinating. I think in the way other people find books full of facts fascinating. My poor fiancee has to sit there while I whack him on the arm time and again as I go "and then they did this and this to that poor child!" Maybe it goes hand in hand with my obsession with reality TV. Other people's families and all that. Bottom line, if you found The Glass Castle (read by myself pre-blogging) good/fascinating you will most likely enjoy Holy Ghost Girl. 


In Holy Ghost Girl we have little Donna telling us about her fascinating childhood with her poor, naive mother who had the blind faith to follow a tent revivalist and eventual evangelist David Terrell. At first Terrell was poor and their life was hard in the 1960s but eventually in the 1970s life became pretty plush for the Terrells. There were some problems though. These included the fact that Donna's mom would just drop her kids off with random people to be watched for months at a time (random people!). She would not tell them when she would be back, not knowing what kind of abuse they might endure while she was gone. She would force her children in and out of school around the country to follow said evangelist, and weirdest of all, Mr. Terrell was married to someone else and even though the Bible says adultery is a sin they both looked past this and the two were together for years! So yes, I found it quite fascinating.


However, I also found it mildly repetitive. There was a lot of "and then this day we raised the roof of the tent and praised the Lord" and then "on this day we raised the tent and praised the Lord" and so on and so forth. However, you can look past it because this was a real part of our history, these tent revivalists, so for that part alone I was interested to see what they were all about. I remember more the Tammy Fae Baker and the Power Hour so this was a little before my time. I loved learning about it. The fact that their was a whackadoo mom thrown in the plot only gave the story something even more to center around. I praise Donna and her family members for surviving and thriving in such an environment.


Cover Lust: I find this cover not only captivating, but the lone girl slightly haunting. A perfect fit!


Giveaway Details
The publisher has kindly offered up one new copy to a lucky winner! The deadline for this giveaway is Nov. 1st; entries open to those in the US and Canada.

To Enter (Mandatory)!
Comment below with a way for me to contact you.

For Extra entries (Optional), indicate that you are:
+1 Follow this blog on Google Connect (see right sidebar)
+1 Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (include @amusedbybooks in your tweet)
+1 Blog/Post about this giveaway on your sidebar

3 extra entries available. Giveaway open until 11:59pm PST Nov. 1st. I will draw the winners using random.org and announce them here on my blog. Good luck!


For other opinions about this book, here is the full TLC Tour Schedule.