Book Review – “The Hoodlum Preacher”

w/picCaption: “The Hoodlum Preacher” by Burton Barr Jr., c.2006, Kobalt Books, 200 pages.By Terri Schlichenmeyer Did you ever notice how some people manage to mess up, no matter how many chances they get in life? Burton Barr, Jr. had lots of chances in his lifetime. He says that he was lucky time and again. People supported him all his life and God stepped in more times than Barr could count. Still, as you’ll read in the new book “The Hoodlum Preacher”, drugs and alcohol were a stronger pull than the church that called to his heart. When Burton Barr was nine years old, he told his mother that he wanted to be a preacher. She told him that he couldn’t just decide, but that God had to call him. Barr says that he hung around the phone for awhile, but God never called. That didn’t stop Barr from preaching to his brother and their dog. Being a preacher was an all-but-forgotten notion when Barr became a teenager. He says that he and his friends weren’t bad kids. They didn’t run with gangs or steal. At least not at first. Skipping school led to partying, which led to drinking, sex, and fighting. Barr says that he drank himself into a stupor several times. This was 1965, and drugs had not come far into Barr’s Chicago neighborhood. Yet. Barr held down several jobs, including some on “the fast track”, but lost them all for inattendance, theft, or inappropriate behavior. He fell in love but although he got married and started a family, he couldn’t stop being unfaithful. And still, he says, lucky breaks came his way. Although he had no high school diploma and he was addicted to drugs and alcohol, Barr joined the Marines in 1971. He became a soldier and worked his way up (and down) in ranks, and he says he was finally a man he was proud of being. Until the fall. Despite that he was a sergeant, Barr began dealing drugs, stealing, and lying. He became estranged from his children. He lost friends to the streets and he lost his Marine rank. Barr was in and out of jail and he felt as if he had no future. Until God told him that he would get out of prison, but he would come back as a very different man. Memoirs, as a genre, have taken a beating lately, but “The Hoodlum Preacher” isn’t your ordinary memoir and author Burton Barr Jr. is not your ordinary writer. Barr isn’t slick with his pen and this book is not overly-edited, which is good. Because of the lack of flash, “The Hoodlum Preacher” reads like a letter from a personal friend or someone who has your best interests at heart. Barr isn’t pretentious or superficial; instead, he simply tells his story. He doesn’t over-moralize, but he manages to slip Bible verses and inspirational messages into his tale, almost before you’ve noticed. If you’re looking for something with grit, humor, truth, and a message you can use, read this book. “The Hoodlum Preacher” may just be the memoir you’ve been praying for.