My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of a Gun
download cover image ►

My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of a Gun

Title Details

Pages: 240

Trim size: 5.500in x 8.500in

Formats

Paperback

Pub Date: 10/01/2012

ISBN: 9-781-5883-8274-0

List Price: $17.95

eBook

Pub Date: 10/01/2012

ISBN: 9-781-6030-6154-4

List Price: $17.95

Imprint

NewSouth Books

Related Subjects

HUMOR / General

My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of a Gun

Skip to

  • Description
  • Reviews

My Daddy Was a Pistol and I'm A Son of a Gun is a special memoir, an unabashed confession of a man's love for his father, told as only humorist Lewis Grizzard can.

Grizzard's father was a man of tremendous contradictions, of lusty appetites, of rare warmth. He was a charmer of men and women and a consummate con artist. A certified war hero and a shameless passer of bad checks. An overpowering personality and a man of great courage. Finally the self-described mah-velous Major Grizzard was a drinker, capable of going off on a bender that could wreak havoc even for those he loved most.

If the Major is the soul of this book, Lewis Grizzard is the heart, flashing back and forth in time. Grizzard offers his trademark hilarious and touching recollections of eccentric aunts, compassionate teachers, sagacious bosses; of being kidnapped and traveling with his daddy by bus to small towns all over the South; of learning to tell jokes; and of understanding how to laugh—and cry—at life.

Grizzard's My Daddy Was a Pistol will entertain as well as surprise his legion of established fans as well as those just discovering Grizzard for the first time.

Vintage Grizzard. You will not want to miss it!

—San Diego Union

Warmth and surprising depth ... his daddy would be deeply pleased and proud of his son.

—Sacramento Bee

Lewis Grizzard has a way with words, but it is more than that. He sees and says things that most of us only dimly perceive and then don’t even mention.

—Miami Herald

Deeply felt ... entertaining and eloquent.

—The New York Times Book Review

His most serious book—both sad and moving.

—The Florida Times-Union

A heartfelt look at unconditional love.

—Philadelphia Inquirer

Lewis Grizzard can make you laugh from the belly and a moment later you will suddenly get misty and you are certain that something has got in your eye.

—San Diego Union

Offers a stronger, sadder theme to the usual mix of good-ol’-boy joke telling ... By the end of the book it is hard to remember when it stopped trying to be funny and hard to forget that powerful image of a good man gone astray.

—Kirkus Reviews

A sad book, a funny book, a very human book—and one that Lewis Grizzard had to write.

—The Courier-Times

It will tear your heart, will make you laugh, but most of all will reintroduce the art of remembering.

—The News

Lewis Grizzard is funny. Almost always. But he also has the ability to start you laughing and, while you are in the middle of a good belly laugh, change directions on you ... He can leave you open-mouthed and with a tear in your heart.

—Chattanooga Times

Tender, spooky territory: that country of the heart inhabited by fathers and sons.

—Atlanta Journal & Constitution

Funny and sometimes gut-wrenching ... you don’t even have to like Grizzard or his opinions to appreciate My Daddy Was a Pistol. You just need a father you love.

—Salisbury Post

A bittersweet account of a son coming to grips with a broken home ... The younger Grizzard’s brand of humor is good-ol’-boy, deeply drawlin’, and occasionally red-necked. He takes no prisoners.

—Chicago Tribune

It will affect and delight you and then long afterward, persist in your memory.

—Detroit Free Press

About the Author/Editor

LEWIS GRIZZARD (1946-1994) was a writer and humorist known for his commentary on the American South. Although he spent his early career as a newspaper sportswriter and editor, becoming the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal at age 23, he was much better known for his humorous newspaper columns in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a popular stand-up comedian and lecturer.