Handling Sin

Wonder, madcap, outrageous, hilarious farce. Raleigh Hayes of Thermopylae, NC, discovers his father has absconded (after escaping from the hospital) with the family fortune and taken off for points unknown in an egg yolk-yellow Cadillac convertible. His companion of choice is a young female - no big surprise - but she's also a mental patient and of a race traditionally looked down upon in the Deep South. Raleigh, following clues on a left-behind list that give him 7 tasks to accomplish, sets off on what quickly and predictably becomes an odyssey. His sidekick is his friend Mingo, and the two of them quickly become the lead comedic characters in their own play as they wend their way toward New Orleans and a "planned" rendezvous - as if anything could really be planned when dealing with this wacko cast.Wonderful.

OK... I admit I read this book well over a decade ago for the first time. I've read it twice since. "Handling Sin" is just one of those really great books. I don't mean great like "Bonfire of the Vanities" or something like that. I mean great like 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "David Copperfield". I'm talking classically great. And "Huckleberry Finn" is good for comparison as "Handling Sin" is a journey book as well, where the main character, Raleigh Whittier Hayes, travels throughout the south in search of his father, only to find, you know i'm gonna say it, himself.First and foremost, "Handling Sin" is belly-laugh funny. I've never laughed with a book as much as I did with this one. And it's touching as well. I came to really like the characters that people this book. At the end, I really wanted to continue knowing them. I could go on and on praising the merits of this book, but you people don't know me so I'll keep it short. There is one last thing to be said: none of Malone's books approach the sheer joy and mastery of this one. I know; I've read and been disappointed by them all.

I've just finished reading Handling Sin for the second time--something I rarely do, there are just too many books I haven't read yet--and I think I enjoyed it more this time. It is a laugh out loud, fall out of your chair funny story. I loved each of the characters our hero Raleigh takes on the journey his father sends him on. I hated to see the story end -- I want to know what Mingo is doing now, what happened to Gates, and where or where is Weeper Berg. I'm sure I'll read this book again.

Do not read this book where you are supposed to be quiet because it's sure to make you laugh out loud. I first read this book about ten years ago and recently reread it and it was even funnier the second time around. Michael Malone characterizes Raleigh Hayes, his family and friends not as buffoons but as real (if somewhat eccentric) people that get swept up in extrodinary situations. If you've ever felt you were the only sane person in a world gone mad, you will be able to identify with Raleigh. Not only did this book make me laugh till my face hurt but there are some very touching moments as well.

This is my all-time favorite book, and I have read a LOT of books. I bought this book over ten years ago at a grocery store, and have read it about once a year since then. I've loaned it to many friends, it's been mailed to Hawaii and Tennessee, I've dragged it across country with me on vacation (I ALWAYS take it on vacation trips). I had to quit reading it while eating lunch because I would laugh so hard, I was afraid I would quite literally choke to death. "Handling Sin" is an absolute must-read, a hilarious and touching story about family, love, friendship, and accepting life as it comes to you. Raleigh Hayes and his neighbor Mingo set off on a quest to return Raleigh's father Earley to the hospital. Earley has taken off with an unknown young woman, and has left Raleigh instructions to gather several seemingly bizarre and unrelated objects, and bring them to New Orleans. Desperate to retrieve his ailing father, Raleigh approaches this task with the same determination and focus his applies to everything he does. Life, however, has other plans for our hero. Join Raleigh, Mingo, Raleigh's ne'er-do-well brother Gates, master criminal Simon Berg, saxaphone player Toutant Kingstree and Peaches the pig as they galavant throughout the South, butting heads with the Marines, Hell's Angels, nuns, and gangsters. Enjoy the Infamous Barbeque at Wild Oaks, and thrill at the derring-do atop Stone Mountain. This story is a joyride from beginning to end. Come join us.