LONDON - 5 November 2007 - 320 words
A Gangster's Guide to God
Anne Dunhill
A Gangster's Guide to God by John Pridmore with Greg Watts, ISBN-10: 0955571405, is published by XT3 a will be released tomorrow.
John Pridmore met God in 1991 while facing
trial for GBH. At the time he was working in security in Central
London and living in a world, as he puts it, of `easy money, violence,
drugs and women.' Baptised a Catholic, his problems began when
he was ten and his parents divorced. He lost interest in school,
drifted into petty crime and served several terms in prison
events chronicled in his best-selling autobiography From Gangland
to Promised Land. Pridmore now lives in a religious community
and spends his time lecturing in prisons and schools.
The Gangster's Guide is less an autobiography than a series
of meditations and observations on modern life illustrated with
autobiographical sketches, and backed up by tales from the lives
of Christians Pridmore admires. These range from Jesus and the
apostles to Louis Pasteur, Mother Teresa, and members of his own
family. The book is divided into short chapters with titles such
as `The Guv'nor God', `Get over it self forgiveness'
and `Giving up the gear addictions' providing a unique blend
of contemporary and eternal themes.
The physical fearlessness displayed by Pridmore in his days as
a security guard has been translated into a literary fearlessness
in tackling the politically correct themes of today. In the chapter
on sexuality, Pridmore quotes a cardinal in Africa, accused by
a journalist of being responsible for people dying of Aids, who
replies that `Abstinence, not sex, is the solution to the problem
of Aids'. `But you can't expect adults not to have sex' replies
the journalist. `Why? Are they loved children of God or are they
dogs?' retorts the cardinal.
Pridmore's mixture of black humour and intense spirituality make
the Gangster's Guide an enjoyable and at times intensely
moving experience. It's the sort of book that can be kept by the
bedside and dipped into regularly and with pleasure.
© Independent Catholic
News 2007
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