SAVING ST. BARNABY'S

Kenney’s novel tells a story of hard luck and unexpected renewal in Hollywood.

Jimbo Jackobee is suddenly fired from his job as a lackluster teacher at Calhoun Middle School. Meanwhile, an alcoholic priest known as Father Dan no longer feels his calling and merely goes through the motions at St. Barnaby’s in Hollywood (“he had been winging it for years waiting for his judgment day,” readers are told. “When it came, he hoped God was lenient and spared him any more humiliation”). Jimbo, fearing that his wife, Sadie, will kick him out of their Hollywood Hills home, takes a job with her brother, Ziggy, selling vacuum cleaners door to door. At the same time, Father Dan is presented with an ultimatum by Bishop Monahan: Fill the declining church with parishioners, or the diocese will shut it down, just like it closed the adjacent St. Barnaby’s Elementary School. In short order, the two main characters find each other; Father Dan hires Jimbo as a kind of all-purpose church assistant, and Jimbo starts to feel a deep personal connection with St. Barnaby’s, which he sees as being “as screwed up as he was.” As they form half-baked schemes to save St. Barnaby’s, the men form a friendship based on shared humility, as they’re both facing possible catastrophe. However, when Jimbo’s cupidity forces Father Dan to fire him, the former takes up with the pastor of a rival church. The narrative is filled with quips, one-liners, and a zany kind of upbeat energy that keep things engaging. As the story goes on, Kenney manages to keep the unlikely plot twists coming, which involve some sexual escapades, although the broad strokes of the book’s final act are predictable. Also, the book would have significantly benefited from a stronger edit; there are numerous typos (such as “she decided to buy a machine point black”), missing punctuation, and slip-ups; for instance, “Suck It Up Vacuums,” the name of Ziggy's company, switches to “Suck Em Up Vacuums” later in the book without explanation.

An earnest story of a modern-day church miracle that’s hampered by awkward execution.