Like others of the best "Southern" novels, Jujitsu for Christ is filled with odd, interesting, idiosyncratic characters, both black and white, who strike the reader as unique individuals but who are instantly recognizable and familiar to anyone who has lived in and closely observed Southern society.

What this means is that Butler, as novelist, has performed the rare feat of creating and portraying human character in such a way that the individual and the typical are blended so perfectly that the characters seem real. It is exactly what Chaucer achieved on a larger scale with his Canterbury pilgrims, and what other authors have done in their most successful work.

Butler's characters include, in addition to Roger, Patsy, and the Gandy family, an array of the most striking minor characters to be found in contemporary fiction. One is Jimmy McMorris, a student-politician and highly visible Christian in high school...