Member Reviews
Claudia R, Librarian
I listened to ~70% of this audiobook. Had I not listened at 2x to 2.5x speed, I would not have gotten that far. This book is extremely, unnecessarily, agonizingly long. I had been listening while sewing and saw that I was only 25% through and had another 9-10 hours (assuming normal speed) to go.
The title declares this book is a "novel", and there is a weak plot. However, the "plot" is a vehicle for a series of monologues and discussions of nontraditional biblical interpretations. These interpretations were interesting, at least they were at first. Then the whole format became tiresome. I decided I did not want to listen to any more of this book, which is unfortunate, because I did find some of the arguments interesting. I was just too put off by religious theory masquerading as a novel. The scant story line and characters were completely boring and contrived. I did not care about them or their ridiculous situations.
In my opinion, the author should have written a nonfictional account of his research and theories. I probably would have finished that book. He obviously knows the subject and has invested a great deal of thought and research into the topic. I think a nonfiction book would also appeal to a wider audience. I found the approach he chose to be almost dishonest, as though he is trying to hide his religious agenda in a work of fiction.
The theories were intriguing but the execution failed completely.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for my unbiased review.
T M, Reviewer
When I began listening to this book, I began to reflect on a conversation I had more than 20 years ago. I posed the question about someone walking away from their faith because of an incident of horrific proportions. The incident I discussed was very similar to the one presented in this book. Considering I live an hour from St. Louis, a city playing a prominent role in the book, caused this book to take on even more significance than I had originally thought it would. All in all an intriguing read, with lots of apologetic material presented in the course of the debate.
