by Joseph Heller
1984
The story of King David, portrayed as a wunderkind whose time has
passed, who has lost his God; Solomon is a moron, Bathsheba a schemer.
It was funny and touching. It mixed Biblical speech with modern slang
to humorous effect. David's references to many things modern, although
"now" in the book is when he is seventy and thus it's still Biblical
era, did throw me a bit. What I liked best was how human the characters
were, how Heller took apparent discrepancies in Scripture and made them
into symbolic, meaningful, complex and human acts. Also, the
disjointed chronological order of the book resembled the ramblings of an
old man looking back, each story reminding him of another. All in all,
a very solid book.
four stars
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