Good and evil do battle again in this folksy follow-up to an Essence magazine bestseller.
The Southern-based Gospel United Church is in trouble again. The African-American church has thrived since its introduction in Church Folk (2001), but as it has spread across the United States and Africa, corruption has followed. The good Reverend Theophilus Simmons now heads up a congregation in St. Louis, where in addition to his own crew of colorful sinners, he must also plan for an upcoming conference. That conference should allow the righteous folk the chance to rein in some errant bishops. But Simmons and company may not be prepared to deal with thieving church officials who want to peddle an African Viagra-like, watermelon-based medicine stateside, using the international church as cover. Bowen (Up at the College, 2009, etc.) never leaves her readers in doubt that the godly will triumph and order will be restored, but she could have had more fun along the way. Although she lays on the colloquial language, making even her educated characters sound like stereotypes, she falls flat when it comes to description. Good is explained simply as being obedient and really meaning it, with more than one church-going character described as lax: “even though she technically qualified for salvation, she never went farther than getting saved.” Evil is much more fun, consisting of sex and drugs and corruption. But even that is anemically depicted, with tired sexual clichés for when the watermelon drug, used to boast energy and prowess, wears off, leaving men feeling “like a plop of poop.” Since these salacious scenes are probably the real draw, couched as they are in avowedly moral storytelling, the slathering on of adjectives might work for those who limit themselves to strictly Christian fiction. However, that appeal is limited. Figure in the loss of the hometown camaraderie that made the first Memphis-based book a success, and it's hard to see how this simplistic morality tale will sell.
Pub Date: July 28, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-57776-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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