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sms8493's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
bewisner's review
4.0
I really wish I could of read this for a class. This book was chock full of imagery, symbolism, and very relevant commentary. Mostly around the Bible, climate change, and generational roles/impacts on climate change. It was a really quick but wonderful read. Someone else please read this so we can discuss it in depth.
theodarling's review
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
barbaraalfond's review
3.0
What a literary mashup this is! If it were a recipe, it might read something like this:
1 part Lord of the Flies, laced with way more sex and swearing ( adjust for saltiness)
1 part Rachel Carson ( if Rachel Carson is not available, you can substitute Elizabeth Kolbert)
1 part The Golden Book of Bible Stories
1 part The Big Chill
1 part The Road ( if Cormac McCarthy is too bitter for your taste, you can substitute The Hunger Games).
This admixture had its highs—-the comparisons of science and God were lovely and rational and filled with light and grace; the morality tale about climate change and the violence that will inevitably come was more than understandable. But it had its lows, too,and the lows were really low. I could not understand the utter abrogation of a houseful of constantly drugged and drunken adults, which was entirely implausible to me, but perhaps the author, very ham-handedly, is making a point about adults despoiling the Earth. She’s right, of course, but I could not imagine this specific scenario of indecency at all. It was really, in the end, kind of gross.
1 part Lord of the Flies, laced with way more sex and swearing ( adjust for saltiness)
1 part Rachel Carson ( if Rachel Carson is not available, you can substitute Elizabeth Kolbert)
1 part The Golden Book of Bible Stories
1 part The Big Chill
1 part The Road ( if Cormac McCarthy is too bitter for your taste, you can substitute The Hunger Games).
This admixture had its highs—-the comparisons of science and God were lovely and rational and filled with light and grace; the morality tale about climate change and the violence that will inevitably come was more than understandable. But it had its lows, too,and the lows were really low. I could not understand the utter abrogation of a houseful of constantly drugged and drunken adults, which was entirely implausible to me, but perhaps the author, very ham-handedly, is making a point about adults despoiling the Earth. She’s right, of course, but I could not imagine this specific scenario of indecency at all. It was really, in the end, kind of gross.
andrewjmorgan's review
2.0
Awful teens. Also when they started calling the hippies “angels” I stopped trying to like it.
angelaasch's review
5.0
An allegory for our time.
A fast moving, engrossing read.
I couldn't put it down.
A fast moving, engrossing read.
I couldn't put it down.
caden_haynor's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
brandonpytel's review against another edition
5.0
Pretty close to finishing this in one sitting, A Children’s Bible is a tight 230-pager that follows a group of children stuck at a vacation house with parents, who are largely boozing, incompetent, and inattentive figures who represent the growing indifference and denial of an older generation.
Throughout the summer, the children are faced with the ugliness of capitalism — drinks, barbeques, yachts, mansions, servants — and play a game to disassociate themselves completely from their patents and what they represent, especially their response to the problems they created: “Most of them had a simple attitude: business as usual.”
But it’s also a coming-of-age story about not only growing up — “Yes, it was known that we couldn’t stay young. But it was hard to believe, somehow” — but wrestling with a climate-changed future: “I was coming to grips with the end of the world, The familiar world, anyway.”
The maturity of the children, and the responsibility that takes over when disaster strikes, resembles the increasing burden put on future generations in our profit-driven society that ignores and fuels environmental degradation. When a hurricane upends this way of life, society falls to pieces, and no one is prepared for it.
The tie that binds the entire book together is Jack’s Children’s Bible, a collection of stories of the Old and New Testament that Jack begins piecing together with childlike innocence. Weaving through the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, Moses, and Jesus, Jack finally cracks the code of religion and the symbolism of Christianity. The Holy Trinity represents much more than what’s on the surface: God=Nature, Jesus=Science, and the Holy Ghost=Art.
The story plays out in real time, as the children escape from the vacation home, which the parents cling to, only to be held hostage by a group of bandits in an abandoned farmhouse. As people get desperate, violence increases, and the symbolism of martyrs and Jesus’ crucifixion becomes central. As the world falls apart around them, The Children’s Bible becomes a symbol of hope and a guide for the future, even if it feels too late.
Throughout the summer, the children are faced with the ugliness of capitalism — drinks, barbeques, yachts, mansions, servants — and play a game to disassociate themselves completely from their patents and what they represent, especially their response to the problems they created: “Most of them had a simple attitude: business as usual.”
But it’s also a coming-of-age story about not only growing up — “Yes, it was known that we couldn’t stay young. But it was hard to believe, somehow” — but wrestling with a climate-changed future: “I was coming to grips with the end of the world, The familiar world, anyway.”
The maturity of the children, and the responsibility that takes over when disaster strikes, resembles the increasing burden put on future generations in our profit-driven society that ignores and fuels environmental degradation. When a hurricane upends this way of life, society falls to pieces, and no one is prepared for it.
The tie that binds the entire book together is Jack’s Children’s Bible, a collection of stories of the Old and New Testament that Jack begins piecing together with childlike innocence. Weaving through the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, Moses, and Jesus, Jack finally cracks the code of religion and the symbolism of Christianity. The Holy Trinity represents much more than what’s on the surface: God=Nature, Jesus=Science, and the Holy Ghost=Art.
The story plays out in real time, as the children escape from the vacation home, which the parents cling to, only to be held hostage by a group of bandits in an abandoned farmhouse. As people get desperate, violence increases, and the symbolism of martyrs and Jesus’ crucifixion becomes central. As the world falls apart around them, The Children’s Bible becomes a symbol of hope and a guide for the future, even if it feels too late.