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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
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.
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
medium-paced
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.
Disturbing and beautiful. Elements of The Road, Lord of the Flies and Station Eleven. The clinical efficiency of the children and the utter incompetence of the parents offers insight into how the world arrives at this point. And Jack’s brutal honesty is absolutely heartbreaking, “we already had the promised land”.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I wish I had a better sense of what the author was trying to accomplish here: is this book supposed to be some sort of allegory, a commentary on modern families, or culture, or something else? Whatever she was trying to do, I don’t think she was terribly successful, as the book, though fun to read, is more than a bit murky and confusing. Some great characters among the kids, though, and Millet’s portrayal of the parents is both brutal and hilarious.
Not sure I totally understand the layers to this book but I really liked it.
dark
reflective
medium-paced