clonedgoodness 's review for:

The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel by Walter Wangerin Jr.

2.5

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I really should have DNF'd this book after the first few sections. This ultimately felt like a book that just didn't need to exist. Large chunks of the source material were paraphrased with no real addition, refinement, or indeed any characteristics I would associate with a novel. Characters that seem interesting but are poorly fleshed out in the original are just as poorly characterized here, events that seem arbitrary and out of place have no additional context or ramifications, and the slightly more modern prose just serves to highlight what a Lovecraftian horror the god of the Old Testament is.
There are brief parts of the final section, covering the New Testament, that show where the book could have gone. The courtship between Joseph and Mary is charming and the brief PoV sections for Simon Peter and Mary Magdalene start to make them feel like coherent characters at times. But then the adherence to the narrative makes them behave any which way and doesn't build on any relationships or dynamics. You're frankly better off reading the original...