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A review by ottiedot
A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
4.0
3.7 maybe?
An extremely unique novel that viscerally talks about the anguish of a generation failed by their predecessors, the nonchalance towards a climate Armageddon, and children, driven feral, forced to create their own social order much in the same flavour as Lord of the Flies, except more optimistic.
More than a narrative, it is chock full and dripping with symbols, incredibly glaring Biblical motifs in a context that is modern yet timeless and surreal yet grounded. There's a storm and a flood, a birth in a barn, trail angels, a mysterious saviour etc. However, towards the middle the novel abandons it's strange hazy allegorical tone and heavily genre shifts into a post apocalyptic survival story.
I thought that while there were interesting ideas here, definitely, they were just those-ideas. They weren't crafted or strung together with that much expertise and the reader is left to pick up much of the pieces. And the elements that are supposed to be obvious and messages and morals we're supposed to walk away with are thoroughly spelled out- God is nature, Jesus is science, the Holy Spirit is art. Blah blah blah is how we must deal with the climate crisis. I think there is a much better balance that can be struck here in regards to planting themes without being super explicit with them. All that said I did get chills reading about these rich deluded parents who preferred to distract themselves from the pillaged world around them by clinging on to sex, drugs etc. and most of all a sense of false normalcy-they continued to go to work via video calls. Seems very familiar when you think about the hellscape world we live in today.
Despite a number of misgivings I'm glad I read this book. I can't say I've read anything of this nature before. Although, I was reminded of the Satoshi Kon film, Tokyo Godfathers at certain points.
An extremely unique novel that viscerally talks about the anguish of a generation failed by their predecessors, the nonchalance towards a climate Armageddon, and children, driven feral, forced to create their own social order much in the same flavour as Lord of the Flies, except more optimistic.
More than a narrative, it is chock full and dripping with symbols, incredibly glaring Biblical motifs in a context that is modern yet timeless and surreal yet grounded. There's a storm and a flood, a birth in a barn, trail angels, a mysterious saviour etc. However, towards the middle the novel abandons it's strange hazy allegorical tone and heavily genre shifts into a post apocalyptic survival story.
I thought that while there were interesting ideas here, definitely, they were just those-ideas. They weren't crafted or strung together with that much expertise and the reader is left to pick up much of the pieces. And the elements that are supposed to be obvious and messages and morals we're supposed to walk away with are thoroughly spelled out- God is nature, Jesus is science, the Holy Spirit is art. Blah blah blah is how we must deal with the climate crisis. I think there is a much better balance that can be struck here in regards to planting themes without being super explicit with them. All that said I did get chills reading about these rich deluded parents who preferred to distract themselves from the pillaged world around them by clinging on to sex, drugs etc. and most of all a sense of false normalcy-they continued to go to work via video calls. Seems very familiar when you think about the hellscape world we live in today.
Despite a number of misgivings I'm glad I read this book. I can't say I've read anything of this nature before. Although, I was reminded of the Satoshi Kon film, Tokyo Godfathers at certain points.