rating: 5 of 5 stars
The last James Morrow book I read was just pure gleeful blasphemy. This one is still fairly blasphemous, but it also asks a serious question: What would people do if they had concrete, smelly proof that God was 1) a corporeal being and 2) currently dead? Morrow shows the reactions of all types of people–nonbelievers, hardcore atheists, feminists, indifferent people, evangelical Christians, and the Vatican–in this thoughtful work. He balks at no embarrassing question, even wondering if God has a penis, and if so, what it looks like. (If you’re wondering–yes, and very big but otherwise normal.) The struggle to tow the massive Corpus Dei to his angel-built Arctic tomb (and find redemption for the tow-ship’s troubled captain) is compelling.

There are a couple of sequels that I can’t wait to get my hands on.

Tags: agnosticism, atheism, Christianity, God, irreligion, James Morrow

rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you don’t enjoy blasphemy, you probably want to steer clear of this one. I, however, find blasphemy to be a tasty treat, so I enjoyed it a lot, if very quickly. There are some very interesting ideas here: what if someone besides Noah’s family escaped the Flood, what if God reversed his Babel punishment and made everyone understand themselves perfectly, what if Moses had not received a second set of commandments after destroying the first. I love the reimagining of old stories, so I thought this book was pretty cool.

Tags: agnosticism, atheism, awardwinner, blasphemy, fractured faerietales, irreligion, James Morrow