Imagine if Carl Hiassen ventured to write something like Wilton Barnhardt's Gospel. This would be it, I think. The philosophical bits could have been a lot better thought out, but all in all a good read that is skeptical but not hostile to religion. ( )

Morrow has written a good story, although at times the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the novel are hard to follow. Essentially, he examines the literal death of god and its implications for society as the corpse is towed north by an oil tanker.
The book is well-written and pretty hard to put down at times. My one complaint would be that the character of Cassie, a supposed feminist/atheist, is portrayed as a militant idiot. Although she is a "smart" character, Morrow has written her as rather dumb and inconsiderate.
But, still, really enjoyable and totally irreverant. Thumbs up. ( )

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.

Eris Reads, my book blog ( )

As I checked this book out of the library, the librarian commented that this was his favorite book so I had great expectations for it.

I didn't like it. It's not because I don't like satirical novels (read Lullaby), or religious "commentary" (read Lamb)... it's because... hmmm... I can't put my finger on it. It tried too hard?

It's ridiculous in the way that Lullaby is ridiculous, but at least Lullaby attempted to be so over the top that you knew it, this one tries to pretend that it's NOT so over the top...

Oh, I dunno... ( )

This book is just wonderful. Great satire with a real plot, fleshed-out characters, and loads of symbolic meaning. It's Nietzschean philosophy at a literal level: God is dead, and his two-mile-long body is floating out in the ocean. An angel appears to a disgraced captain of an oil tanker and tells him he needs to tow the body to the Arctic for a proper burial. In the meantime, the Vatican wants him to get it there as quickly as possible so that they can cryogenically freeze the body and resuscitate it later. While the Vatican seems unconcerned with the philosophical ramifications of God's apparent death, the Jesuit Father Thomas Ockham muses aboard the ship, struggling for answers. Highly recommended. ( )