Bible Stories for Adults

I would probably give this book two-and-a-half stars, but GoodReads does not offer that option. The reason is that I found the quality of the stories to be variable. A couple of them were very good, but others sort of dragged and did not seem very substantial at all. Out of the bunch, the one about the androids believing in evolution was probably the best one. It looked at a relevant topic, had a nice take on it, and it had a touch of humor. "Daughter Earth" was poignant and moving; I think many readers will enjoy it. The story about Job was a bit disappointing. I honestly wished Job would have really taken God head on as the story suggests he might, so the ending seemed a little weak. I did like the idea overall, but I thought the show more story could have been stronger. By the way, the opening story, the one about the deluge, interesting idea too. I liked that one, and I think it is worth a look. Overall, I think the anthology is worth reading, but with the caveat that the quality of stories is not consistent. I am still curious enough that I would seek some of Morrow's longer fiction. By the way, if you are easily offended, or you take your religion too seriously, this is probably not the book for you. If you are more open minded, jump right in. show less

James Morrow has been called the Salman Rushdie of Christianity, and it's books like this collection of satirical short stories which prove how much he deserves the title. Read about creationism turned on its head, robots who think they're the product of evolution. Read about Job's rematch with God, the other survivor of the flood, and a couple robots named YHWH and SATAN. And there are many more excellent stories than the few I've mentioned.

This was a pretty cool collection. Morrow has some pretty original ideas and most of the time he pulls them off. Some of them are on the absurd side and remind me of Frederic Brown. My favorites were -No. 31: The Covenant- and -No. 46: The Soap Opera-. Below are my notes on each story, including spoilers.

No. 20: The Tower (Great idea to have God as narrator and reverse of Babel.)
No. 31: The Covenant (Cool and original. Funny but some of the arguments against the commandments were a bit of a stretch. Did Satan save the world or just trick it's last hope?)

No: 17, The Deluge (Cool captain's log entries, cool idea about how evil spread even after the deluge.)

The Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge (Cool use of "Ghost of Present Perfect" type show more ideas but really just a trick and not that big of a deal.)

Abe Lincoln in McDonald's (I didn't get it at first but the end made sense. Abe Lincoln goes to the future to see what it will be like if he gives up on freeing the slaves. He witnesses a murder and that makes his decision.)

Arms and the Woman (Helen of Troy gets old, fat and wrinkled while the war rages on over her beauty. She's hidden so it doesn't demoralize the troops. When she decides to give herself back they try to kill her and install a fake Helen so they can keep having their war.)

Daughter Earth (Completely absurd but interesting. Woman has a baby that is a biosphere. When the government wants it to experiment on they let it go into space. They find out that the Earth was the experiment and the child is a new earth safe from all the mistakes we made.)

Diary of a Mad Diety (Really dark. Sister get's raped so he develops multiple personalities. Cool idea that he has so many personalities that he becomes God over the personalities.)

Know but to God and Wilbur Hines (I don't really get it. Kind of dark and strange.)

No. 46: The Soap Opera (Job wants an apology. Hilarious and quirky. Great idea.)

Spelling God with the Wrong Blocks (Robots are left to themselves to build a society. They end up establishing genders and worshipping darwin. Also burning heretics. Funny and a cool original idea.)

The Assemblage of Kristin (It was a great idea but confusing for most of the story. A girl donates all her parts when she dies. The people that get the parts get together and when they do she becomes alive in each one of them.) show less

James Morrow's work consistently impresses me. This has his usual blend of dark seriousness and clever humor. I'd especially recommend this for fans of his Only Begotten Daughter. Not all of the stories are perfect, but there are some real gems in here.

fav story - Daughter Earth