Book Review

The Bible; King James Edition.

Reviewed by David hedge.

This work by author or authors unknown is written with a quasi-journalistic style - in fan it almost takes on the proportions of an epic. It is what is commonly known in the trade as a "sleeper" having never featured in the best seller lists but has been a consistent seller over the years and has often rivalled "War and Peace" in the number of new editions that have been published.

The book begins dramatically and the opening chapters are little short of brilliant with their fast moving action and interlocking themes. However, it would have been better if the authors had kept their feet firmly on the ground instead of indulging of flights of literary fantasy and pulling characters out of the air (such as Cain and Abel's wives) rather than introducing them gradually.

However, this promising beginning is soon marred as the plot gets bogged down in long genealogies mat add nothing to the story. The plot gets moving with a flood disaster sequence that almost rivals "Airport 77"for its emotional intensity but the story line soon falters again and most of the rest of the firts half consists of promising better things to come in the second.

The second half opens dramatically with the coming of the Messiah, a Muhammed Ali type figure who claims divine omnipotence and 100% of the profits. However, the plot soon degenerates into a sloppy love affair with Mary Magdalene her like the romance sequence in "Bottle at O.K. Corral", and the ending it Suspiciously like the ending of this film.

There are many divergent themes in this section. The scenes with the twelve disciples are permeated with an underlying mysticism and the Palm Sunday scene is a superb piece of Kitsch. In fact this scene is the best in the book and has served as the inspiration for many more recent works such as "Don Quixote".

Then for some inexplicable reason, the authors insist on repeating the story three times and they include a long appendix of letters and essays which add nothing to the story. Many of these letters serve only to confuse the issue and I feel that this space would have been better used for a comprehensive bibliography and references. In fact it would have been more preferable if the entire book had been properly referenced as much of the content it derivative of earlier unpublished works (T.S. Eliot makes this point in "The Wasteland"), and other material it essentially common to the Kaballah and other Pre-Roman literature.

There is much merit in the work, however, It has been made into a successful stage show and has gained a large cult following. It is short on real answers though and those seeking a real insight into life would be better reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

In conclusion I feel that the authors tried to take on too much in this book. Rather than attempt to bind the many divergent themes together it would have been better to publish a volume of short stories. However, I await the authors' next work with great interest.