THE PENULTIMATE TRUTH by Philip K. Dick

I finished over half of it on We 1/30/19. This was 'The Day of The Polar Vortex' and I didn't leave the house- didn't even open a door. Temps never rose above 15 below and wind chills in the twenties and thirties below zero.

This book was chock full of enticing concepts and delightful ideas, but after a short period of time the writing style gets too much to bear.

The premise is that the world has been decimated by a huge nuclear war and the remaining population must live underground due to widespread nuclear fallout. This is all a lie so that the ruling class can live like kings on the surface of the planet.

'Yancemen'- these are the public relation people that write the lies to keep the people from coming to the surface. They are working for the leader of the West-Dem, Talbot Yancy. Pac-Peop is the international opposition group, but both organizations are fiction.

'Leadies'- are what the characters call robots.

'rhetorizor'- is a writing machine that completes the author's thoughts and makes them grammatically correct. This is one of Dick's 'wild ideas' that have come to fruition in real life.

This novel is a consolidation of three earlier short stories by Dick; "The Defenders","The Mold of Yancy", "The Unreconstructed M". 'The Penultimate Truth' was released in 1964.

Plot summary from wikipedia-

"World War III begins early in the 21st century. It is fought between the two superpowers, West-Dem and Pac-Peop. The fighting is extensive and severe, most of it performed by "leadies", robots built to withstand the most extreme circumstances. The Earth becomes a battlefield. Unable to exist in the atmosphere created by robot war, vast "ant tanks" are constructed underground to save the diminishing human population.

The government and war engine remains on the surface; the elite "Yance-men". Their president, Talbot Yancy, delivers inspirational speeches to the tankers, motivating them to increase their production of leadies and win the war. The war does eventually end. However, the Yance-men design a conspiracy to maintain the wealth of the Earth for themselves. Yancy continues to describe devastation in televised speeches. The tankers continue to produce leadies.

Talbot Yancy is actually a computer generated simulacrum. The Yance-men program him from the "Agency" in New York. They live in immense villas on private parks, called "demesnes". The leadies are actually used by the Yance-men as personal servants and to maintain their estates. The Agency is run by the most vicious and greedy Yance-man, Stanton Brose, who is kept alive by pre-war artificial organs which he hoards.

The story begins in one of the tanks, named Tom Mix (named after the actor Tom Mix). The tank president, Nicholas St. James, is forced to go to the surface to buy an artificial pancreas on the black market. He emerges on David Lantano's property (a Yance-man). When some of Lantano's leadies try to kill St. James, they are destroyed by a mysterious man who looks like Talbot Yancy. St. James wanders around, through the ruins of a war, and eventually ends up at Lantano's mansion.

Simultaneously, Joseph Adams (another Yance-man) is put on a special mission by Brose. He must plant evidence of alien artifacts on land belonging to a real-estate agent (Louis Runcible) so the land can be legitimately seized. The artifacts are buried using a time travel device. One by one, the people attached to this project are killed. Adams fearfully retreats to Lantano's mansion.

Another person to appear in the mansion is Webster Foote, the owner and operator of a private detective corporation. Foote accepts work on a per-case basis from everybody (including Brose, Lantano and Runcible) but wishes to save Runcible from the plot against him.

Lantano then reveals to Foote, Adams and St. James, that he is a Cherokee from the distant past, somehow being given extended life by the time travel device that placed the artifacts back in time. He has lived through history, taking many positions of note under different names, and now he has killed the members of this special project. Lantano, Foote, and Adams together now plot to kill Brose and free the people underground.

However, Adams figures out Lantano was behind the deaths as part of his plot to bring down Brose. In desperation and fear, he joins up with St. James, who discovered a cache of artificial organs, and flees into the Tom Mix tank with him. They discover that Lantano was ultimately successful but contemplate that the biggest lie is yet to come."

EXIT WOUNDS by John Westermann

Finished Mo 1/28/19

This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I bought in late summer of 1992 and read the first time and finished on Sa 8/31/96 which was the first day of my Labor Day Weekend.

The author is a retired policeman who writes about police business in Long Island.
The novel is set in the fictional town of Belmont which might reference Belmont Park which is actually slightly east of Queens NY.

Orin Boyd is the lead character and he is an alcoholic, bent cop who is forced into treatment and given the chance to clear his name by cleaning out the corruption in the 13 Precinct.

George Clarke is his new partner and he is even more alcoholic and bent. Kenny, a police officer who died of cancer is Orin's old partner. This guy was corrupt.

All the top officers of the precinct are on the take and they are under the thrall of a black crime operation that runs a numbers operation under the cover of a black religious leader who is also a ghetto drug kingpin.

The police force is portrayed in almost a comical manner; "They're busy getting rich, getting wrecked, chasing women, and they want Boyd to get on their gravy train- or get lost".

I had a little trouble keeping track of the action, but basically Orin and George organize a gigantic caper that brings all the bad guys down. Orin steals a huge quantity of money, enough to head south of the border, but he can't leave his wife (they are in the process of divorcing) and young daughter, Dawn.

For some reason (I really didn't follow this), the high ranking 'good' cops excuse Orin's excesses (he has murdered several policeman) and let him reunite with his family and maybe even continue in law enforcement.

The style is comedic and Orin is a sympathetic character, but maybe Westerman goes a bit too far in that it's not very believable. He's far too hapless.

In 2000 this was made into a movie starring Steven Seagal, although not available on Netflix. 'A dunce playing a dunce'....this might have worked.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon

Finished Fr 1/25/19

I borrowed the book on Kindle from the library.

This is a book that was recommended to me by Becky at last Wednesday's book club meeting. She remembered that I had an interest in books about autism. I am sure that I'd read the book before, but it was well worth a second look. I think this might have even been a selection for the book club several years ago. The book was released in 2003.

First person perspective- Christopher Boone; 15 year old from Swindon, England (80 miles west of London/ 35 miles east of Bristol).

Asperger syndrome, high-functioning autism, savant syndrome.

The book uses prime numbers to number the chapters. I was a little confused since the first chapter is '2'.

Christopher lives with his father, Ed. He has been told that his mother, Judy, died of a heart attack two years earlier.

She actually left the home and relocated to London with Roger Shears who was a neighbor of the Boone's.

The action begins when Christopher discovers the body of a dead dog, Wellington (large black poodle). The dog has been impaled on a garden fork. Christopher canvases the neighborhood and Mrs. Alexander tells him that his mother had been having an affair with Mr. Shears.

Christopher is writing a book about the incident and Ed takes it from him. He says that he shouldn't be bothering the neighbors.

Christopher searches the house for his book and finds a box of letters that were sent to him by his mother from London. Ed had hidden these letters because he felt that it would be too upsetting for the boy.

Christopher is shocked and appalled that his father had lied about killing the dog (Ed admits this, but says that the dog had attacked him. After Judy left Ed was also very friendly with Eileen Shears, but she didn't want anything to do with Ed, so he flipped out).

Although Christopher had never been on a train by himself, he decides that he must go to London to live with his mother. He takes his pet rat, Toby with him.

After much difficulty (including the police. He hides in a luggage compartment). He finds the small apartment, but he doesn't get along well with Roger.

His mother breaks up with Roger and they both come back to Swindon. Christopher won't speak to Ed, but after weeks, he comes around.

Christopher wanted to take his 'A' levels in math, and at first they were postponed, but he makes the test, and passes with flying colors.

The book ends with Christopher considering a bright future.

Siobhan (Shiv-vawn) Christophers helper at school. She kind of breaks down the complexities of the world for Christopher.

I loved the book, although it's written on the level of 'young adult'. I guess this makes very much sense since it's told through the eyes of a fifteen year old. Overall, this is a very uplifting novel and works equally well for adults or teens.

The author, Mark Haddon also writes children's books and often they are self-illustrated.

WE OWN THE SKIES by Luke Allnutt

Finished Fr 1/18/19

January, 2019 selection Contemporary Book Club

A beautiful, year heart breaking story of how Rob and Anna Coates lose their seven year old son, Jack, to brain cancer.

Rob works with computers; sold a code for 360 degree Maps and is working on drones. He's a stay at home dad. Scott is Rob's boss in their start-up. He wants to sell out to the Chinese. Rob drags his feet because he wanted the weekly paycheck (although he works at home).

Anna is the bread winner. She works as an accountant. Lola is Anna's sister; hippy dippy, into holistic.

Dr. Sladkovsky- Prague- bogus clinic; 'immuno-engineering'

Nev- a man that posts positive results about the questionable therapy. His son Josh was totally healed.
The real Josh has died and the boy in the pictures is his cousin. Nev and his family are very poor and live in a bad area. The reason Nev is posting is that he owes many thousands of dollars to the clinic. He was forced to lie and he's a pathetic character because he really was only trying to cure his son- just like all the other people he was lying to.

The random paragraphs between chapters that have no punctuation are the notes that Rob wrote on the photo album that he made of Jack's life. He shows Anna how to add her thoughts. He had thrown out all his pictures of Anna when he was drunk and depressed, but found them on his collection of old hard drives.

When Rob was out of it and had left Anna, she kept contact by posting anonymously on his social media.

Part of the novel is set in Cornwall. This is the far western area of England. Tintagel Castle is where the King Arthur legends began.

Rob and Anna went to college in Cambridge. This town is located 65 miles north of London.

Rob's father was a very nice man. Loved football and drove a cab. Called 'Mr. Hospital' because he took poor immigrants to the hospital for free. Lived in the east end of London.

Anna's parents were strict evangelists. She grew up in a very poor area of Kenya. They live many miles northeast of London on the Suffolk coast.

Although it's not really stated in the book, Rob and Anna go to see 'INTO THE WILD'. I disagree about how they viewed and reviewed the film.(p. 34)  'Alexander Supertramp'

About the author-

"Luke Allnutt grew up in Surrey and has lived and worked in Prague as a journalist since 1998, writing mostly about technology and Eastern European politics. In 2013, he wrote about his father's death from a brain tumour in UNSPOKEN, a Kindle Single for Amazon. A keen runner, he is married and has two young boys."
Kindle Single is a short e book of nonfiction; like what a 'single' was to an 'album'.

THE BRASS CUPCAKE by John D. MacDonald

Finished We 1/16/19

I found this on the shelves and I was looking for a shorter novel to read before I started this month's selection for the Contemporary Book Club. I am familiar with MacDonald's work and I was surprised to learn that this was not part of the Travis McGee series. And, I was shocked to learn that this was MacDonald's first novel from 1950.

NOTES:

Clifford Bartells is an insurance investigator, Security Theft and Accident Insurance Company, Florence City, Florida. It's February, warm, and later the temps drop as the novel takes place over about a week. Melody Chance, her niece, has been in town for two weeks, but living apart from her aunt. The aunt was trying to set up Melody with Furness (Furny)Turnbull. He's a rich, spoiled young man 'on the circuit'-  Hangs with the wealthy, but he doesn't have anything but connections.

Elizabeth Stegman, a rich older single woman from Boston is in Florida with cash, lots of expensive jewelry, The Franklin's- her chauffeur, Horace, and his wife, Letty- the maid.

The title is explained- As a young man (before WWII as Bartells is a vet) Cliff was hitchhiking through southern Illinois and was jailed in this coal mining area. They called the perks behind bars (cigarettes, whiskey, etc) a 'cupcake'. Years later Cliff was a police detective in Florence and he refers to his detective badge as 'the brass cupcake'. He was busted down to foot patrol because he wouldn't take payoffs. The entire police department was corrupt, so he quit and went with the insurance gig.

THE CRIME-
Elizabeth is found murdered in her room and the cash and jewelry are missing.

In the insurance game the company will beat the price that a fence with offer the thieves. If the loot is worth a million, the crooks might only get $500,000 from the fence, so Security Theft and Accident might offer $550,000 for the stolen merchandise. Everybody wins- the crooks get more for the loot and the insurance company saves because they don't have to pay out the million on the insured jewels.

Bartells has connections to the underworld and finds the fence, but the operation stinks because real pros would not have killed the old woman.

WHAT HAPPENED:

Horace, the chauffeur, set up the theft. He didn't tell his wife. He was going to fence the jewels and had no intention of killing his employer. Elizabeth was found blindfolded by Furny on the night of the robbery. Furny decided that if he just killed  Elizabeth he could take what was left. Because Melody would inherit, he wrote up a phony codicil to her will saying that Melody couldn't get the bulk of the inheritance unless she married Turnbull.

Cliff tells different people how much the insurance company would offer for the exchange. $400,000 is what he told the Franklins, and this is the figure that the fence mentions, so he knows the Franklins are at least in on part of the crime.

Another husband and wife are employed at the handoff- the insurance company's money for the jewelry. The jewels are recovered, but the corrupt police department steals the cash and they kill the man.

INTERESTING IDEA:

The money that the insurance company uses in the exchange has been irradiated. By using a geiger counter the authorities can follow the money. In the end they find it in the offices of the commissioner and the police chief. And, one of the bent officers even has some of it in his wallet.

Cliff Bartells becomes the acting chief. Melody seems to want more out of life than living in a backwater Florida town- she has inherited Elizabeth's wealth. But, in the end, Cliff says that he'll take three months to clean up the department, and then he and Melody will take four months off to travel the globe. They're both strong willed, but it seems like 'love will keep them together'.

A nice read and very typical of 'the hard-boiled sexy police genre'.

There was a surprising amount of sex in a novel from 19560. I thought it very odd (even by today's standards) that Cliff has a sexual encounter with Letty, the chauffeur's wife. The couple like to play shuffleboard at a local tavern. Cliff meets them at the bar and gets Letty drunk on beer and then has sex with her. He only wanted to find out the couple's involvement in the crime. She later almost guns Cliff down outside his apartment. Fires numerous times, but fails to hit him. He doesn't press charges because he's probably guilty that he used her.

I loved the book and I'm thrilled that I actually had a copy of MacDonald's first book!!!

'POWDER' by Kevin Sampson

Finished Mo 1/14/19

This is one of my old trade paperbacks. This is a signed copy and according to the flyleaf I bought this novel in Santa Monica, CA on Mo 11/4/02 at Midnight Special Books before an evening showing of 'Punch Drunk Love' at a theater down the street. I began the book the first time on the flight from LAX.

The book is about the rise and fall of a rock band- 'The Grams'- from Liverpool in the year 2000.

The title refers to the bands sophomore effort called, 'POWDER'.

Keva (Kee-va) McClusky- the moody, poetic lead singer. Prima Donna in the making. Skin Care and holistic health care. crafty enough to secure his publishing rights. David Bowie-like.

****Keva's arch rival is another band from Liverpool called Sensira. In the beginning this band was given a few opening slots by The Grams and they seemed to 'catch the wave of fame' before The Grams. Later this rivalry is exploited like The Beatles and The Stones. Helmet Horrocks is the name of the lead singer of Sensira and he's a real loser, just a poser. Didn't even really do drugs, but just acted like he did- until he really does get hooked on heroin. Keva believes that Sensira is a nothing band with no talent.

James Love- Brilliant lead guitarist, but in real-life a nerdy, farting, oaf. Prone to weight gain and wears a jokers hat. The band's heaviest user of drink and drugs. Keva's Johnny Marr.

Tony Snow- The band's bassist. He and the drummer are almost bit players. Snowy is a background character; just doing the job. The sidemen are like the drummer and bassist of The Smiths.

Beano- The drummer and also the sideman. He falls in love with a woman after the band has made it and wants to stay in his cottage with his lovely wife. When they must tour extensively within the first year to really make it to the next level, he puts his foot down. Keva says, fine...it's over.

Wheezer Findley- The groups manager. He has asthma and uses an inhaler but chain smokes at the same time. He's kind of a nerdy clod in the beginning- never swears, but after a few months at the reigns of power begins to develop his 'managerial shell'. Maybe the most successful of the group because he is saviest about looking out for his interests and when the whole thing goes down, his future might be the brightest.

At the final show Keva announces that this would be the last performance of the group. The band knew this was in the wind, but didn't know that 'now was the time and place'. Their last song is a cover of the Velvet Underground's 'Who Loves The Sun'.

I thought the book dragged a little in the first half. It seems like the 'making it' story was less interesting than the 'losing it' story. I learned a lot about how the  'big business' of managing and marketing a successful rock band actually works in the modern world.

From Google Books-

"Keva McCluskey craves success. Other bands are making it big and now his worst enemy is on MTV. Without being recognised among the great songwriters of our time, Keva feels he cannot confront his horrific past. That's why he formed the Grams.

James Love wants all the sex, cocaine and groupies that fame can bring him. That's why he joined the Grams.

Guy (Ghee) de Burnet wants to sell records the ethical way. That's why he formed a record label which prizes morality as highly as platinum discs. When he signs the Grams, it can only end in tears."

The author's page at wikipedia-

"Sampson began writing gig reviews for NME in the 80s, though was famously sacked by Editor Neil Spencer for reviewing a Sex Gang Children concert at a Liverpool club that had been burned down on the night the band had been due to appear. He went on to contribute regularly to The Face, Arena, i-D, Sounds, Jamming, The Observer and Time Out before joining Channel Four as an assistant editor for Youth Programmes.

He left C4 to set up Kinesis Films, a company that specialised in documentaries about subcultures (notably Sole of the Nation, a film about Dr. Martens boots, and Ibiza - A Short Film About Chilling). Sampson returned to Merseyside in 1990 to help long-time friend Peter Hooton set up Produce Records with partners Ian Croft, Wayne Chand, Barney Moores and Paul McKenna. Produce enjoyed a string of Top 40 hits in the early 1990s, including The Farm's "Groovy Train" and "All Together Now."

When The Farm broke up in 1994, Sampson dug out the manuscript to a novella he had sent to Penguin in 1982. Awaydays was based on what he saw during his youth, travelling to, and at, football grounds up and down the country. Inspired by Irvine Welsh's phenomenal debut Trainspotting, Sampson re-worked the novel, which was acquired by publisher Dan Franklin at Jonathan Cape. Awaydays was an immediate critical and commercial success on its release in 1998. Sampson's second novel, Powder, reflects some of his experiences of the music business with The Farm and Produce Records, and subsequent adventures in Ibiza, and working for Richard Branson's V2 Music.

Awaydays was adapted to film in 2009. He writes about his involvement in the Ibiza film A Short Film About Chilling in the Summer 2010 Umbrella Magazine's Issue 1 and a film version of Powder was released August 2011. Surveillance, a film from one of Sampson's original screenplays, was in competition at the Berlinale's "Panorama" section in 2008, and his forthcoming crime thriller Gangsterland is under option with Red Union Films.

In 2018, Sampson was hired to pen World Productions' new mini-series Anne, for ITV, which centers on Anne Williams' crusade for justice after the death of her son Kevin in the Hillsborough disaster of 1989

THE LITTLE FRIEND by Donna Tartt

Finished Fr 1/11/19

This is an author that I learned about from Greg Iles. Tartt is one of his favorite Southern authors- she also sets her novels in Mississippi; this one is in Alexandria, MS (fictional city, but there is an Alexandria, LA) that's a bit south of Natchez.

I read Tartt's 'THE SECRET HISTORY' a few months ago, but I liked this novel much more.

The title probably refers to Danny Ratliff. Danny was Robin's 'little friend'. The Ratliff's were from an inferior social class, so that's probably why the diminutive reference.

This is a long (over six hundred pages) and dense, but it's wonderfully written. Although the book is predicated by the murder of a young boy that occurred twelve years before the setting of the novel, and the search for his killer is a major plot in the book, at the end- it's not resolved. A strange resolution, but I guess it reaffirms the reality of the situation. In the real world, a couple of eleven year olds couldn't solve a major crime that was central to so many in their community.

NOTES:

Set in a small town in rural Alexandria, Mississippi; in about 1970

'Tribulation' is the old family home where the Cleve's/ Dufresnes family grew up. The family sold it off and it became a black rooming house and later it burned down. The is told in a 'faded glory' southern writing genre tradition. The central characters were rich and influential a few generations ago, but now they are threadbare and living in genteel poverty.

Harriet Cleve Dufresnes- She is an eleven year old girl and she was just an infant when her brother Robin was murdered. He was playing outside his home just before a big storm. Later he was found hung in a tree. Harriet is convinced that it was one of his friends that did it. Her great aunt planted this false idea.

Robin- Harriet's older brother who was murdered over ten years before the beginning of the novel. This murder is the driving force of the novel. Hely and Harriet plot to avenge her brother's death.

Hely- This is a close friend of Harriet's. He lives down the street and his family is a bit higher on the economic ladder.

Pemberton- Hely's older brother and this guy was the same age as Danny and Robin, now both men are in their early twenties.

Edie (Edith) is Harriet's maternal grandmother and she is the true matriarch of the family.

Alison is Harriet's older sister. She was about four years old at the time of Robin's death. Both she and Harriet were in the yard during the hanging incident, but neither can remember the details.

Dixon and Charlotte are Harriet's father and mother. After Robin dies the mother begins to drink and drug and basically withdraws from life. Dixon leaves the home and relocates to Tennessee. Although he doesn't divorce Charlotte he has another family. This woman keeps in contact with Harriet and Alison with Xmas and birthday gifts. Dixon has little influence on the family in Mississippi.

The Ratliff family. These people are drug cookers (meth) and Danny and Farish are constantly strung out on meth the entire novel- freaked out and hallucinating.

Farish- A kind of hillbilly mountain man. Missing one eye- he shot it out when he tried to commit suicide while high on meth. Crazy and dangerous and all people are frightened of him.

Danny- Long haired and lanky. He's the family meth dealer and drives a flashy Trans Am. Tat, one of Harriet's great aunts, told Harriet that Danny and Robin didn't get along and this is why Harriet feels that Danny is the person responsible for Robin's death.

Eugene- He is recently out of prison and 'born again'. He has a large burn scar on his face. An inmate threw some flammable goo at him while he was incarcerated and it badly burned his face. A creepy figure in the novel.

Curtis- The mentally challenged brother and he is probably suffering from Downs Syndrome. He has a speech impediment and is a kind of loveable character. The best of the Ratliff's.

Gum- The brothers' grandmother. She is afflicted with various ailments and diseases and should have died years ago. She scoots around with the help of a walker. One day Hely and Harriet throw a King Cobra into Danny's car from a railroad track. They think they are going to kill Danny, but it's Gum driving the car.

A major scene in the novel is when Hely and Harriet break into the Ratliff's apartment and meth lab and steal some dangerous and poisonous snakes. Harriet is convinced that this is a good idea- she's only eleven.

From Fiction Book Review-

"Widely anticipated over the decade since her debut in The Secret History, Tartt's second novel confirms her talent as a superb storyteller, sophisticated observer of human nature and keen appraiser of ethics and morality. If the theme of The Secret History was intellectual arrogance, here it is dangerous innocence. The death of nine-year-old Robin Cleve Dufresnes, found hanging from a tree in his own backyard in Alexandria, Miss., has never been solved. The crime destroyed his family: it turned his mother into a lethargic recluse; his father left town; and the surviving siblings, Allison and Harriet, are now, 12 years later—it is the early '70s—largely being raised by their black maid and a matriarchy of female relatives headed by their domineering grandmother and her three sisters. Although every character is sharply etched, 12-year-old Harriet—smart, stubborn, willful—is as vivid as a torchlight. Like many preadolescents, she's fascinated by secrets. She vows to solve the mystery of her brother's death and unmask the killer, whom she decides, without a shred of evidence, is Danny Ratliff, a member of a degenerate, redneck family of hardened criminals. (The Ratliff brothers are good to their grandmother, however; their solicitude at times lends the novel the antic atmosphere of a Booth cartoon.) Harriet's pursuit of Danny, at first comic, gathers fateful impetus as she and her best friend, Hely, stalk the Ratliffs, and eventually, as the plot attains the suspense level of a thriller, leads her into mortal danger. Harriet learns about betrayal, guilt and loss, and crosses the threshold into an irrevocable knowledge of true evil.

If Tartt wandered into melodrama in The Secret History, this time she's achieved perfect control over her material, melding suspense, character study and social background. Her knowledge of Southern ethos—the importance of family, of heritage, of race and class—is central to the plot, as is her take on Southerners' ability to construct a repertoire, veering toward mythology, of tales of the past. The double standard of justice in a racially segregated community is subtly reinforced, and while Tartt's portrait of the maid, Ida Rhew, evokes a stereotype, Tartt adds the dimension of bitter pride to Ida's character. In her first novel, Tartt unveiled a formidable intelligence. The Little Friendflowers with emotional insight, a gift for comedy and a sure sense of pacing. Wisely, this novel eschews a feel-good resolution. What it does provide is an immensely satisfying reading experience."

The fact that Robin's murder is never resolved made a lot of people on Goodreads mad, but I can live with it. Harriet is only eleven and the real thrust of the novel had little to do with the actual murder. It was much more about the life of a small southern town during the end of the sixties, and that was extremely satisfying. 

THE FINAL TESTAMENT OF THE HOLY BIBLE by James Frey

Finished Tu 1/2/19

I bought this on Kindle after seeing a video where James Frey said that this was his favorite of all his novels. He wrote 'A MILLION LITTLE PIECES'. I thought that 'Pieces' had more most angry point of view I had ever read, and I was expecting 'Testament' to be some kind of a black comedy, but it wasn't.

The original edition of this novel sold for fifty bucks and was made to look as if it was a legitimate bible- Interesting marketing strategy.

The story is what would happen if the Jewish Messiah returned. I was surprised to learn that this has happened a few other times. In the mid 17th century Turkey a man fit the criteria, but he converted to Islam. And in the 20th century a man in Brooklyn was that to be the messiah. This guy died in 1994.

The messiah is born circumcised, on the same day of the Fall of the Temple of Solomon, and he can detect truth from lies by his sense of smell.

The story is told through several of freinds and family who were connected to Ben Zion Avrohom (Ben Jones)

Ben was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family. His older brother converted to evangelical Christianity. Jacob beat and bullied his family, and Ben left when he was fourteen. He traveled the country- drinking and drugging.

He got a job as a construction worker in NYC and a sheet of plate glass falls on him from several stories up. He is badly cut on nearly his entire body, but he miraculously survives.  He becomes known as 'The Miracle Man'. Ben's sister, Esther, sees his picture in the paper and goes to see him.

Another altercation with Jacob ensues, and Ben flees the home. He ends up in a group of people living in the abandoned tunnels of the NYC subway system. They are living under the leadership of a black man called Yahya.

This group is collecting guns for the coming apocalypse and they are raided by the police.  He is placed on house arrest, but miraculously gets out of the electric shackle.

He goes back to the apartment building that he lived at and teams up with Mariangeles, his next door neighbor, and with her child, Mercedes, they travel to a house in upstate NY. This house is owned by Judith, an overweight store clerk with low self esteem.

Ben is contacted by his sister, Esther, because Jacob has almost beaten his mother to death. Ben returns to the family home and Jacob takes him to his church and locks Ben in the office. Ben starts  a fire in the office and the church is destroyed.  He is badly beaten by Jacob, but Ben is taken into custody for outstanding warrants on the weapons charges. He is taken to Rikers Island.

The warden contacts Ben's lawyer, Peter, and wants Ben removed from the prison. He sees Ben as a threat because he has made such a positive change in the place. Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics are getting along and the warden doesn't know how to deal.

Ben is transferred to a mental asylum where he is given a full frontal lobotomy- "It Is Finished".

Mariangeles continues to visit although Ben is completely comatose. She is pregnant with his child. One afternoon she pushes his wheelchair out on the boardwalk (near Coney Island?) and he disappears. Only his clothes remain on the empty chair.

Love Is The Answer, and she thanks all of the friends and family that were most effected by Ben's ministry.

" Religion is responsible for all ills everywhere, Ben solemnly informs us. The Bible is a stone age sci-fi text. God is no more believable than fairies. Faith is just an excuse to oppress."

"When Ben comes out of his near-fatal coma, he is in possession of the same otherworldly powers that the New Testament ascribes to Christ. Is he the Messiah? Ben is evasive on this point, but he brings a sense of serenity and peace to everyone he meets, and he quickly develops a devoted following. His charisma and refusal to acknowledge any civil authority become a threat to the established order, which inevitably leads to a harrowing and suitably mystical end."

"The hierarchies of organized religion, which Ben calls “a beautiful con . . . the longest-running fraud in human history.”

“Faith,” Ben says, “is the fool’s excuse. . . . Faith is what you use to oppress, to deny, to justify, to judge in the name of God. . . . If there were a Devil, faith would be his greatest invention.”

"These variegated narratives, sketched with incisive psychological acuity, give “The Final Testament” its own weird integrity. Through these voices, Frey has made an honest attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus to their radical conclusions; in doing so, he has created a chronicle that, despite its contradictions, moves to its own inner spirit."

Although this is clearly not a perfect book and I'm sure that it is viewed as blasphemy by many, I think that Frey really has distilled the basic and most fundamental message of the messiah- LOVE REALLY IS THE ANSWER. And, an important subplot is that the messiah (and Jesus) had nothing whatsoever to do with the rich and the powerful. He dealt with the dregs of society which in today's world really would be the homeless, the crack addicted, and the alcoholic.