A rather odd book picked up at a Big lots sale - like $1.50 for hardbacks. Billed as a religious book, it is written as a spoof of hell on Earth from a Pagan's point of view. Take a writer, who has written a book about a Pagan who finds himself in a world overtaken by Christian Zealots. The book follows the writer and his agent as they try to get the book published and sold with movie rights, and all of the problems they enciounter along the way, as well as giving the reader the book as it would be read by the people the agent has reviewing the book. It makes for interesting reading overall, but a tad jumpy. The premise is sound however.
My issue is that while the book is billed as a spoof, which is obvious, the book represents itself as a representation of Hell, and how Pagans would have to survive in thier own version of hell - surrounded by religious fantatics. Myself, a pagan, I tended to view this a tad differently. The charcters "reviewing" the book thought it was great in how it depicted the Hell on earth scenario for non-christians. While a bit out there and far fetched, in some cases this is what Pagans go thru on a regular basis with some people. Brought up in a Christian household, having been to church for many years as one, the one thing that surprises me is hwo this "promotes" the lack of tolerance for people who belive in something different. Granted - in Old Testament style that was the case - there is only one God, and those who don't believe in Him are dammned. Then comes the New Testament, with much more tolerance for others and forgiveness. I guess its choose your part of the Bible to run with depending on how tolerant you are of tothers. ( )

Heheheheheh, this was very tongue-in-cheek! I grabbed it initially because of the title, though I soon realized that the main characters are agnostic/atheist, not pagan. In my mind the terms are not interchangeable... but that's just me. No matter, though, for the world that is depicted in the novel would indeed be a nightmare for anyone who's not Christian!

The story is told as a story within a story. The outer story is of a not-very-successful literary agent who has just received a manuscript from an eccentric writer (heh, is there any other kind?). The agent is friendly but not very hopeful of the stack of paper in front of him, for the writer's last manuscript was titled Aliens Invade Billy Graham's Crusade. [giggle] But as he starts reading it, he realizes it's a "bencher"--a manuscript so good that you end up sitting on a bench and reading it all day, engrossed. As the agent moves along throughout his quest to find a buyer for the manuscript, other minor characters pop in now and then to read parts of it.

The story-within-the-story is of an agnostic man suddenly realizing that something has gone very, very wrong with the world. At the gas station, gas is 12 cents for the redeemed, $6.66 for everyone else. When he goes to McDonald's, instead of golden arches, the employees are wearing golden crosses on their uniforms.

And it all goes downhill for him from there.

What's funny is that this book is listed under "Inspirational"--which I didn't notice until after I'd started. The agent's wife is Southern Baptist, so she voices the outrage that some Christians might feel toward this sort of story... but it all works out eventually, managing to not step on anyone's toes too heavily. ( )