The main character of this book is an insane, genocidal sociopath. First he creates people that have no knowledge of good and evil. Then he requires that they follow rules that can only be followed if they had knowledge of good and evil? What kind of sick, sadistic jerk does that?
Much fun comes from reading these Amazon.com customer reviews of The Holy Bible: King James Version – a good demonstration of what happens when you don't give a “holy” text the unthinking respect that most religions arrogantly demand for themselves, and actually read and analyse the thing instead. Some of the review headers are funny in themselves (“Epic gore-flick spoiled by weird ending”; “Poorly written horror book about an awful dictator called God”; “NOT for children”). And as an acolyte of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I endorse this review titled “Blasphemy!”:
King James has taken some of his inspiration from Pastafarianism, but corrupted its message beyond all recognition. There is no mention of Pirates, or the Heavenly beer volcano, or His Divine Noodliness, the FSM.
RAmen to that. And looking forward to more such matter-of-fact literary criticism of texts from other traditions.
P.S. On a more serious note, I'm currently working on a review of Arun Shourie's new book Does He Know a Mother's Heart?, large chunks of which are dedicated to scriptural analysis. More on that soon.
would love to see your comments on shourie as much as on MJ akbar's Tinderbox. I have my reservations on the vitriolic shourie questioning God at this juncture on personal grounds, but would enjoy if you could also review Akbar's book, since the latter concludes with a very (never use this adjective, my seniors told me unless you feel too strongly) unexpected advice for our neighbourhood. Particulary when he places confidence on the same same Human and Institution which he has lambasted over the previous chapters. Give it a quick read, if possible.
ReplyDeleteShourie's book will be read through reviews, of course, since everyone seems to be reading it after the Eye carried the emotional excerpts. But I am yet to make my mind on buying it. Looking forward to your review, boss
I couldn't stop laughing! The comments are hilarious and awfully good! I'd love to read reviews like these more often!
ReplyDeleteLong live the FSM!!
Definitely! After all there's a sense of humor in every one of us. So why not living up to it? That's the way I like it.
ReplyDeleteYou may like this book
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881451827
I have seen a production of it and it was hilarious.There are some clips on youtube.
@Rahul: Love it!! Can't get enough of stuff like this.
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