We All Fall Down [Paperback]

Brian Caldwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2000

When you no longer need question the nature of the universe, does it follow you no longer need question the nature of your soul? The Christian Bible is true, the prophets were right, and Armageddon is now. Using this dramatic backdrop, Brian Caldwell explores the nature of hatred and forgiveness, divinity and damnation. Building to a shattering, inevitable climax, WE ALL FALL DOWN employs biting realism in the story of one man's confrontation with the end of the world, God, and, most harrowingly, himself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Brian Caldwell is one of the most original contemporary novelists I have read. (Brian also makes an excellent radio show guest.) We All Fall Down is a profound and riveting read. It is unusual for such a comtemporary novel written with vivid imagery, to approach authoratively such ancient and new subjects as the role of God and evil to promote relationship... rather than simply being selected as lifestyle choices. --Publishers Review, June, 2007 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Brian Caldwell's short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines, including, THE THRESHOLD, THE TRANSCRIPT, and THE BROWNSTONE REVIEW. WE ALL FALL DOWN is his first novel. He currently lives in Salem, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: Infinity Publishing (PA) (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0741404990
• ISBN-13: 978-0741404992
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,338,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an important book, December 6, 2000

By 

Chris (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We All Fall Down (Paperback)

For far too long, fictional explorations of Christianity have been held hostage by poorly written novels that seemed more interested in progaganda than in truth. It's a history that has done too much damage on both sides of the fence...............................................

On the other side, novels that take such simplistic viewpoints about the faith utterly fail to engage practicing Christians or challenge them to explore their beliefs with any real depth. Left Behind turns off non-Christians and allows Christians to develop a sense of self-satisfaction. Both results are harmful.

Caldwell's novel avoids both traps. I have no idea if Caldwell is a Christian or not. What I do know after reading his novel is that he takes the Christian faith seriously, seriously enough to honestly look at why so many people reject it, to honestly look at what it is in humanity that keeps us seperate from God. This novel can be read as a character study, an exploration of spirituality, or simply a good adventure. It succeeds on all levels.

It's my dearest hope that We All Fall Down becomes a widely read novel because Christianity needs to be talked about in a mature, intellegent fashion, both so that non-Christians can feel like there is a door that is open to them, through which they feel comfortable in exploring these issues and so that practicing Christians have help in engaging themselves in a deeper exploration of their faith. Caldwell's novel brilliantly achives both of these tasks. It is a novel that is a pleasure to read and one that lingers in the thoughts for months after it's completion.

Buy this book.

Recomend it to your friends, both Christian and non.

It's an important work

40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true example of literary artistry and excellence!, November 29, 2000

By 

John Weathers "music lover" (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: We All Fall Down (Paperback)

I'm no stranger to Endtimes fiction. I've always been fascinated by the prophecies of the Book of Revelation. As a Christian, I've wanted to read a work that faithfully holds true to the Biblical prophecies and presents the message of Christianity, but as a lover of literature, I wanted a quality piece of writing as well. Unfortunately, until recently, the closest that I had found was the Left Behind series which reeks of inept writing, simplistic plots and themes, two-dimensional characters, and bad evangelicalism. Then, recently, I discovered the Christ Clone Trilogy, a work that perfectly fit what I was looking for in Endtimes fiction. It featured excellent story-telling, three-dimensional characters, and an impeccable knowledge of prophecy, history, science, technology, New Age, and all other subjects covered in the story. Hence, it provided not only quality, but also accuracy and believability. Not only that, but it also managed to practice the often difficult art of good evangelicalism, i.e. presenting the message of Christianity to a secular audience in a non-offensive manner that might actually peak their curiosity in the Bible and Christianity.

But now I've seen something even better.

Brian Caldwell has done something completely different. Instead of dramatizing the Endtimes events prophesized in Revelation, he has used them merely as a backdrop to tell a riveting and very human story of one man's confrontation with himself, God, and human nature.

_We All Fall Down_ isn't simply a good read - it's an artistic work of true literary merit. When reading this novel, I found myself thinking of the likes of Kafka, Camu, Dostoyevski, Ellison, Conrad, and Steinbeck. Caldwell creates thoroughly fleshed out living, breathing characters who experience complex emotions and behave in the often confusing manner of real life people. Focusing on character development, Caldwell weaves his plot as a natural consequence of who his characters are and how they interact rather than creating characters to satisfy plot requirements. Out of this rich character study, he develops complex themes about human nature, divinity, hatred, and relationships.

I haven't read a more powerful and moving novel in quite some time.

Whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian makes no difference as to the value of this novel.

This work should be read by anyone who loves great literature that makes one think and feel. I cannot stress this enough.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a literary point of view, January 18, 2001

By 

James Dowling (Amherst, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We All Fall Down (Paperback)

A student of mine gave this book and after reading it, I was curious to see what other people's take on it was. It was interesting to read some of the Amazon reviews, particularly the reviews concerning the author's writing abilities.

I'm not going to comment too much on the actual content of the novel, because I believe that that is an area that really depends upon personal tastes. All I will say is that Mr. Caldwell is uncompromising in following through with the theme of his novel, and from there, it really becomes a question of whether or not people are interested in exploring the darker side of mankind, a humanity without belief in the presence of a Higher Spirit.

What I would like to briefly touch on is the literary aspects of Mr. Caldwell's novel, because I think that some people might be missing some of the more complex literary feats that he has accomplished in this stunning work. Mr. Caldwell is one of the few authors I've seen who has managed to move past the Post-modern novel without simply regressing to a previous style. In effect, he has writen a Trans-modern novel. That is, rather than simply embracing the conventional rules of literature, or conversley, creating a work which is mainly concerned with refuting them, Mr. Caldwell has integrated both modern and post-modern to create a unified whole.

The dialouge is straight out of an Elmore Leonard crime novel- tough, funny, and terse, the descriptive prose is lyrical in the tradition of the romantics, the characters are defined by their actions, which are never explained in a traditional, linear way, following the existentialist school of writing, such as Camus. States of pain and ecstacy are reminicent of the writings of Aldous Huxley, Buroughs, and Henry Miller, in their lyrical, almost drugged up quality. The plot itself is subversive, in that it exists, not to complement the theme of the novel, but to stand in oposition. We think Jimmy Lordan is doing one thing, following the conventional role of protaganist in trying to save an old girlfriend, but little by little, we understand that Mr. Caldwell is subverting the role of 'hero' to say something very diffirent about humanity. The plot is non-linear, recognizing that action reaction, be it in actual event or psychological state of mind, does not necessarily flow in a foward motion.

Mr. Caldwell integrates all of these aproaches in a seemless fashion, creating a work of multiple layers which holds up to several diffirent interpritations and readings. These are not errors in syntax or structure, but calculated choices. For example, the final two paragraphs of the novel abruptly switch tense, not because the author is unaware of that switch, but because it personalizes the entire work, and creates an indentification between the reader and Jimmy Lordan that the reader would probably rather avoid. When the main character ends one chapter in open quotations telling a story, and the next chapter begins with those same words, no longer in quotation, the effect is to underscore the subjectivity of a story told in first person tense. It hammers home the point that every single character is not seen in this novel objectively, but through Jimmy Lordan's highly subjective eyes- and further, through the author's eyes and more importantly, the reader's.

In short, this is not a conventional novel, but I think people who are shaken by the writing are allowing their own expectations to cloud the actual quality. I would think that this would be intensified as this is supposed to be a 'Christian' novel, and as such, certain expectation accompany that. Expectations which Mr. Caldwell subverts. The theme of the novel is that we effectively use an assortment of lies and delusions to hide the truth about ourselves, both from the world and ourselves. God sees through all of those lies, and if we are to become close to God, we must also. Our comfortable, conventional ideas about ourselves are actually lies we have told to ourselves. In constantly setting up expectations by use of multiple genre, tone, and structure, and then reversing those expectations, Mr. Caldwell's novel not only speaks to that truth, but creates the SENSATION of having those lies exposed.

We All Fall Down is an uncomfortable novel to read because it communicates, not just an intellectual idea, but a true sense of experience. I don't doubt that many people will be put off by that. But in attacking the literary merits of the novel, they are I think, misrepresenting the enourmous accomplishment Mr. Caldwell has managed. Like all cutting edge work, from Miller to Camus to Buroughs to Bukowski, Mr. Caldwell's skill will initially be rejected and villified by some. Don't be fooled, though, if you read this book, you are reading the beginings of one of the next greats.