From Publishers Weekly
Saunders's (Pastoralia) idiosyncratic voice makes an almost perfect accompaniment to children's book illustrator Smith's (The Stinky Cheese Man) heightened characterizations and slightly surreal backdrops in this unconventional fairy tale for grownups. Saunders describes the setting, the town of Frip, as "three leaning shacks by the sea," which Smith represents as oblong two-story towers in brick red, ocean blue and mint green situated on irregular plots of land with sinewy trees against a yellow sky that suggest a Daliesque eerieness. The 1,500 gappers, spiky little creatures with multiple eyes, feed on the goats that graze the shacks' backyards; by habit, they split into three groups to attack all three properties at once. One day, the gappers decide that henceforth they will concentrate all their efforts on the goats at only one house, the one closest to the seaAinhabited by a girl, Capable, and her grieving, widowed father. Soon, the two unafflicted families begin to tell themselves that they are superior to Capable and her father ("Not that we're saying we're better than you, necessarily, it's just that, since gappers are bad, and since you and you alone now have them, it only stands to reason that you are not, perhaps, quite as good as us"). Of course it's only a matter of time until everybody's luck changes. The Saunders-Smith collaboration is inspired. Smith adds witty touches throughout, and Saunders's dialogue features uncannily amusing deadpan repetitions and platitudinous self-exculpations. Saunders is much too hip to bring this fable to an edifying ending, but things do conclude as happily as is possible in the morally challenged, circumscribed world of Frip. 100,000 first printing; major ad/promo; author tour. (Aug.) ELI: A NOVEL Bill Myers. Zondervan, $12.99 paper (304p) ISBN 0-310-218039 ~ In this compelling if at times frustrating novel, Myers imagines a parallel universe in which Jesus Christ is born not 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem but 30 years ago in Santa Monica, Calif. Through Conrad Davis, a universe-hopping journalist, we meet the 20th-century Jesus, whose name is Eli Shepherd. In less capable hands, science fiction about a contemporary messiah might become a morass of polemic and pulp, but Myers weaves a deft, affecting tale that preserves the enigmatically audacious Jesus of the New Testament and situates him in our weary, jaded, media-saturated society. And unlike other contemporary Christian novelists who transparently take aim at all things left of center, Myers delivers a messiah who transcends politics, eschewing both the Left and the Right in favor of a place his listeners have never heard of, called "The Kingdom of God." Eli's travels with his disciplesA who include a pornography mogul and a white supremacistAenlighten, entertain and challenge both his fictive and actual audience. Yet it's disappointing that the novel climaxes as Eli's betrayer is revealed; the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension feel like afterthoughtsAevents that deeply affect Conrad but not necessarily anyone else. Despite this and other lapses, such as Eli's uncharacteristically lame explanation for the absence of female disciples, this is a refreshing departure from the usual clich?s of popular Christian fiction. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In a last-ditch attempt to convince his TV producers to run a story on alternate realities, Davis Conrad decides to film the professor who convinced him that such realities exist. Along the way, after a strange accident he can't remember, Davis finds himself fleeing police by hopping into a VW van straight out of the 1960s. The group he's with, dressed in tie-dye and peace symbols, head for a motel laundry room, where they've heard that a miracle will occur. As he lays eyes on an unnamed baby boy, Davis flashes back to a sterile white room, where he seems to be hooked up to machinery. Then, he realizes two things: he's actually popping in and out of an alternate reality where people will think he's crazy if he says anything, and all of the Bibles he can find don't include the New Testament. And the child in the alternate reality? His name is Eli, and he is just starting to prove to one and all that he is the Son of God. Myers (Blood of Heaven) seems to start out in circles but sets up a thought-provoking plot revolving around a simple question: What if Jesus came now for the first time? With this thrilling and ominous tale, Myers continues to shine brightly in speculative fiction based on biblical truths. Highly recommended.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
