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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
After great sadness, a sudden stillness comes...,
This review is from: The Eternal Footman (Hardcover)
James Morrow has a formidable reputation among fantasists. This is the man who's willing to take on the Old Testament (Bible Stories For Adults), the idea that lying is better than telling the truth (City of Truth), the atom bomb (This is the Way the World Ends), and even God Himself (Towing Jehovah and Blameless in Abaddon). It's my pleasure to report that James Morrow's deepseated grief and anger with how unpleasant people, and philosophy, can be to other people is still alive and well (unlike, of course, God, in this third book of a trilogy). There are a few familiar faces from Morrow's other work that turn up in this book- both friendly and not so friendly. The book is surprising- and at the risk of spoilering slightly, it's unlikely that you will anticipate the ending-- though it is impossible to imagine the book (and the trilogy) ending any other way. A truly wonderful book, from a truly questioning mind. Mark Twain would be proud.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Atheist's Doomsday,
By
This review is from: The Eternal Footman (Paperback)
This is the final work in Morrow's excellent trilogy on the "death" of God. Unlike the wacky and satirical "Towing Jehovah" and the extremely intellectual "Blameless in Abaddon," this third installment takes on the tones of Stephen King or Dean Koontz in a slightly creepy doomsday scenario. Here God's giant corpse from the previous books finally decomposes, with the skull ascending to the sky and orbiting the Earth, constantly reminding all of humanity that God is really gone. A psychosomatic plague of death wipes out most of the western world before people come to their senses and embrace a new age of rationalism. Once again this is all a vehicle for Morrow's highly structured Atheist theories. He's not an agnostic who believes nothing, but an intellectual who has arrived at Atheism through reason and research. This novel continues to represent Morrow's theology, which is surely thought provoking regardless of your religious persuasion. Unfortunately, this installment is the weakest of the trilogy, with Morrow's post-apocalyptic wasteland showing little imagination or creativity (see King's "The Stand" for a better example), followed by visions of a politically correct future world of enlightenment that are too rosy for belief. Also, the conclusion takes way too long wrapping up too many subplots. But still, Morrow's highly articulate and visionary trilogy will never cease to provide food for thought.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jim Morrow's got it right again...,
This review is from: The Eternal Footman (Hardcover)
THE ETERNAL FOOTMAN is possibly Jim Morrow's most scattershot and esoteric novel. Not really happy with only satirizing one topic, Morrow takes on everything from breakfast cereal to art critics in 400 pages, while managing to make some rather interesting observations and arguments about Mankind after religion. This book has recieved some of the most tepid reviews that Morrow has ever gotten (he usually gets enthusiastic praise) but I'll disagree. ALthough it is his least focused novel, it works as a stylistic choice rather than being distracting. At the same time, FOOTMAN is the only novel of Morrow's other than ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER (which remains his best) that really fuses compelling narrative with compelling philosophy. The other two volumes of his trilogy go too far on other sides. TOWING JEHOVA is too narrative driven, while BLAMELESS IN ABADDON is more stump speach sermon than novel. All of his works are strong satires that anyone could learn from, and THE ETERNAL FOOTMAN is one of his best. If you've never read Jim Morrow before, this is a pretty good introduction to him, although I would say read the other parts of the trilogy first. If you've read the trilogy, don't forget to check out ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER, probably his best book (and one hell of a wild ride).
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