The Messiah of Morris Avenue: A Novel (Paperback)

by Tony Hendra (Author) "IN THE BEGINNING ...I knew him only as the Mysterious Stranger..." (more)
Key Phrases: ficus plant, Pastor Bob, Risen Lamb, Inquiring Mind (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In the near future of this alternately cynical and rapturous fable, America is a theocracy where the Christian Right, empowered by laws against blasphemy and witchcraft, controls everything from Congress to "Holywood" and foments Armageddon. Christ chooses this time to return in the guise of José, the Bronx-bred son of a Guatemalan immigrant with a discipleship of drifters and crack whores. Charismatic, open about his divinity and obliging with miracles, José wins over even Johnny Grecco, the jaundiced reporter who writes his gospel. Journalist Hendra, author of the best-selling Catholic- mentorship memoir Father Joe and former editor in chief of Spy, makes José the savior of liberal Christianity. José's theology is vaguely feminist (it includes "God the Mother"), vaguely Gnostic and just plain vague ("Blessed are the doubters..."), but he's militantly for love and tolerance and against war and creationism. Hendra writes a heart-wrenching Passion story, but the novel's broad satire—of both the Christian Right and of spineless liberal appeasers—clashes with the reverence accorded José and his New Agey platitudes (his evasion of the problem of evil is particularly mealy-mouthed). This messiah is an awfully nice deity, but he doesn't give our formidable world its due. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Hendra, author of the very moving memoir Father Joe (2004), returns to his satiric roots in this offbeat novel about the Second Coming. Fruits from the author's stints as editor of Spy and National Lampoon fall plentifully throughout this madcap tale, set in a near-future America in which the religious Right has taken over the country. Hollywood is now Holywood. Presidents are elected--or, really, appointed--on the basis of their religious fervor. Sweeping new laws render anything even remotely critical of religion illegal. Into this sickly puritanical society comes Jose Francisco Lorcan Kennedy, in his scruffy hooded sweatshirt, claiming to be the Child of God. Is he crazy? Internet journalist (and disgraced Pulitzer Prize winner) Johnny Greco thinks so, at first. But soon he and a lot of other people are persuaded otherwise. This is satire with a thoughtful heart, comedy with a serious message (several of them, in fact). Many of the author's sly allusions to contemporary society may elude younger readers, but adults of the right political persuasion will get a Swiftian kick out of it all. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312425392
• ISBN-13: 978-0312425395
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #946,304 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A satirical partly-comic, partly-dead serious novel of the second coming, April 13, 2006

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Messiah of Morris Avenue: A Novel (Hardcover)

Film and music buffs know right off who Tony Hendra is --- he played "Ian Faith," manager of the band in the immortal mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. Readers in the millions know him by a more recent hit, his bestselling spiritual memoir, FATHER JOE.

Forgiveness --- complete, soul-filling, heavenly forgiveness --- is at the heart of FATHER JOE. It is also the soul-satisfying centerpiece of THE MESSIAH OF MORRIS AVENUE. It couldn't be any other way. This novel is about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I mean, literally.

This time around, He is Jose Francisco Lorcan Kennedy --- known as Jay. He's an immigrant's son from the Bronx. He wears a hooded sweatshirt. He's not handsome in any conventional way.

His story, this time around, is told by an unbeliever, Johnny Greco. Back in the day, Johnny won the Pulitzer Prize; now he's a tabloid hack on the lookout for a good story about a freak. And in America in the not-so-distant future, the Second Coming could be Johnny's ticket to ride.

Consider: America is now a full-blown theocracy. There's a "Chaplain-in-Chief" of the Armed Forces. The second "L" has been removed from the Hollywood sign, and the country's most successful evangelist hosts the Academy Awards. Here's a hit movie: Sophie's Free Choice, in which "a young mother pregnant with twins, is told by her (feminist) doctor that she must abort one of them or die." (Luckily, she finds Jesus and "becomes an instrument of divine retribution.") Sex is for child creation only. Gay sex is a felony --- TV sports no longer shows close-ups of the snap in pro football. BMW makes a car called the Babylon. There is a Great Wall of Trump Towers.

In this mindlessly happy culture, who cares --- really cares --- about the poor? Jay. He uses the language of the street, but in every other way, this is the Gospel we know. And the same mission: "to reveal the God in humanity and the humanity in God, by teaching, healing, and, if necessary, dying."

Needless to say, Jay is not exactly on the same page as the American Church, which endorses all wars, is excited by the death penalty and has long forgotten that every soul is equally precious to God. As Jay says, "I come, first and foremost, for the losers."

Hendra stacks the deck against his satiric version of the evangelical Christian movement in America. He gives Jay all the good lines --- "There's no more convincing argument for intelligent design than evolution" --- and all of the miracles. Which is just as well: We all know the story, especially the ending. The success of a book like this lies entirely in the execution.

THE MESSIAH OF MORRIS AVENUE is exciting reading because Hendra knows where satire ends and tedium begins. His novel is a hybrid: partly comic, partly dead-serious. In other hands, that formula could have all the allure of a cold souffle. Hendra, luckily for us, is a master --- for a serious book, it has you laughing out loud all the way through. Well, until the climax, anyway.

God so loved Jose Francisco Lorcan Kennedy that He sent Him to save His children. You'll love Jay too. And think about Jay long after The End. (Or is it, as Hendra wonders, The Beginning?)

--- Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Satire Close To Truth, April 5, 2006

By	booklover "booklover" (florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Messiah of Morris Avenue: A Novel (Hardcover)

As with all brilliant satire, there is a fine line between reality and the satirical version of events which unfolds in The Messiah of Morris Avenue, which is a rollicking read. In the U.S. today, that line seems to be getting finer every day, when lawmakers routinely take Christian teaching, revise it according to their own religious beliefs (which are often anything but Christian) and then put it all to work for the greater glory of the politician.

Whether you are a believer that Jesus is God, or not, this book is important for every thinking American. Because Jesus was a historical figure who said some very important things about love, hope, charity, and forgiveness that an awful lot of people seemed to find true. These truths have been perverted for political gain by some of the most un-Christian people on the planet. While the story lets us laugh at that, it also forces us to think about the deadly serious notion that we are being run by people who stop at nothing -- they certainly don't stop at co-opting the true teaching of Christ. I guess we have to try and forgive them....but we certainly don't have to blindly accept their behavior.

A great book on an important subject.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wickedly witty and awesomely poignant, April 29, 2006

By	Joseph Palen (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Messiah of Morris Avenue: A Novel (Hardcover)

I just finished this wonderful book and am a little too overwhelmed to really write what I would like. For anyone who has felt a spiritual touch that changed his life, it will bring memories and reinforcement. For those who just hate the way wealth and power ignore the poor, it will be a tonic (but not a cure). For those who love humanity but cannot yet believe in miracles (like the narrator), it will warm their hearts and maybe bring a tear. For those who, like me, agree that Jesus did not approve of killing, read chapter 24. I don't know Mr. Hendras' religious beliefs and respect the fact that each person must make his own relationship with God. However, as a previously relunctant, but now fervent, believer myself, I think he has got it very close to right; and it is beautiful.