Declare Appertaining To Books God Knows
Title | : | God Knows |
Author | : | Joseph Heller |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 368 pages |
Published | : | November 12th 1997 by Simon Schuster (first published 1984) |
Categories | : | Fiction |
Joseph Heller
Paperback | Pages: 368 pages Rating: 3.8 | 3245 Users | 196 Reviews
Narrative As Books God Knows
Joseph Heller's powerful, wonderfully funny, deeply moving novel is the story of David -- yes, King David -- but as you've never seen him before. You already know David as the legendary warrior king of Israel, husband of Bathsheba, and father of Solomon; now meet David as he really was: the cocky Jewish kid, the plagiarized poet, and the Jewish father. Listen as David tells his own story, a story both relentlessly ancient and surprisingly modern, about growing up and growing old, about men and women, and about man and God. It is quintessential Heller.Define Books In Favor Of God Knows
Original Title: | God Knows |
ISBN: | 0684841258 (ISBN13: 9780684841250) |
Edition Language: | English |
Literary Awards: | Prix MĂ©dicis Etranger (1985) |
Rating Appertaining To Books God Knows
Ratings: 3.8 From 3245 Users | 196 ReviewsCritique Appertaining To Books God Knows
Having been a huge fan of Catch-22, I had been curious to read more of Heller's work for a long time. Something Happened, his follow-up to Catch-22, is the book that I had heard the most about- mainly that it was a challenging read that left many of his fans reeling and wondering whether he had lost his knack for finely honed satire. I had never even heard of God Knows until it was placed in my hands last week with the recommendation that it was "like Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ'sIn Joseph Heller's novel "God Knows", the Jewish protagonist is an old man named David, looking back with bittersweet fondness but mostly regret at his turbulent life: numerous marriages, ungrateful children, constant battling with in-laws and relatives, and a God that seems to have either forgotten or forsaken him. It may help to know that the David in the novel is King David, of the biblical account, kvetching on his death bed about what a mess his life has become but mostly because he can't
Laugh-out-loud at times, this irreverent take on the life of David is thought-provoking, distinctive, and, unfortunately, fairly tedious. Heller employs the same storytelling technique he used in Catch-22, introducing stories and referencing them several times before actually laying them out in full. I thought this approach was quite effective in Catch-22, a good example of technique enforcing theme. Here, however, the repetition as you get closer and closer to the whole story is tiresome. I
Best laugh ever. King David's autobiography. Must read about one-quarter of the Old Testament first to truly appreciate Heller's genuis.
An extraordinary novel. It opens with King David as he is described in the First Book of Kings, in the last few days/weeks of life, with his new servant girl, Abishag the Shunammite. The novel has David looking back on his life, but he also knows about the future. Early on he complains about his portrayal in Chronicles:In Chronicles I am a pious bore, as dull as dishwater and as preachy and insipid as that self-righteous Joan of Arc, and God knows I was never anything like that. So, is David
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is my favorite novel. Not my favorite novel of Heller's, not my favorite American novel, but my favorite novel I've read as of this writing. I've written multiple papers about it and, more than likely, will write about it again in times to come. It said and did things I didn't think were possible in the form of a novel, in the form of anything, really. So it was with significant misgivings I went into God Knows. I feared it would be a decidedly minor work, a bloated and
The long chapters make for tough reading and one needs to have a good grasp of the Biblical account (1 and 2 Samuel). Nonetheless, this is a worthy fictionalised account of David's life. There is some great humor; the dowry payment for the hand of Saul's daughter Michal is the funniest story in the book.One thing I didn't like: the book indicates Bathsheba's complicity in the great sin that caused her husband's death. I do not feel that the Biblical record indicates any complicity on Bathsheba's
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