Sunday 4 July 2010

A Book Review

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote of how I’d just won Rebecca Goldstein’s 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. I’ve now read it and here is my very first book review.

36 Arguments for the Existence of God is the story of Cass Seltzer who’s book ‘The Varieties of Religious Illusion’ has become a surprise best seller. We then meet various people from his past who have inspired his writing in some way.
The book was ok. The story was nice and the characters quirky. But it was hard work. I don’t want a book that doesn’t give me at least a little bit of a challenge, but at the same time I would like to understand more than two words in every sentence.
I enjoyed reading about the Jewish community, something I have no experience of, but felt that the flitting from current day to the past – sometimes in the same chapter made it confusing and I lost track, several times, of what was happening now and what had happened then.
I also thought that there were a lot of side plots what didn’t really go anywhere. His ex-wife wasn’t really explained and what was the point of Lucinda? I fear that these, amongst other things, are points that I missed or didn’t fully understand because of the language used.
But over all it was an interesting and sometimes funny story with a main character who you end up caring about. It was defiantly worth finishing.

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