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The World Is a Narrow Bridge
From the author of Mr. Eternity, a darkly comic road novel about a millennial couple facing the ultimate question: how to live and love in an age of catastrophe.
Young Miami couple Murphy and Eva have almost decided to have a baby when Yahweh, the Old Testament God, appears to Eva and makes an unwelcome demand: He wants her to be his prophet. He also wants her to manage his social media presence.
Yahweh sends the two on a wild road trip across the country, making incomprehensible demands and mandating arcane rituals as they go. He gives them a hundred million dollars, but he asks them to use it to build a temple on top of a landfill. He forces them to endure a period of Biblical wandering in the deserts of the southwest. Along the way they are continually mistaken for another couple, a pair of North Carolina society people, and find themselves attending increasingly bizarre events in their names. At odds with their mission but helpless to disobey, Murphy and Eva search their surroundings for signs of a future they can have faith in.
Through wry observations about the biggest things—cosmology and theology—and the smallest things—the joys and irritations of daily life—Thier questions the mysterious forces that shape our fates, and wonders how much free will we really have. Equal parts hilarious and poignant, The World Is a Narrow Bridge asks: What kind of hope can we pass on to the next generation in a frightening but beautiful world?
Young Miami couple Murphy and Eva have almost decided to have a baby when Yahweh, the Old Testament God, appears to Eva and makes an unwelcome demand: He wants her to be his prophet. He also wants her to manage his social media presence.
Yahweh sends the two on a wild road trip across the country, making incomprehensible demands and mandating arcane rituals as they go. He gives them a hundred million dollars, but he asks them to use it to build a temple on top of a landfill. He forces them to endure a period of Biblical wandering in the deserts of the southwest. Along the way they are continually mistaken for another couple, a pair of North Carolina society people, and find themselves attending increasingly bizarre events in their names. At odds with their mission but helpless to disobey, Murphy and Eva search their surroundings for signs of a future they can have faith in.
Through wry observations about the biggest things—cosmology and theology—and the smallest things—the joys and irritations of daily life—Thier questions the mysterious forces that shape our fates, and wonders how much free will we really have. Equal parts hilarious and poignant, The World Is a Narrow Bridge asks: What kind of hope can we pass on to the next generation in a frightening but beautiful world?
263 pages, Hardcover
First published July 3, 2018
31 people are currently reading
1152 people want to read
About the author
Aaron Thier
6 books44 followersAaron Thier was born in Baltimore and raised in western Massachusetts. He's the author of THE GHOST APPLE, MR. ETERNITY, and THE WORLD IS A NARROW BRIDGE (forthcoming July 2018).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
May 16, 2020
The writing is peppy and clever and the sentences clip along but the author made choices about story that narrowed the novel’s appeal for me, namely, making God incarnate kind of a boring character, and drawing on some not very interesting Old Testament tropes for the humor. A little disappointing because the premise was appealing.
June 8, 2018
I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I'm a little confused as to how anyone could possibly enjoy this. I like the concept, but I was bored out of my mind and eventually gave up, which is not a thing I do very often. I have to REALLY hate a book to stop reading it. Honestly, though, I couldn't put myself through nearly 300 pages of reading about traffic jams and motel rooms. Don't waste your time.
I'm a little confused as to how anyone could possibly enjoy this. I like the concept, but I was bored out of my mind and eventually gave up, which is not a thing I do very often. I have to REALLY hate a book to stop reading it. Honestly, though, I couldn't put myself through nearly 300 pages of reading about traffic jams and motel rooms. Don't waste your time.
November 26, 2021
I love Aaron Thier's writing and humor. His world has a kind of joyful, yet melancholic absurdity I haven't found anywhere else. At times his writing reminds me of Monty Python or Nicola Barker, but can't be reduced to them by any means. He gives equal weight and respect to both the thoughtful and the ridiculous, and then lets it play out through Murphy and Eva, characters who embody that contradiction perfectly. The narrator has an affectionate, slightly bemused attitude toward Eva and Murphy, a pair of slacker-ish, self-described secular humanists who suddenly find themselves at the mercy of "an ancient near eastern storm god", aka Yahweh. Here's a quote that gives a taste of the narrator, Murphy, and the way the thoughtful underlies the wacky in this book. It takes place after Murphy gets angry and unloads on Yahweh for allowing pain and suffering in the world:
Yahweh is entertaining as a loose cannon, but Satan is more fun and complicated, a guy who is easy to get comfortable with. (In fact, a couple of times he keeps Yahweh busy for a few days to give Eva and Murphy a break.) Talking about the Old Testament:
Last but not least, I loved this book for its simple, descriptive sentences that hit me just right. ("Murphy....holds her tightly and gently all at once, like a man carrying an antique chair.") Sometimes the simple hit was existentially painful though. Here's a horrifying little sentence that I couldn't stop thinking about: "I had a dream last night about a turtle that couldn't get comfortable," says Eva. "He was uncomfortable in his shell."
AAAK!
"Although Murphy's denunciation is unfocused, it's easy to see what he's getting at. He's been worrying about the arbitrary cruelty of the universe, but he's also worried about the cruel things that humans do, and in this moment he fears that all humans are fundamentally bad, that the struggle to do right is misguided and hopeless, that humanism is a fantasy. He is, in a sense, experiencing a crisis of faith. He's worried that Yahweh, god of rage and fear, is the one true god after all. And that might be why Yahweh isn't angry at him. Yahweh's principal goals, exclusive of any policy agenda, is to be regarded as the one true god."
Yahweh is entertaining as a loose cannon, but Satan is more fun and complicated, a guy who is easy to get comfortable with. (In fact, a couple of times he keeps Yahweh busy for a few days to give Eva and Murphy a break.) Talking about the Old Testament:
"Why should it be acceptable to construe rules of conduct from an anthology of ancient children's stories? Why those children's stories and no others? The Lorax communicates a more wholesome message."On a personal note, he says:"In my darker moments the only book I can bear to read is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Of course, you can't take Satan at his word, and he acknowledges other depictions of him:
"I remember Milton. A strange man crying out to be milked. Incredibly, he thought he'd gone blind because of something he ate, and not because it pleased Yahweh to strike him blind. A man who knew so much! He didn't know that."
Last but not least, I loved this book for its simple, descriptive sentences that hit me just right. ("Murphy....holds her tightly and gently all at once, like a man carrying an antique chair.") Sometimes the simple hit was existentially painful though. Here's a horrifying little sentence that I couldn't stop thinking about: "I had a dream last night about a turtle that couldn't get comfortable," says Eva. "He was uncomfortable in his shell."
AAAK!
July 29, 2018
I loved the premise of this book: Yahweh appearing to an American millennial and making her his prophet. To start with I felt the author could see inside my head, with all the contractions of being a self-aware, liberally minded person of relative privilege in today's messy world.
But then it just got weirder and weirder, and lost all narrative tension.
I wanted to like it, I really wanted to like it, because the premise excited my imagination so much. Long after it got dull, I kept pushing through, hoping there'd be a twist that would provide some redemption. But that never happened, and the more I read, the lower my rating of the book became.
But then it just got weirder and weirder, and lost all narrative tension.
I wanted to like it, I really wanted to like it, because the premise excited my imagination so much. Long after it got dull, I kept pushing through, hoping there'd be a twist that would provide some redemption. But that never happened, and the more I read, the lower my rating of the book became.
January 13, 2023
This book was a delightful, unexpected joy. It was pithy and smart and made me laugh out loud. It felt oddly prescient and every single second spent reading it I enjoyed. Having said that it sort of reminded me of reading a list of aphorisms or a book of the world's most famous quotations or something: I mean a lot smarter and better crafted than almost all of them but still, the aphorisms seemed clever but forgettable. They function more like a thought experiment than an insight. They seem to somehow evaporate as you read them. But then again, I would read and reread this book so I'm giving it 5 stars.
July 3, 2018
A beautiful (and also hilarious) book, that I wish I could read again for the first time. Protagonists Murphy and Eva are characters so fully realized and wonderful, and their journey is lifted by a magical realism that I find rare and special in a book like this. A hopeful and wonderful story that feels unique and apart from so much of what i've ready recently.
July 29, 2018
To be honest, I doubt the movie rights of this novel will sell. Thier's characters and storyline just don't compel. Nor does it have the manic energy of "Mr. Eternity." But that doesn't mean you shouldn't read it.
As with Thier's two previous novels, "The World is a Narrow Bridge" is a hybrid—in this case, parts infomercial, encyclopedia entry, existential meditation, mixed up with quotations from the Bible and other texts and pinned on a roadtrip narrative. Main characters Murphy (think Beckett's Murphy crossed with Murphy's-Law Murphy) and Eva (think Eve of Adam and Eve) find themselves on an unplanned journey across the US. Eva is periodically possessed by the Old Testament Yahweh, who uses her to say his name and prophesy, and deposits millions in her bank account. The novel's central struggle is whether to bring a baby into our flawed contemporary world—by the end, the narrative itself fades into a series of letters addressed “Dear Baby.” So it's not much of a page-turner. But the issue goes deeper. Remember E. M. Forester's adage about plot: the king died and then the queen died is a story; the king died and then the queen died of grief is a plot? The novel seems to function more on the level of story than plot; the engine of causation barely sputters. For example, because Eva's need to prophesy isn't driven by her own psychological or theological imperatives so much divine possession, it seems incidental. Indeed, we learn at the end that Yahweh's choice of Eva may have been a case of mistaken identity. Same with Murphy’s pain problem and Eva’s pregnancy. The roadtrip itself is a trip but not a quest beyond the ever-present existential quest.
But this isn’t to say I didn’t really enjoy the book. As with his earlier novels, Thier is funny. He combines the ridiculously quotidian with the profound, such as when he describes Yahweh’s control over world events as analogous to our relationship with our gall bladder. Rather than absorbing me in the fictional dream of characters and plot, the pleasure of reading "The World Is a Narrow Bridge" is more like the pleasure of reading a wonderful essayist—that of listening in on a marvelous mind at work. With Thier, it’s similar to reading a Dean Young poem, wondering where he’ll go next and how he’ll hold it together.
As with Thier's two previous novels, "The World is a Narrow Bridge" is a hybrid—in this case, parts infomercial, encyclopedia entry, existential meditation, mixed up with quotations from the Bible and other texts and pinned on a roadtrip narrative. Main characters Murphy (think Beckett's Murphy crossed with Murphy's-Law Murphy) and Eva (think Eve of Adam and Eve) find themselves on an unplanned journey across the US. Eva is periodically possessed by the Old Testament Yahweh, who uses her to say his name and prophesy, and deposits millions in her bank account. The novel's central struggle is whether to bring a baby into our flawed contemporary world—by the end, the narrative itself fades into a series of letters addressed “Dear Baby.” So it's not much of a page-turner. But the issue goes deeper. Remember E. M. Forester's adage about plot: the king died and then the queen died is a story; the king died and then the queen died of grief is a plot? The novel seems to function more on the level of story than plot; the engine of causation barely sputters. For example, because Eva's need to prophesy isn't driven by her own psychological or theological imperatives so much divine possession, it seems incidental. Indeed, we learn at the end that Yahweh's choice of Eva may have been a case of mistaken identity. Same with Murphy’s pain problem and Eva’s pregnancy. The roadtrip itself is a trip but not a quest beyond the ever-present existential quest.
But this isn’t to say I didn’t really enjoy the book. As with his earlier novels, Thier is funny. He combines the ridiculously quotidian with the profound, such as when he describes Yahweh’s control over world events as analogous to our relationship with our gall bladder. Rather than absorbing me in the fictional dream of characters and plot, the pleasure of reading "The World Is a Narrow Bridge" is more like the pleasure of reading a wonderful essayist—that of listening in on a marvelous mind at work. With Thier, it’s similar to reading a Dean Young poem, wondering where he’ll go next and how he’ll hold it together.
November 13, 2019
Humor, Theology, and snark are a few of my favorite things!
Thier has given us a humorous look at what it might look like if there is, was, or will be a female prophet who cannot stop shouting “Have you heard the name of the Lord, which is YHWH?” Eva, the main character, cannot hold back this mantra in the most unusual settings and her partner, Murphy, seems to be constantly wrapped up in Murphy’s law. All alongside an unusual portrayal of God in an orange Lamborghini. Serious, yet silly look at intellectualism, Christianity, and Humanist thought collide.
Thier has given us a humorous look at what it might look like if there is, was, or will be a female prophet who cannot stop shouting “Have you heard the name of the Lord, which is YHWH?” Eva, the main character, cannot hold back this mantra in the most unusual settings and her partner, Murphy, seems to be constantly wrapped up in Murphy’s law. All alongside an unusual portrayal of God in an orange Lamborghini. Serious, yet silly look at intellectualism, Christianity, and Humanist thought collide.
July 27, 2018
Wierdest book I’ve ever read. I still can’t say what it was about. Perhaps the futility of arrogance. I have no idea, but I suppose I am illustrating my own arrogance by pronouncing it weird. I can only assume that it must have been way above my intellectual level since I was unable to grasp its meaning.
July 28, 2018
I couldn't finish, although there were some witty parts. I think I'll give it another read sometime down the road.
May 2, 2018
A hilarious and astute send up of modern life especially for millennials. What would you do if Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, appeared to you and insisted that you start announcing him to all and sundry. Probably not what Eva and Murphy do. Puts me in mind of Terry Pratchett's Disc World only rounder and without wizards.
July 15, 2018
Yahweh reveals himself to a young Florida couple and sends them on a road trip. Absurdity ensues.
January 30, 2022
Fabulous conceit for a novel, but it never ever truly came into its own. I often rolled my eyes at the writing-- it was super funny in some places, but overdone in others, and unfortunately the pretense outweighed the humor.
Would probably read another Aaron Thier novel, though.
Would probably read another Aaron Thier novel, though.
December 7, 2020
Deadpan Absurd, With A Mischievous Twinkle and a Touch of Cosmo-Theology
"After all, the first truth of existence is that none of us start out as willing participants."
So, an aphorism is supposed to be a "concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle". Can you have a paragraph-length aphorism? Based on this book, the answer to that question is "Yes". The plot is goofy and based mostly on happenstance and improvisation. But every few pages there is a deadpan absurd paragraph that perfectly captures and expresses a striking thought, observation, or general truth. We can be addressing the meaning of life or why you can't find the raisins even though the raisins are right there in front of you. There are a lot of appearances by God, (that is the main arc of the book), but Satan steals every scene, so what does that tell you?
This was a hoot. It's a little bit silly in places, but often edgy and pointed. The entire book, which follows our hero couple on a ridiculous road trip, is an extended riff on practically everything in contemporary America that deserves to be needled. And even though a lot of the humor is sweet tempered and rueful, if this book were a Halloween treat I'd still feel the need to check it for razor blades.
Our heroes, Eva and Murphy, aren't really the point of the book and aren't especially well developed, except on occasion when it suits the author's purposes. Sometimes they make the jokes, sometimes they are at least in on the jokes, and sometimes they are the butt of the jokes. This is an author's book, in the sense that he is calling all of the shots and making everything happen in order to make his points. That said, though, I began to feel a certain affection for Eva and Murph, which I guess was really affection toward the Millennial condition generally - entitlement, liberal privilege, warts, and all.
For what it's worth, this didn't strike me as the sort of book you'd necessarily want to read straight through. The road trip is a series of episodes, and while Yahweh's instructions to the couple allow for an overall arc to the tale it is mostly a series of episodes that can be enjoyed almost like a collection of interlinked short stories. That also works well because the humor, while often devastatingly funny, is all in the same style. After a while even the most clever and puckish humor can become wearing.
So, I dipped in and out of this, not unlike the way our two heroes dipped in and out of their own lives. And that worked out fine for all of us.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
"After all, the first truth of existence is that none of us start out as willing participants."
So, an aphorism is supposed to be a "concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle". Can you have a paragraph-length aphorism? Based on this book, the answer to that question is "Yes". The plot is goofy and based mostly on happenstance and improvisation. But every few pages there is a deadpan absurd paragraph that perfectly captures and expresses a striking thought, observation, or general truth. We can be addressing the meaning of life or why you can't find the raisins even though the raisins are right there in front of you. There are a lot of appearances by God, (that is the main arc of the book), but Satan steals every scene, so what does that tell you?
This was a hoot. It's a little bit silly in places, but often edgy and pointed. The entire book, which follows our hero couple on a ridiculous road trip, is an extended riff on practically everything in contemporary America that deserves to be needled. And even though a lot of the humor is sweet tempered and rueful, if this book were a Halloween treat I'd still feel the need to check it for razor blades.
Our heroes, Eva and Murphy, aren't really the point of the book and aren't especially well developed, except on occasion when it suits the author's purposes. Sometimes they make the jokes, sometimes they are at least in on the jokes, and sometimes they are the butt of the jokes. This is an author's book, in the sense that he is calling all of the shots and making everything happen in order to make his points. That said, though, I began to feel a certain affection for Eva and Murph, which I guess was really affection toward the Millennial condition generally - entitlement, liberal privilege, warts, and all.
For what it's worth, this didn't strike me as the sort of book you'd necessarily want to read straight through. The road trip is a series of episodes, and while Yahweh's instructions to the couple allow for an overall arc to the tale it is mostly a series of episodes that can be enjoyed almost like a collection of interlinked short stories. That also works well because the humor, while often devastatingly funny, is all in the same style. After a while even the most clever and puckish humor can become wearing.
So, I dipped in and out of this, not unlike the way our two heroes dipped in and out of their own lives. And that worked out fine for all of us.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
September 26, 2018
An Existential and Millennial Struggle
I read this book per recommendation from “The Daily Stoic” newsletter. I recall being immediately intrigued at the mention of the main couple conversing with Satan, who in this book, gives a harrowingly apt advice to the couple.
To give a (very) succinct summary of the book, Eva and Murphy are the main characters who are moved to do various things for and because of Yahweh. The book is a cross country trip rife with allusions to modern conveniences and issues, all colored by Eva and Murphy’s largely Millennial attitudes. Their adventure and thoughts touch on modern social-political-economic concerns, the burgeoning influence of New Age spirituality on diet and lifestyle, science, and human struggle with (the Judeo-Christian) God. It’s a broad sweep.
As a read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author demonstrates skill in developing Eva and Murphy. They display an almost inane, hyper-neurotic manifestation of all the things a Millennial can believe in and act out, to the point where no person is like these characters but everyone can see a little bit of something in them. I found myself laughing and shaking my head at the things I share with these two. They are ostensibly the most developed part of this book.
The author also uniquely uses his creative liberty to twist real life movies, geographic locations, and other examples to create a subtle sense of absurdity that does pervade modern culture. It’s much more understandable once you read it, but to give an example, what if you were to think about what Matt Damon’s character in the movie “Mars” would think about colonization in Mars? Or, more importantly, would he say that one is a patriot because they hate that America still had slavery on its founding? This kind of narrative style gives this book a unique and darkly humorous texture.
The biggest thing people will struggle with in this book is the depiction and actions of Yahweh. Here, he is essentially a human with God’s powers. He is both an actor and the agency of progress in this book.
Take this book as a broad, philosophical mirror; don’t get too frustrated with it (though it might, which is not entirely a bad thing). It invites you to probe it further for answers, but the answer is only a more complex combination of neutrinos, or something we all have to find ourselves.
Overall, a unique read that is fun and a harrowingly accurate observation of the (Millennial) human’s journey in this Earth.
I read this book per recommendation from “The Daily Stoic” newsletter. I recall being immediately intrigued at the mention of the main couple conversing with Satan, who in this book, gives a harrowingly apt advice to the couple.
To give a (very) succinct summary of the book, Eva and Murphy are the main characters who are moved to do various things for and because of Yahweh. The book is a cross country trip rife with allusions to modern conveniences and issues, all colored by Eva and Murphy’s largely Millennial attitudes. Their adventure and thoughts touch on modern social-political-economic concerns, the burgeoning influence of New Age spirituality on diet and lifestyle, science, and human struggle with (the Judeo-Christian) God. It’s a broad sweep.
As a read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author demonstrates skill in developing Eva and Murphy. They display an almost inane, hyper-neurotic manifestation of all the things a Millennial can believe in and act out, to the point where no person is like these characters but everyone can see a little bit of something in them. I found myself laughing and shaking my head at the things I share with these two. They are ostensibly the most developed part of this book.
The author also uniquely uses his creative liberty to twist real life movies, geographic locations, and other examples to create a subtle sense of absurdity that does pervade modern culture. It’s much more understandable once you read it, but to give an example, what if you were to think about what Matt Damon’s character in the movie “Mars” would think about colonization in Mars? Or, more importantly, would he say that one is a patriot because they hate that America still had slavery on its founding? This kind of narrative style gives this book a unique and darkly humorous texture.
The biggest thing people will struggle with in this book is the depiction and actions of Yahweh. Here, he is essentially a human with God’s powers. He is both an actor and the agency of progress in this book.
Take this book as a broad, philosophical mirror; don’t get too frustrated with it (though it might, which is not entirely a bad thing). It invites you to probe it further for answers, but the answer is only a more complex combination of neutrinos, or something we all have to find ourselves.
Overall, a unique read that is fun and a harrowingly accurate observation of the (Millennial) human’s journey in this Earth.
March 8, 2019
It reads almost like a very long piece of somewhat rambling, analogous symbolism. It both does and doesn't make sense at times - yet I felt I enjoyed reading it regardless, as it was very good as a form of imaginative escapism.
It perhaps reminded me, ever so slightly, of Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' although this novel is set on earth. There are definitely some poignant pieces of dialogue present, which stood out to me. Its hard to explain this sort of book, its quite observational based and its quite thoughtful. Its bizarre and eccentric and I feel I enjoyed reading it, even though I was fairly confused in the process. It also has philosophical aspects to it too. I suppose primarily its about life and birth, plus religion/faith.
I noticed towards the end that there were more mentions of the title of the book, reasons why the world is comparable to said narrow bridge - as I say, its definitely a thoughtful book/novel, if perhaps a little too 'out there' for some. I wouldn't say its entirely preachy, from a religious point of view, although its true to say that religion plays a key role in the plot but I wouldn't say you have to have a specific set of beliefs to get something from it.
I'd say this is worth a read but don't expect it to be an entirely logical, easy or basic read.
It perhaps reminded me, ever so slightly, of Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' although this novel is set on earth. There are definitely some poignant pieces of dialogue present, which stood out to me. Its hard to explain this sort of book, its quite observational based and its quite thoughtful. Its bizarre and eccentric and I feel I enjoyed reading it, even though I was fairly confused in the process. It also has philosophical aspects to it too. I suppose primarily its about life and birth, plus religion/faith.
I noticed towards the end that there were more mentions of the title of the book, reasons why the world is comparable to said narrow bridge - as I say, its definitely a thoughtful book/novel, if perhaps a little too 'out there' for some. I wouldn't say its entirely preachy, from a religious point of view, although its true to say that religion plays a key role in the plot but I wouldn't say you have to have a specific set of beliefs to get something from it.
I'd say this is worth a read but don't expect it to be an entirely logical, easy or basic read.
April 23, 2019
Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, I thought this book was pretty hilarious, with satire aime in multiple directions that actually worked. The smallness in a sense of Yahweh dealing with two secular millennials really worked as a bizarre initial concept, and speaking for myself captures alot of the weirdness of religion for a non-believer in a world that seems never to have outgrown a slightly more twisted version of Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy in which the big guy frequently rains down misery and turmoil rather than presents or small bills. Better yet, there are some clear metaphors here in dealing with all of the fears and uncertainties associated with impending parenthood, but Thier thankfully doesn't feel the need to spell out exactly how it works. Yahweh is part tradition, part family, part society looking over your shoulder, part the government, but its better to leave it vague and let the reader work out the associations rather than hitting one over the head with them. The set pieces - family in the Appalachians and Oregon, the Aspen Ideas conference's stupider twin, midwestern tourist traps, really capture some of America's weirdness, mundaneness, and everything in between.
February 17, 2019
A surreal and absurdist dissertation on the nature of religion and morality in the post-2016 world. A secular humanist is called on by Yahweh to become his prophet, whether she wants to or not. Belief is not an issue, once you see Yahweh you know that it is him, but he does not possess the qualities that New Testament Christians would identify as being god-like. As they are forced to travel the country spreading the name of a deity that they just don't like, Murray and Eva struggle with the nature of good and evil, the future of our world, and whether or not they are crazy to want to bring a child into it. This is a trippy book, if you want a concrete plot and conclusion you need to go somewhere else. This book will make you think and question and laugh, but it isn't going to wrap it up in a nice little bow for you. But that's okay because that's how life really works, if we had the answers to these big questions already we wouldn't write books like this anymore. I recommend this book for fans of magical realism and satirical authors like A. Lee Martinez.
October 1, 2018
This is a tough one. An obnoxious hipster couple from Florida gets selected to travel the country proclaiming the name of the Lord is Yahweh. Cue 250 pages of pseudo-philosophical mumbo jumbo, shots at Donald Trump, and the type of existential angst that defines millennials. I honestly can’t tell if this is satirical because the author nails the excruciatingly irritating nuances of people who call themselves “secular humanists” and worry about if trees are sentient so perfectly. The writing is good, but so much of it comes across like a college student’s “look how deep I am” short story in a creative writing class.
December 29, 2022
This book is set on Earth in recent times, but it read similar to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with the outrageous plot, hilarious characters, and philosophy on the meaning of life and the existence of God mixed together in an interesting road trip involving a progressive secular millennial couple following the will of an unimpressive Yahweh. Sure there’s plot holes and the book would have been better with 50-100 less pages and less repetition, but if you can read it like sci-fi or fantasy this book makes you think and reveals many truths about our world and the people in it. “It’s one thing to know and quite another thing to understand.”
November 25, 2020
This is not a three star book.
This is a two star OR a four star book, and I can’t decide which. I’m torn between whether I read “something” or “nothing.” At times, I think this book (which alternates between delightful and depressing) is the perfect allegory for the moment. And, at other times, I think it’s a cerebral pastiche of whatever sounded clever to an author that clearly has true verbal skills.
This book has excellent one liners, plenty of humor, and a lingering sense of truth just beyond my grasp.
This is a two star OR a four star book, and I can’t decide which. I’m torn between whether I read “something” or “nothing.” At times, I think this book (which alternates between delightful and depressing) is the perfect allegory for the moment. And, at other times, I think it’s a cerebral pastiche of whatever sounded clever to an author that clearly has true verbal skills.
This book has excellent one liners, plenty of humor, and a lingering sense of truth just beyond my grasp.
March 22, 2024
In the style of Thier's wonderful zany comedy--this is the fourth, and unfortunately the last, for now, of his I have read. Yahweh is a character, harassing by tracking (unfortunately I can't remember the word for this in my old age (stalking)) two secular humanists, ordering the woman to proclaim his name, and babble compulsively in public. Satan, or Lucifer, is much more sympathetic. If you are devout the book may offend you, as Yahweh is definitely portrayed as an entity with a personality disorder.
September 27, 2018
Could.not.finish. Some funny parts. So confusing. Kept wanting to get it and like it, but just got frustrated. I just want someone to sit down and explain to me exactly what that was all about. The fate of our world in the hands of Millennials? A description of how organized religion has shaped the world? Fog and mirrors? The juxtaposition of “good” vs “evil”? Seriously. Someone explain it to me. Please.
November 11, 2018
". . .there was a prophet named Eva, and this is what she said."
This book felt as though I was reading a shitpost that someone posted on Tumblr at 2 in the morning. Which isn't necessarily bad but at one point you ask "why am I reading this?" But that also fits perfectly with the supposed plot of this story.
Minimal character development. Pretty non-existent plot. Ended about how I expected it to. Not a bad book but not really a good one.
This book felt as though I was reading a shitpost that someone posted on Tumblr at 2 in the morning. Which isn't necessarily bad but at one point you ask "why am I reading this?" But that also fits perfectly with the supposed plot of this story.
Minimal character development. Pretty non-existent plot. Ended about how I expected it to. Not a bad book but not really a good one.
May 27, 2019
I can't even seem to begin to explain what this gem of a book is about. It's a road novel about a couple that is forced by Jahweh (yes, Yahweh) to wander from place to place through the US. It's full of crazy ideas, sharp philosophical discussions and observations, seemingly unimportant facts. It's weirdly funny in a desperate way.
It's a masterpiece. But don't ask me why. You will just have to read it...
It's a masterpiece. But don't ask me why. You will just have to read it...
June 17, 2020
Through a few starts and stops due to COVID-19 fear and panic, I found this book to be a good summary of the feelings of the world. I loved the opening premise and the first fifty pages the most. Their journey had good moments and some great lines, but I thought the set-up was sensational. It’s a journey story that is worth your time. It will make you laugh and generally make you ponder the existence of you and what it means.
February 15, 2022
When I first read the blurb for this book I was super excited for it, it sounded very funny, but then I started reading and realized it wasn’t really a standard novel, it was that sort of purposefully confusing prose that’s just a little too deep for its own good and you just wish it had more real dialogue. But you know what, surprisingly I liked it anyways. It was neat and did have a distinct enough story, although so much of the biblical stuff went over my head unfortunately.
November 27, 2018
Murphy and Eva, a 30-something couple from Miami, are deciding whether or not to have a baby when the Old testament God Yahweh appears to Eva and asks her to be his prophet, sending the two on a road trip across the country and making incomprehensible demands as they go. Strange, irreverent, and funny.
November 12, 2023
I'm not sure I every really understood the Yahweh aspects of the book and whatever he was trying to say about religion, but I really enjoyed the novel anyway. Thier has such a unique storytelling style and creates really interesting characters and plots. It's got the right amount of humor, weirdness, and good righting that I'll keep reading whatever Aaron Thier keeps writing.
December 22, 2018
Loved this book, a madcap road trip novel with great humor and insight into the deep questions of who we are and what makes us human, or rather, what makes us vulnerable to be chosen to be a prophet of God and perhaps how to avoid that.
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