Island of the Innocent: A Consideration of the Book of Job

by Diane Glancy

A New York Times Book Review New & Noteworthy Selection. “A moving testament to the creative act of enduring."— Foreword Reviews , starred review "What bounty to have Glancy's great art erupt once more." —Spencer Reece, author of The Clerk’s Tale and The Road to Emmaus "Every classic text should be so fortunate." —Mark Larrimore, author of The Book of A Biography There is much mystery surrounding the Book of Job. Who was he? Where was he? What prompts Job's "comforters" to accuse him of wrong-doing as the cause of his suffering? When were Job's words written? How did Job's wife endure her husband's ordeals? And who is innocent among us? Island of the Innocent 's narrative dramatizes how the way one looks at something shapes and changes what is seen. Voices of the trials of the Native American interject themselves into the text. There is Custer riding toward the Little Bighorn. There is a Native American doll in a museum, taken from a battlefield in western Nebraska after the massacre of Ash Hollow. There is Job, sitting in his yard chair in discomfort, among the falling leaves and his three friends. And finally, Jehorah. Only Diane Glancy could create the missing story of Job's wife, unsilencing this biblical character and endowing her suffering with meaning. Here is Jehorah in "Job's Wife":   What next? What next?—I wrote
in my book of sorrows. I keep a journal asking
God what he is doing. Once I start it's hard to stop.
I was expecting more boils on Job. More death—
more ever-ready friendly visits. But after them—
who was left?— I ask you. where is my broom?
My head? My battle-ax?

Genres: Poetry

224 pages, Paperback

Published June 16, 2020

About the author

(Helen) Diane Glancy is a Cherokee poet, author and playwright.

Glancy was born in 1941 in Kansas City, Missouri. She received her Bachelor of Arts (English literature) from the University of Missouri in 1964, then later continued her education at the University of Central Oklahoma, earning her a Masters degree in English in 1983. In 1988, she received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa.

Glancy is an English professor and began teaching in 1989 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, teaching Native American literature and creative writing courses. Glancy's literary works have been recognized and highlighted at Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Aarik Danielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really something special. Part midrash, part travelogue, part exploration of suffering, it interprets and imagines Job's story in ways that bring it home even further. Anyone who remotely appreciates looking at the Scripture through both lyrical and lived-in lenses would find much to commend this.

[Liz Busby · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I feel like I'm saying with increasing frequency, poetry is not my best genre. And this book of poetry, picked up for my class on divine silence, was very postmodern and tough to make anything out of, at least for me. My goal was to get at least one insight out of each section, which I did, so I consider my reading a success. But many times, the most I could say was that my eyes definitely took in every word of the poem.

Glancy's conceit for the book is interesting. She blends together some narrative poems on the book of Job with historical insights on the battle of Little Bighorn and the destruction of Native American culture. Mixed in are her own experiences traveling to various sites and wrestling with the nature of meaning and a connection with God. I feel like the Job poems were definitely the strongest in terms of being a clearly articulated experience that the reader can follow. Some of the more personal poems left me feeling like an outsider who didn't get the references to experiences I wasn't there for. Anyway, I'm not sure my opinion on the book is really worth much since the whole experience could just be tainted by my lack of understanding for poetry in general, rather than Glancy in particular.

[Dave Hornor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's close reading of the Book of Job and commentary on some aspects of the suffering of aboriginal peoples in the N. America are thought-provoking, sad, and beautiful. Think "magic realism" with the underlying text of Job pulsating beneath the words. Highly recommended.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on the book of Job. There are moments of beauty and profound insight. The unconventional method of jumping between genres threw me a little.