Saunders's (Pastoralia) idiosyncratic voice makes an almost perfect
accompaniment to children's book illustrator Smith's (The Stinky Cheese Man)
heightened characterizations and slightly surreal backdrops in this
unconventional fairy tale for grownups. Saunders describes the setting, the
town of Frip, as "three leaning shacks by the sea," which Smith represents as
oblong two-story towers in brick red, ocean blue and mint green situated on
irregular plots of land with sinewy trees against a yellow sky that suggest a
Daliesque eerieness. The 1,500 gappers, spiky little creatures with multiple
eyes, feed on the goats that graze the shacks' backyards; by habit, they split
into three groups to attack all three properties at once. One day, the gappers
decide that henceforth they will concentrate all their efforts on the goats at
only one house, the one closest to the sea--inhabited by a girl, Capable, and
her grieving, widowed father. Soon, the two unafflicted families begin to tell
themselves that they are superior to Capable and her father ("Not that we're
saying we're better than you, necessarily, it's just that, since gappers are
bad, and since you and you alone now have them, it only stands to reason that
you are not, perhaps, quite as good as us"). Of course it's only a matter of
time until everybody's luck changes. The Saunders-Smith collaboration is
inspired. Smith adds witty touches throughout, and Saunders's dialogue features
uncannily amusing deadpan repetitions and platitudinous self-exculpations.
Saunders is much too hip to bring this fable to an edifying ending, but things
do conclude as happily as is possible in the morally challenged, circumscribed
world of Frip. 100,000 first printing; major ad/promo; author tour. (Aug.) ELI:
A NOVEL Bill Myers. Zondervan, $12.99 paper (304p) ISBN 0-310-218039 ~ In this
compelling if at times frustrating novel, Myers imagines a parallel universe in
which Jesus Christ is born not 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem but 30 years ago in
Santa Monica, Calif. Through Conrad Davis, a universe-hopping journalist, we
meet the 20th-century Jesus, whose name is Eli Shepherd. In less capable hands,
science fiction about a contemporary messiah might become a morass of polemic
and pulp, but Myers weaves a deft, affecting tale that preserves the
enigmatically audacious Jesus of the New Testament and situates him in our
weary, jaded, media-saturated society. And unlike other contemporary Christian
novelists who transparently take aim at all things left of center, Myers
delivers a messiah who transcends politics, eschewing both the Left and the
Right in favor of a place his listeners have never heard of, called "The
Kingdom of God." Eli's travels with his disciples-- who include a pornography
mogul and a white supremacist--enlighten, entertain and challenge both his
fictive and actual audience. Yet it's disappointing that the novel climaxes as
Eli's betrayer is revealed; the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension feel
like afterthoughts--events that deeply affect Conrad but not necessarily anyone
else. Despite this and other lapses, such as Eli's uncharacteristically lame
explanation for the absence of female disciples, this is a refreshing departure
from the usual clich s of popular Christian fiction. (Aug.) Copyright 2000
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