36 arguments for the existence of god by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein includes a debate on belief and faith and a description of ritual in a religious community. Not normally the domain of the novel, this book contains plenty of philosophy, anthropology, psychology and theology. I found it all fascinating and thought-provoking. The author has been both praised and criticised for her erudite approach. A similar response occured in British reviews when A.S. Byatt published The Children's Book suggesting that she was too clever and was showing off her knowledge of art, literature, culture in the Edwardian era. I loved this book too; it had all the appeal factors listed above but it also helped me understand more about fabianism and early writing for children for example.
If you like a good dense read with some challenging ideas try these novels from two well-educated writers.
I really enjoyed "The Children's Book" (the first Byatt I've read). My book group was somewhat divided over the praise & criticism -the latter relating to thinking she was "showing off" in the NZ sense that we think a Bad Thing.
ReplyDeleteBut, there's nothing wrong as such with having a novel crammed full of a huge variety of information. (It does make it a difficult book to read on the bus - not long enough to get into, & having to re-read portions to remember what was happening.)
I found real difficulty with sorting out which children were which, in the beginning; I suspect that's deliberate.
And absolutely as you say, "a good dense read & challenging ideas".