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City of God City of God is a search for God for those who have given up on religion. Pem, an Anglican priest calling himself the "Divinity Detective", declares, "After all, I haven't given up God. Just the Trinity." The book alternates among many voices, but the most compelling character in the novel is Everett, a writer investigating the life of Pem for a new book. Everett's slow movement from "secularism" to the seeds of faith and his inquisitive, observant mind is the most honest voice in the book. In sharp contrast is the weak rendering of Sarah Blumenthal. The assistant rabbi at the Evolutionary Judaism study center, she is intended to be the unblemished, holy person with a charming spirituality. But Doctorow simply does not know what to do with her. He can only tell us how wonderful she is, never demonstrate it. (She is one of the few characters in the book without a voice of her own.) All the characters are spiritual seekers, and the furthest on the journey is to be Sarah, but all who speak of her lack the tools to understand her or the vocabulary to describe her. By the time she becomes a central character in the book, it is too late to see that Doctorow has no particular insight into mature spirituality. Still, it is in this search for livable answers that this book is at its best. For, above all else, the search is honest. While I don't have much confidence in Doctorow's spiritual guidance, his honesty and courage is refreshing. Reading this book made me long for the stark, dreary spiritual journeys so beautifully described by Graham Greene. And while City of God does not approach Greene's elegance of style or clarity of observation, there is a kindred blood that runs through the two authors. They both have a distanced, even distrustful, interest in spiritual ideas in a bleak, gray world. City of God is occasionally perceptive, but in the end it is underwhelming. It provides an interesting view into a world where persons are on their own to find God, apparently without his help (with one arguable exception). Those interested in exploring how contemporary writers explore issues of faith or view the church may find this book interesting, but keep the expectations low and you may find a few welcome insights. |
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