The Final Testament of the Holy Bible - Hardcover

James Frey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1935263269 ISBN 13: 9781935263265

Publisher: Gagosian Gallery, 2011

Synopsis

For two thousand years people have spent their lives waiting, praying, fighting, begging, and going to war for the Messiah. They continue to do so, every minute of every day, every day of every year. And yet, as far as we know, the Messiah has never come. How would a man like Jesus be perceived if he appeared today? How would he live, what would he say, what would he preach and believe? How would society react to him, and what would they to do him? And though he may be the Messiah, he is not the man that has been prayed for over the course of the last two thousand years. He believes religion is a fraud, government is a sham, and that love should be a choice, regardless of gender. He is, as Christ was, everything that religious leaders and government officials fear, what they speak against, and what they destroy. He did not burn books, or picket doctor€™s offices, or spend his time in religious institutions. He simply preached a message. Love your fellow man. Writte

About this title

About the Author:

James Frey is originally from Cleveland. He is the author of A Million Little Pieces, My Friend Leonard, and Bright Shiny Morning. His work is published in thirty-nine languages.

Review:

America's most notorious author * Time Magazine * Beautiful, sad, potent, irresistible * Elle * Brilliant * Now * Extraordinary * Spectator * Mesmerising * Independent * Frey really can write. Brilliantly. And if you don't think so, f*** you * Evening Standard * James Frey is probably one of the finest and most important writers to have emerged in recent years * Guardian * Praise for James Frey * - - - * A powerful page-turner that questions conventional political and religious mortality * She * A work of towering ambition, heartbreaking drama and devilish skill * Shortlist * Frey's punchy writing style is still intact . . . the book is compulsive reading * Elle * Exhilarating . . . It grabs you by the throat. The sheer narrative energy takes your breath away. There is an incessant, almost capricious sense of danger in his sentences - a feeling that he is not going to let you relax, that he could take you anywhere at any time . . . Frey is a fantastically persuasive storyteller and it is hard not to be moved by all these witnesses - some of them barely more than sketches, but all somewhere convincingly realised, and united by this one, life-transforming experience. Ultimately, however, Frey's biggest achievement is the character of Ben. We only ever see him through the eyes of others, yet this 'ordinary white boy' comes to seem so palpably present, so deeply alive, that the novel's final and inevitable climax feels quite brutal, like a real-life loss * Julie Myserson, New Statesman * A gently humorous, surprisingly plausible, rather charming read * Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian * It's a truly brilliant book - beautiful, moving and thoughtful, yet entertaining and gripping too * Matthew Cain, Channel 4 * Unputdownable * Sunday Times * The novel itself is compelling as both a thriller and a provocative riposte to religious orthodoxies. Fictions of this kind operate an unusual kind of suspense, in which the main tension is not what might happen but whether certain expected events still will. As a novel rather than theology, though, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible is impressively done, the alternating testimonies distinctively voiced and the twists on the gospel versions nicely judged. The repentant sinner of non-fiction proves to suit fiction * Guardian * Frey's execution is fab . . . a rolling, riveting headlong novel; one that packs an emotional punch yet never quite loses a little drollness about the nature of the project . . . This is a wonderful book, which one picks up with enthusiasm and puts down with reluctance. It bursts with narrative drive * Lionel Shriver, The Times * Cult American author James Frey's new novel is both a work of art and a bombshell hurled at the religious right . . . This book is very good indeed. The story is told through the mouths and eyes of the Messiah's family, his girlfriends, a rabbi, a priest, a federal investigator, all contributing to a picture which is weirdly believable, often extremely moving and sometimes funny . . . Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant: every page is great. * A N Wilson, Financial Times * Bold, brilliant, honest * Erica Wagner, The Times * Praise for The Final Testament of the Holy Bible * - - *

About this edition

• Publisher: Gagosian Gallery
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1935263269
• ISBN 13: 9781935263265
• Binding: Imitation Leather
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400