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God Knows
Joseph Heller's powerful, wonderfully funny, deeply moving novel is the story of David -- yes, King David -- but as you've never seen him before. You already know David as the legendary warrior king of Israel, husband of Bathsheba, and father of Solomon; now meet David as he really the cocky Jewish kid, the plagiarized poet, and the Jewish father. Listen as David tells his own story, a story both relentlessly ancient and surprisingly modern, about growing up and growing old, about men and women, and about man and God. It is quintessential Heller.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Joseph Heller
57 books2,705 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Joseph Heller was the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia. Even as a child, he loved to write; at the age of eleven, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland. He sent it to New York Daily News, which rejected it. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next year working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a messenger boy, and a filing clerk. In 1942, at age 19, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Two years later he was sent to Italy, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier. Heller later remembered the war as "fun in the beginning... You got the feeling that there was something glorious about it." On his return home he "felt like a hero... People think it quite remarkable that I was in combat in an airplane and I flew sixty missions even though I tell them that the missions were largely milk runs."
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_H...
Joseph Heller was the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia. Even as a child, he loved to write; at the age of eleven, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland. He sent it to New York Daily News, which rejected it. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next year working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a messenger boy, and a filing clerk. In 1942, at age 19, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Two years later he was sent to Italy, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier. Heller later remembered the war as "fun in the beginning... You got the feeling that there was something glorious about it." On his return home he "felt like a hero... People think it quite remarkable that I was in combat in an airplane and I flew sixty missions even though I tell them that the missions were largely milk runs."
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_H...
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August 1, 2015
In Joseph Heller's novel "God Knows", the Jewish protagonist is an old man named David, looking back with bittersweet fondness but mostly regret at his turbulent life: numerous marriages, ungrateful children, constant battling with in-laws and relatives, and a God that seems to have either forgotten or forsaken him.
It may help to know that the David in the novel is King David, of the biblical account, kvetching on his death bed about what a mess his life has become but mostly because he can't get it up anymore.
Indeed, the penis jokes abound throughout this novel, which reads like a weird combination of Thomas Pynchon, Woody Allen, and John Updike, except that it is vintage Heller: serious, funny, seriously funny.
Written as a kind of disjointed series of memoirs from the perspective of an aging David, the novel covers just about every facet of the biblical figure: his infamous defeat of the giant named Goliath, his many marriages (but mainly focusing on Michal, Abigail, and Bathsheba), the many battles and wars that his father-in-law Saul waged against him, the death of his first child which leads to his falling-out with God, and his moronic son Solomon whom, he is afraid, will succeed him as king.
Heller manages to write a believable historical account while cleverly incorporating anachronisms (David whines about Shakespeare's prose and how the Bard basically plagiarized some of his own Psalms and Proverbs, and he also bitches about Michelangelo's famous statue of him, which inaccurately depicts David with a foreskin! But what do you expect from a goy sculptor?).
This book is, at times, hilarious and moving and downright sad. It is also probably one of the best novels I have read that attempts to breathe some life into the Old Testament stories. In Heller's brilliant hands, King David becomes a flesh-and-blood human being, with real mensch-like problems.
It may help to know that the David in the novel is King David, of the biblical account, kvetching on his death bed about what a mess his life has become but mostly because he can't get it up anymore.
Indeed, the penis jokes abound throughout this novel, which reads like a weird combination of Thomas Pynchon, Woody Allen, and John Updike, except that it is vintage Heller: serious, funny, seriously funny.
Written as a kind of disjointed series of memoirs from the perspective of an aging David, the novel covers just about every facet of the biblical figure: his infamous defeat of the giant named Goliath, his many marriages (but mainly focusing on Michal, Abigail, and Bathsheba), the many battles and wars that his father-in-law Saul waged against him, the death of his first child which leads to his falling-out with God, and his moronic son Solomon whom, he is afraid, will succeed him as king.
Heller manages to write a believable historical account while cleverly incorporating anachronisms (David whines about Shakespeare's prose and how the Bard basically plagiarized some of his own Psalms and Proverbs, and he also bitches about Michelangelo's famous statue of him, which inaccurately depicts David with a foreskin! But what do you expect from a goy sculptor?).
This book is, at times, hilarious and moving and downright sad. It is also probably one of the best novels I have read that attempts to breathe some life into the Old Testament stories. In Heller's brilliant hands, King David becomes a flesh-and-blood human being, with real mensch-like problems.
February 12, 2020
I was the kid in Sunday school the poor teachers must’ve hated: peeking behind the curtain, pulling the strings on our tidy little Bible lessons to go wide-eyed and watch the real, wild Bible go up in flames. I guess it’s a habit I never outgrew. So there you have me, ever the rebel kid still, relishing the secret that behind all those prettily bow-tied morals are wild kings and bloodbaths and blasphemous sacrilege that no one’s paying any mind.
And here you have Joseph Heller. Since Catch-22 I’ve never wanted to read another of his novels, as one of the two highest compliments possible. I definitely didn’t want to read the sequel to Yossarian in Closing Time (how could I, when the first is so perfect?), and wouldn’t the others just be shadows of that beloved one too? Like that favorite song on an album where the rest can never live up. All because I had no idea Heller took on King David. As soon as I saw this book on the library shelf I jumped on the premise as ecstatic as Joab on that fifth rib.
Ohh-h, did I love this book. Through and through, wrestling Catch-22 like Samson with a hand tied behind his back. The old Sunday-school feeling of getting deep over my head in trouble, of “Oh-h I am gonna get it for this,” only made the pleasure that much sweeter. I don’t think there’s much middle ground for it, either. I think you have to love it or you have to hate it with a fiery, book-burning passion.
Which should be just as much fun.
Leave it to Heller to read the same Bible I have. The Bible that isn’t tidy, that doesn’t make sense, that isn’t abstract saints in stained glass. It’s full of people who are complex and tainted and do belligerent and insensible things. Who are as brave and scared shitless as any of us, who are bursting with love and hate and cruelty and the most dangerous kind of humanity and passion. They laugh. They live. They royally screw up and get royally screwed. And I can’t help but think, this is the David those old stories are trying to tell. Not the serene shepherd, the psalmist, the stalwart king. No: the scrappy, stubborn, cocky, off his rocker, wild, maddening, bitter, beloved kid, utterly sincere and utterly full of shit, heels over head for Bathsheba, burning the kingdom down in flames. The chosen king of this nonsensical God, a God of cryptic riddles, burning bushes and incomprehensible demands. We’re the ones that tried to tame it into sainthood. We’re the ones that do the story in all of its human absurdity the injustice.
Heller’s just someone putting a little flesh and blood back onto the bones: deftly, hilariously, reverently irreverent, with that turn of the knife in your heart all along.
I’m just the one over here, loving every word of it.
And here you have Joseph Heller. Since Catch-22 I’ve never wanted to read another of his novels, as one of the two highest compliments possible. I definitely didn’t want to read the sequel to Yossarian in Closing Time (how could I, when the first is so perfect?), and wouldn’t the others just be shadows of that beloved one too? Like that favorite song on an album where the rest can never live up. All because I had no idea Heller took on King David. As soon as I saw this book on the library shelf I jumped on the premise as ecstatic as Joab on that fifth rib.
Ohh-h, did I love this book. Through and through, wrestling Catch-22 like Samson with a hand tied behind his back. The old Sunday-school feeling of getting deep over my head in trouble, of “Oh-h I am gonna get it for this,” only made the pleasure that much sweeter. I don’t think there’s much middle ground for it, either. I think you have to love it or you have to hate it with a fiery, book-burning passion.
Which should be just as much fun.
Leave it to Heller to read the same Bible I have. The Bible that isn’t tidy, that doesn’t make sense, that isn’t abstract saints in stained glass. It’s full of people who are complex and tainted and do belligerent and insensible things. Who are as brave and scared shitless as any of us, who are bursting with love and hate and cruelty and the most dangerous kind of humanity and passion. They laugh. They live. They royally screw up and get royally screwed. And I can’t help but think, this is the David those old stories are trying to tell. Not the serene shepherd, the psalmist, the stalwart king. No: the scrappy, stubborn, cocky, off his rocker, wild, maddening, bitter, beloved kid, utterly sincere and utterly full of shit, heels over head for Bathsheba, burning the kingdom down in flames. The chosen king of this nonsensical God, a God of cryptic riddles, burning bushes and incomprehensible demands. We’re the ones that tried to tame it into sainthood. We’re the ones that do the story in all of its human absurdity the injustice.
Heller’s just someone putting a little flesh and blood back onto the bones: deftly, hilariously, reverently irreverent, with that turn of the knife in your heart all along.
I’m just the one over here, loving every word of it.
April 9, 2022
God Knows is an amazing book and a true literary feat. Joseph Heller retells the story of King David, the biblical character who defeated Goliah and unified Israel and Judah. The story, as old and known as it may be, gets propelled by Heller's superb English skills, deep biblical knowledge, and rollicking sense of humor. With an excellent command of language and an enviable inventiveness, Heller uses David's own words at his deathbed to recall a life both joyful and sad, spicing up the biblical accounts of yore with love, sex, belief, conscious anachronisms, and hilarious scenes to tell us the story of a man who had power but who lived and died desperately seeking to be loved. And, despite being a retelling, Heller inflates it with such suspense that I feel amazed by the sheer ingenuity and talent required for pulling it off. A great novel about timeless human challenges that doesn't need to fall into navel-gazing hipster dramatic musings or tackle all faux-PC issues currently in fashion to deliver an account both joyous and melancholy.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
May 14, 2019
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is my favorite novel. Not my favorite novel of Heller's, not my favorite American novel, but my favorite novel I've read as of this writing. I've written multiple papers about it and, more than likely, will write about it again in times to come. It said and did things I didn't think were possible in the form of a novel, in the form of anything, really.
So it was with significant misgivings I went into God Knows. I feared it would be a decidedly minor work, a bloated and wheezing gas bag of a formerly great novelist resting on his laurels and not so much creating a work as scratching a wandering itch. But I was wrong. I was very wrong.
As I've just finished the novel I am not now able to say whether God Knows is worse than the earlier Catch, I won't say it's better, but it might, in its own way, be just as good. And why is this? Because Heller through his delineation of the life and times of King David, a parody told at times in a pseudo-Biblical English and at times a Borscht Belt patois, bull rushes between a particularly Jewish self-deprecatory slyness and maudlin introspection touching on all the themes Heller knows so intimately. These themes: life, death, youth, age, love, lust, regret, are all woven with the mastery that comes only with an authorial skill hard earned and little regarded.
A more Conservative Jewish mindset might write this work off as simply "self-hating" and others might deride the tonal shifts being so at odds. But, if you'll indulge me, I feel Heller, intentionally or not, has constructed a work in the mold of its own protagonist. This novel, like the titular David, is brilliant but also ignorant, strong but also weak, a lover but also a philanderer, fit but also decrepit. In short: this novel concatenates together the various prisms of Diasporic Jewish identity through the lens of the Biblical that few other writers inside or outside of Israel would dare to even attempt, let alone complete.
But Heller does it. Flawed as the work is, he did it. In reading this we see the ultimate tragedy of life and aging, of the glorious pleasures of love and victory, and degradation and shame, all under the auspices of God's near to complete silence. This is the journal of a Jewish soul. Beautiful, flawed, singular in its generality to that one people, mine, that has suffered so much for so little, and been made so ugly, and somehow so fucking beautiful because of this suffering.
Read this book. Withstand it and endure it; once you have you will see just how maddening, how funny, how ignorant, and how unutterably genius the Judaic soul can be.
So it was with significant misgivings I went into God Knows. I feared it would be a decidedly minor work, a bloated and wheezing gas bag of a formerly great novelist resting on his laurels and not so much creating a work as scratching a wandering itch. But I was wrong. I was very wrong.
As I've just finished the novel I am not now able to say whether God Knows is worse than the earlier Catch, I won't say it's better, but it might, in its own way, be just as good. And why is this? Because Heller through his delineation of the life and times of King David, a parody told at times in a pseudo-Biblical English and at times a Borscht Belt patois, bull rushes between a particularly Jewish self-deprecatory slyness and maudlin introspection touching on all the themes Heller knows so intimately. These themes: life, death, youth, age, love, lust, regret, are all woven with the mastery that comes only with an authorial skill hard earned and little regarded.
A more Conservative Jewish mindset might write this work off as simply "self-hating" and others might deride the tonal shifts being so at odds. But, if you'll indulge me, I feel Heller, intentionally or not, has constructed a work in the mold of its own protagonist. This novel, like the titular David, is brilliant but also ignorant, strong but also weak, a lover but also a philanderer, fit but also decrepit. In short: this novel concatenates together the various prisms of Diasporic Jewish identity through the lens of the Biblical that few other writers inside or outside of Israel would dare to even attempt, let alone complete.
But Heller does it. Flawed as the work is, he did it. In reading this we see the ultimate tragedy of life and aging, of the glorious pleasures of love and victory, and degradation and shame, all under the auspices of God's near to complete silence. This is the journal of a Jewish soul. Beautiful, flawed, singular in its generality to that one people, mine, that has suffered so much for so little, and been made so ugly, and somehow so fucking beautiful because of this suffering.
Read this book. Withstand it and endure it; once you have you will see just how maddening, how funny, how ignorant, and how unutterably genius the Judaic soul can be.
August 29, 2017
“All my life I have wanted to be in love.”
“God Knows” is a unique work. It is Joseph Heller’s retelling of the story of the Biblical King David as a bitter old Jewish man facing the end of life without his God and the greatest love of his life (Bathsheba). I will say off the bat that biblical knowledge is a big plus (and possibly also necessary) in order to get the most enjoyment out of this text.
The novel is a funny one, and many times while reading I laughed out loud or at least chuckled. Mr. Heller was a good writer. Especially humorous are the conversations between David and his “wise” son Solomon. They are a highlight of the book.
Another nice touch are the many anachronisms peppered throughout the text. David refers to 20th century events along with those of very ancient times. It is a clever gambit, as are the insane amount of allusions & lifted lines from many of western literature’s greatest writers. Especially Shakespeare. There were so many lines from his works that I lost count. Other writers whose works I caught (and I am sure there are many I did not) included the Romantic poets, Dickens and others. David constantly complains about how many of the great writers plagiarized him, so the device gives a little bit more enjoyment to the text for the reader who catches them. This also allows for a imaginative moment where we learn the “true” origins of the famous “The Lord is My Shepard” Psalm.
However, Heller does get bogged down at times in some mundane details. Chapter 9 of this book is especially hard to endure. The novel is good, but it is a slow read. The text could have lost 50 pages and would have been no worse for it.
“God Knows” presents a bitter version of David that some readers might not appreciate. It is not an uplifting book. The ending is biting. A man misses his God, and he misses the love of a woman. It is not a story one would want to live out in their own life.
“God Knows” is a unique work. It is Joseph Heller’s retelling of the story of the Biblical King David as a bitter old Jewish man facing the end of life without his God and the greatest love of his life (Bathsheba). I will say off the bat that biblical knowledge is a big plus (and possibly also necessary) in order to get the most enjoyment out of this text.
The novel is a funny one, and many times while reading I laughed out loud or at least chuckled. Mr. Heller was a good writer. Especially humorous are the conversations between David and his “wise” son Solomon. They are a highlight of the book.
Another nice touch are the many anachronisms peppered throughout the text. David refers to 20th century events along with those of very ancient times. It is a clever gambit, as are the insane amount of allusions & lifted lines from many of western literature’s greatest writers. Especially Shakespeare. There were so many lines from his works that I lost count. Other writers whose works I caught (and I am sure there are many I did not) included the Romantic poets, Dickens and others. David constantly complains about how many of the great writers plagiarized him, so the device gives a little bit more enjoyment to the text for the reader who catches them. This also allows for a imaginative moment where we learn the “true” origins of the famous “The Lord is My Shepard” Psalm.
However, Heller does get bogged down at times in some mundane details. Chapter 9 of this book is especially hard to endure. The novel is good, but it is a slow read. The text could have lost 50 pages and would have been no worse for it.
“God Knows” presents a bitter version of David that some readers might not appreciate. It is not an uplifting book. The ending is biting. A man misses his God, and he misses the love of a woman. It is not a story one would want to live out in their own life.
February 14, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in May 2004.
Even for the most dedicated Heller fan, and the impact of Catch-22 created vast numbers of them, his second and third novels are frequently heavy going. But then eventually (over twenty years into his career, for he was never a particularly prolific novelist) came God Knows - immediately accessible, hilariously funny and wickedly subversive.
The idea behind God Knows is simple. David, King of Israel, author of the psalms, recounts his life while on his deathbed, in the voice of a twentieth century American Jewish patriarch. To work, this has to be done extremely well, as is it no easy thing to write a narration that convincingly comes across as being from the mind of a man recognised as one of the greatest poets in history.
Apart from the difficulty in matching up to his literary merit, David is an excellent choice for this type of novel. He has quite a lot of space devoted to him in the Bible, which records many fascinating events in his life but which also leaves room for Heller to expand on the characterisation of him and those around him (Heller's portrayal of Solomon is particularly amusing). The picture painted of him is neither black nor white in 2 Samuel in particular is neither black nor white morally, making him a more interesting subject for a novel than (say) the prophet Daniel. And there is his importance as an influence on history and an icon for Jewish culture - it is no accident that the star of David was made the symbol of the Zionist movement and now appears on the flag of the state of Israel. (As he asks out at one point, "Does Moses have a star?".)
A lot of the humour in God Knows stems from the use of anachronism in a way that reminds me of Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon. An example of the type of joke used is when David tells his generals to "send a wire", only to be reminded that telegrams haven't been invented yet (the joke being not only that they don't exist, but also that every one knows what they are). This kind of humour is one which quickly becomes wearing, so it's good that Heller doesn't use it to excess; it would have been easy to put jokes along these lines into every paragraph, and that would have killed the novel stone dead. He also makes most of its uses more subtle than the example I've given. Much more pervasive is the use of anachronism in a more indirect form, as Heller gives characters stereotypical Jewish roles from twentieth century America; this also introduces an element of satire.
David's life inclded a fair amount of personal unhappiness, so God Knows is not a sunny novel, even if the humour in it is not as bleak as that in Heller's earlier novels. It is part of the Jewish father stereotype to complain about his children, but David really had a lot of grief from his - the death of Bathsheba's first child, slain by God as punishment for David's sin in sleeping with another man's wife and sending her husband to his death; the rape of his daughter Tamar by his son Amnon; the rebellion of his son Absalom. (And Heller adds the stupidity and humourlessness of his son Solomon - "Schlomo, that schmuck".) However, to Heller, David's relationship with God was the most significant in his life, and though he makes David make light of it, it is clear that the character regrets the withdrawal of God's voice of guidance more than anything else (this was another consequence of his adultery with Bathsheba).
From a literary point of view, God Knows is one of the least significant of Heller's novels. On the other hand, it is among his most accessible and enjoyable - and it will make you laugh out loud.
Even for the most dedicated Heller fan, and the impact of Catch-22 created vast numbers of them, his second and third novels are frequently heavy going. But then eventually (over twenty years into his career, for he was never a particularly prolific novelist) came God Knows - immediately accessible, hilariously funny and wickedly subversive.
The idea behind God Knows is simple. David, King of Israel, author of the psalms, recounts his life while on his deathbed, in the voice of a twentieth century American Jewish patriarch. To work, this has to be done extremely well, as is it no easy thing to write a narration that convincingly comes across as being from the mind of a man recognised as one of the greatest poets in history.
Apart from the difficulty in matching up to his literary merit, David is an excellent choice for this type of novel. He has quite a lot of space devoted to him in the Bible, which records many fascinating events in his life but which also leaves room for Heller to expand on the characterisation of him and those around him (Heller's portrayal of Solomon is particularly amusing). The picture painted of him is neither black nor white in 2 Samuel in particular is neither black nor white morally, making him a more interesting subject for a novel than (say) the prophet Daniel. And there is his importance as an influence on history and an icon for Jewish culture - it is no accident that the star of David was made the symbol of the Zionist movement and now appears on the flag of the state of Israel. (As he asks out at one point, "Does Moses have a star?".)
A lot of the humour in God Knows stems from the use of anachronism in a way that reminds me of Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon. An example of the type of joke used is when David tells his generals to "send a wire", only to be reminded that telegrams haven't been invented yet (the joke being not only that they don't exist, but also that every one knows what they are). This kind of humour is one which quickly becomes wearing, so it's good that Heller doesn't use it to excess; it would have been easy to put jokes along these lines into every paragraph, and that would have killed the novel stone dead. He also makes most of its uses more subtle than the example I've given. Much more pervasive is the use of anachronism in a more indirect form, as Heller gives characters stereotypical Jewish roles from twentieth century America; this also introduces an element of satire.
David's life inclded a fair amount of personal unhappiness, so God Knows is not a sunny novel, even if the humour in it is not as bleak as that in Heller's earlier novels. It is part of the Jewish father stereotype to complain about his children, but David really had a lot of grief from his - the death of Bathsheba's first child, slain by God as punishment for David's sin in sleeping with another man's wife and sending her husband to his death; the rape of his daughter Tamar by his son Amnon; the rebellion of his son Absalom. (And Heller adds the stupidity and humourlessness of his son Solomon - "Schlomo, that schmuck".) However, to Heller, David's relationship with God was the most significant in his life, and though he makes David make light of it, it is clear that the character regrets the withdrawal of God's voice of guidance more than anything else (this was another consequence of his adultery with Bathsheba).
From a literary point of view, God Knows is one of the least significant of Heller's novels. On the other hand, it is among his most accessible and enjoyable - and it will make you laugh out loud.
August 8, 2018
An extraordinary novel. It opens with King David as he is described in the First Book of Kings, in the last few days/weeks of life, with his new servant girl, Abishag the Shunammite. The novel has David looking back on his life, but he also knows about the future. Early on he complains about his portrayal in Chronicles:
“In Chronicles I am a pious bore, as dull as dishwater and as preachy and insipid as that self-righteous Joan of Arc, and God knows I was never anything like that.”
So, is David also partly telling his story from the afterlife, or has he been shown this future by his prophets? The novel is loaded with deliberate anachronisms, and not just in relation to what David knows, the other characters use them as well. Personally I didn’t really get why the author included these. Are they meant to be part of the humour? If so this facet didn’t appeal to me, it was the one aspect of the book I didn’t like. It’s probably my overly tidy mind.
I would say that it helps to know your Bible if you read this. I went to primary school in the Scottish Highlands in the late 60s and early 70s, and back then we got a half hour Bible lesson every day. Beyond the fight with Goliath though, my teachers avoided Samuel I and II. No doubt the stories of rape, adultery, and lusting after naked women were considered unsuitable for young minds. Not long after starting this I read through Samuel I and II, and the novel does stick closely to David’s life story as set out there. What it also does though is develop the characters and their motivations. To avoid spoilers I won’t go into detail, except to say that the portrayal of Solomon was one of my favourite elements.
The God of this story is a capricious being. I laughed at David’s description of Moses and the Exodus:
‘…Forty years this went on, with God wrathful and fulminating and the people recalcitrant, stiff-necked and disobedient. ‘Till the day arrived when – weary enough to want to wash his hands of it all I’ll bet – he hiked up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah for his look across the Jordan at the Promised Land he was barred from entering for some undisclosed trespass neither I nor anyone else has been able to figure out.”
In the story David never forgives God for killing his first-born son with Bathsheba. In many ways this is a central event in the novel, causing a permanent break between David and the God who once favoured him.
I was going to say I thought the book would appeal more to men than to women, since it’s told from David’s perspective and David wasn’t just a guy, he was an absolute guy. However, I see that some female reviewers have rated it highly, so maybe that thought was incorrect.
Imaginative, irreverent, raunchy, full of “earthy” language, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, with a poignant ending.
“In Chronicles I am a pious bore, as dull as dishwater and as preachy and insipid as that self-righteous Joan of Arc, and God knows I was never anything like that.”
So, is David also partly telling his story from the afterlife, or has he been shown this future by his prophets? The novel is loaded with deliberate anachronisms, and not just in relation to what David knows, the other characters use them as well. Personally I didn’t really get why the author included these. Are they meant to be part of the humour? If so this facet didn’t appeal to me, it was the one aspect of the book I didn’t like. It’s probably my overly tidy mind.
I would say that it helps to know your Bible if you read this. I went to primary school in the Scottish Highlands in the late 60s and early 70s, and back then we got a half hour Bible lesson every day. Beyond the fight with Goliath though, my teachers avoided Samuel I and II. No doubt the stories of rape, adultery, and lusting after naked women were considered unsuitable for young minds. Not long after starting this I read through Samuel I and II, and the novel does stick closely to David’s life story as set out there. What it also does though is develop the characters and their motivations. To avoid spoilers I won’t go into detail, except to say that the portrayal of Solomon was one of my favourite elements.
The God of this story is a capricious being. I laughed at David’s description of Moses and the Exodus:
‘…Forty years this went on, with God wrathful and fulminating and the people recalcitrant, stiff-necked and disobedient. ‘Till the day arrived when – weary enough to want to wash his hands of it all I’ll bet – he hiked up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah for his look across the Jordan at the Promised Land he was barred from entering for some undisclosed trespass neither I nor anyone else has been able to figure out.”
In the story David never forgives God for killing his first-born son with Bathsheba. In many ways this is a central event in the novel, causing a permanent break between David and the God who once favoured him.
I was going to say I thought the book would appeal more to men than to women, since it’s told from David’s perspective and David wasn’t just a guy, he was an absolute guy. However, I see that some female reviewers have rated it highly, so maybe that thought was incorrect.
Imaginative, irreverent, raunchy, full of “earthy” language, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, with a poignant ending.
July 2, 2010
Having been a huge fan of Catch-22, I had been curious to read more of Heller's work for a long time. Something Happened, his follow-up to Catch-22, is the book that I had heard the most about- mainly that it was a challenging read that left many of his fans reeling and wondering whether he had lost his knack for finely honed satire. I had never even heard of God Knows until it was placed in my hands last week with the recommendation that it was "like Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal for the Old Testament set."
I guess that is an apt description as far as the content is concerned. The tale consists of the late life reminiscences of King David, the mighty slayer of Goliath, as he reflects upon his successes and (far more) failures and tries to decide which of his two remaining sons, Solomon or Adonijah, to pass the throne of Israel to upon his death. Where it differs from Moore's classic biblical farce, however, is that it's just not funny. Period. There are moments where I admit that I tittered, but for the most part it was just an old man grousing about all the fine tail he used to get back in the day, ruing his impotence, and trying to take credit for writing Hamlet and inventing microwave ovens (anachronisms run rife throughout the pages of this book). If you like your curmudgeons with little-to-no redeeming qualities, then you may enjoy God Knows far more than I ended up doing.
Still, I actually finished this book, which is a mark of accomplishment when considering just how little patience I've had for trying books this year. For all of its faults, and trust me when I say there are many, I was still drawn into the story. It's been a long time since I have read the Bible and I've made no secret of the fact that I just don't care about religion, but I enjoyed the refresher course. I didn't realize that Aldous Huxley's book Eyeless in Gaza was a reference to Samson's death, or that Tommie Lee Jones Iraq War film, In The Valley of Elah, was a reference to the valley in which David fought Goliath. Regardless, when the only good thing I can say about a book is that it helped me flesh out my understanding of cultural referents, chances are the book wasn't worth the time I spent on it.
I guess that is an apt description as far as the content is concerned. The tale consists of the late life reminiscences of King David, the mighty slayer of Goliath, as he reflects upon his successes and (far more) failures and tries to decide which of his two remaining sons, Solomon or Adonijah, to pass the throne of Israel to upon his death. Where it differs from Moore's classic biblical farce, however, is that it's just not funny. Period. There are moments where I admit that I tittered, but for the most part it was just an old man grousing about all the fine tail he used to get back in the day, ruing his impotence, and trying to take credit for writing Hamlet and inventing microwave ovens (anachronisms run rife throughout the pages of this book). If you like your curmudgeons with little-to-no redeeming qualities, then you may enjoy God Knows far more than I ended up doing.
Still, I actually finished this book, which is a mark of accomplishment when considering just how little patience I've had for trying books this year. For all of its faults, and trust me when I say there are many, I was still drawn into the story. It's been a long time since I have read the Bible and I've made no secret of the fact that I just don't care about religion, but I enjoyed the refresher course. I didn't realize that Aldous Huxley's book Eyeless in Gaza was a reference to Samson's death, or that Tommie Lee Jones Iraq War film, In The Valley of Elah, was a reference to the valley in which David fought Goliath. Regardless, when the only good thing I can say about a book is that it helped me flesh out my understanding of cultural referents, chances are the book wasn't worth the time I spent on it.
September 21, 2015
Heller's take on the story of King David. More emphasis on humour than his other books, but with a healthy helping of satire. A great (and quite alternative) retelling of the story by a great author.
December 6, 2017
I thought it was brilliant writing. Joseph Heller writes from the POV of King David of Israel, but in the tone of a 20th century American Jewish man.
A word of warning: If you are not familiar with I and II Samuel (Old Testament books), you will be hopelessly lost while reading this.
A word of warning: If you are not familiar with I and II Samuel (Old Testament books), you will be hopelessly lost while reading this.
December 3, 2021
"Sheepherding, like cunnilingus, is dark and lonely work, but somebody has to do it." King David in Joseph Heller's GOD KNOWS. Heller's David is a Jew alright; a Jew with a Brooklyn accent and vocabulary, just like the author, and in this comical masterpiece he gets to tell his story his way, not God's. "I've got the best story in the Bible." Of Solomon, his son: "The kid, they say, was born in a manger, but frankly I have my doubts." A hilarious send-up of not only religion but also tradition, reverence for the past, and the reliability of narration. The real Heller once said, "I don't care if there's a God or not...not even if Ralph Nader came out with scientific proof of his existence."
October 24, 2007
Best laugh ever. King David's autobiography. Must read about one-quarter of the Old Testament first to truly appreciate Heller's genuis.
Read
June 20, 2022DNF - seemed uninspired
June 19, 2015
God Knows is a powerful modern retelling of the story of David, leaving out the God and including the ramblings of a king near death. He is the same David who slayed Goliath, who ruled Judah and Palestine as King, the Biblical character who is most mentioned. One pre-read if you are not into religion is the Wiki page on David.
I was under the impression Joseph Heller has chosen religion to satire (which he does by taking on the Bible). But surprisingly, for the large part of the book, it is about men and their vanity. About heroes and their desire to be 'a simple' who can love as father, as husband, as a loyal servant capable of expressing love, loyalty, guilt, helplessness and the multitude of human emotions . And Heller nails it once again!
Heller's books are like caramel coated onions (for the lack of a better simile). The caramel is the first few chapters that make you laugh like crazy and in brief give you the entire story from start to end. Then comes the onion with layer after layer giving you more insights into human nature
The narrative of King David is narcissistic and he is unapologetically judgmental. He speaks from the present caring not about the tense. This license results in many a laugh-out-loud moments making King David talk about Hollywood, PLO, Hitler's blitzkrieg, Michelangelo's statue,Shakespere's plagiarized writing and rues the lack of wire or underwear at the time. Intelligently his David has a standoff with God and hence He speaks to him no more (to keep out the mysticism).
The book makes an impact on the reader that changes the image of a happy king. Loved the book. One of the best reads of this year.
I was under the impression Joseph Heller has chosen religion to satire (which he does by taking on the Bible). But surprisingly, for the large part of the book, it is about men and their vanity. About heroes and their desire to be 'a simple' who can love as father, as husband, as a loyal servant capable of expressing love, loyalty, guilt, helplessness and the multitude of human emotions . And Heller nails it once again!
Heller's books are like caramel coated onions (for the lack of a better simile). The caramel is the first few chapters that make you laugh like crazy and in brief give you the entire story from start to end. Then comes the onion with layer after layer giving you more insights into human nature
The narrative of King David is narcissistic and he is unapologetically judgmental. He speaks from the present caring not about the tense. This license results in many a laugh-out-loud moments making King David talk about Hollywood, PLO, Hitler's blitzkrieg, Michelangelo's statue,Shakespere's plagiarized writing and rues the lack of wire or underwear at the time. Intelligently his David has a standoff with God and hence He speaks to him no more (to keep out the mysticism).
The book makes an impact on the reader that changes the image of a happy king. Loved the book. One of the best reads of this year.
April 21, 2017
I am so relieved to be done with this book. I didn't enjoy it very much - there were a few funny snippets here and there but for the most part I felt like I was force-feeding myself monotonous Heller prose. The book is the story of King David, slayer of Goliath, King of Israel, father of Solomon, husband of Bathsheba, etc. Heller attempts to modernize the story by adding some fiction into David's story. It just didn't really gel very well for me. This was one of those books that I found myself nodding off after about 30-40 pages, which is why it took me an entire month to read. I won't say it's a bad book, but having read it one and a half times now, I don't think I'll need to read it again. In my experience, if you're going to read Heller, you should probably just stick to his first novel, Catch-22. I'm going to continue reading the rest of his works, because I am stubborn, but each one has paled in comparison to his first.
February 8, 2020
It took me a while to read this book! It is surprisingly accurate when it comes to the events described in the Scriptures, but it is written in a satirical and ironic tone. There are pages and pages of crude expressions, so only read this novel if this doesn't deter you. To be honest, I was disappointed about how Bathsheba and David's relationship was described. Their attraction was purely physical. Bathsheba in the book is a greedy, ambitious woman, that would stop at nothing to get what she wants. Her son Solomon is a halfwit. Still, it was an interesting novel to read. It surprised me and a few times made me laugh out loud, it was so ridiculous! It ended on a lyrical note, that was strangely touching.
July 8, 2023
Another book that made me feel sophisticated just for reading it. I liked it, but not as much as I liked Job: A Comedy of Justice, which I thought was funnier.
November 3, 2022
This is definitely King David as I have never seen him! Such an interesting re-telling of the life of David from the voice of David as an old man. As he looks back on his life, he reflects on his relationships... with G-d, his wives, his children, his numerous other relatives and in-laws, his predecessors... The book is moving and funny, highly irreverent. In particular, his retelling of his relationships with Bathsheba and Solomon were very amusing. It is probably helpful to have some knowledge of the bible stories to fully enjoy this book.
December 9, 2023
Hey the long way around on how I came back to this book is that I read "Cry the Beloved Country," and wanted to know the circumstances of a character found there named Absalom, which led me to 1st and 2nd Samuel, which led me back to this book, which I started many years ago and never finished because I didn't know the bible story.
Joe Heller I know to be great from "Catch 22" and "Good as Gold," for which I have forgotten the plot and may have to re-read soon. This book, "God Knows," has his genius, and his jewish heritage. I find it odd that I had read two books by the guy and didn't know he was jewish. Not that it matters, except he retells the story of David, the first King of Israel from the Old Testament in such personal detail that he must have known this story, the whole story, not just the Goliath part, from study in Yeshiva or something like that.
Having just read the story of David in the Old Testament, I was able to completely follow the book this time and found it utterly fascinating and completely hilarious. I love what he does with the different characters, the personalities he gives them, especially Bathsheba and Solomon. He throws in a bunch of 20th century references and huge amounts of what seem to be personal feeling on the nature of God and being Jewish. Knowing the story made a difference I think. Comedy the whole way through.
This is not a great start for reading Heller. I think you have to start with "Catch 22." This has a very specific focus, and I don't think my generation knew the story of David from the bible as well as Heller's did, and I think knowing the story makes a difference. I ordered this online because there was a wait at my library and bought a used hardcover because it was cheaper than the paper. It had a slip of paper in it that said it was a review copy from 1984 and that Alfred-A-Knopf would "appreciate receiving two copies of your review." I think that since the publication date was 1984 that I will pass on the reviews, but I did find that quite interesting.
If you have never read Joseph Heller, start with "Catch 22."
Joe Heller I know to be great from "Catch 22" and "Good as Gold," for which I have forgotten the plot and may have to re-read soon. This book, "God Knows," has his genius, and his jewish heritage. I find it odd that I had read two books by the guy and didn't know he was jewish. Not that it matters, except he retells the story of David, the first King of Israel from the Old Testament in such personal detail that he must have known this story, the whole story, not just the Goliath part, from study in Yeshiva or something like that.
Having just read the story of David in the Old Testament, I was able to completely follow the book this time and found it utterly fascinating and completely hilarious. I love what he does with the different characters, the personalities he gives them, especially Bathsheba and Solomon. He throws in a bunch of 20th century references and huge amounts of what seem to be personal feeling on the nature of God and being Jewish. Knowing the story made a difference I think. Comedy the whole way through.
This is not a great start for reading Heller. I think you have to start with "Catch 22." This has a very specific focus, and I don't think my generation knew the story of David from the bible as well as Heller's did, and I think knowing the story makes a difference. I ordered this online because there was a wait at my library and bought a used hardcover because it was cheaper than the paper. It had a slip of paper in it that said it was a review copy from 1984 and that Alfred-A-Knopf would "appreciate receiving two copies of your review." I think that since the publication date was 1984 that I will pass on the reviews, but I did find that quite interesting.
If you have never read Joseph Heller, start with "Catch 22."
October 1, 2022
This may be more in the 3.5 range.
The shortest possible encapsulation of ‘God Knows’ I can provide is that if you ever wanted to read the Old Testament as narrated by Woody Allen, well have I got a book for you. Heller writes this story of King David, slayer of Goliath, survivor of coups, stealer of Bathsheba, and man after God’s own heart not as the vigorous king of old but essentially as an old, disgruntled, Brooklyn-born and -raised Jewish father. To say there are anachronisms in here does not do it justice. The entire novel is an anachronism, the conceit of which is as David lies on his deathbed he considers the entirety of his extremely active life. Tragically, he finds not success, but sadness and solitude.
It is at times a great farce, but other times quite sensitive. Sometimes it evokes loud, neighbor-starling laughs, but a few pages later leaves the read dejected. I read that this book was not well received upon its publication, especially among Jewish reviewers at the various intellectual journals of the day. I find some of their critiques entirely reasonable. Parts of this novel are so frivolous that they detract from the enormity of the question Heller is seeking to pose: how does one “reconnect" with a God with whom he has lost touch. The title is both an exclamation following a question the narrator does not wish to consider in any depth out of fear of the answer he might find, as well as an implicit acceptance of the providence of God the Father. Throughout, however, David turns to the first. He blames God for his travails, for losing the only wife who provided comfort, for taking his baby boy born out of sin, the further penalty of which is the death of the only son he believes is worthy of his title. In this the reader, at the end, is never provided a comforting moment of closure. The king, as his life and reign slips away, is not able to take comfort in the longevity of his kingdom, as he learns the kingdom will one day fail—as a narrator knowledgeable of all of history he conveniently does not realize nor accept the kingdom-propitiating acts of Christ—but rather he is relieved to know that Bathsheba's life following his death won’t be so bad. There is a good heart at the center of Heller’s David, but his heart is not equal to the biblical David, even if ‘God Knows’ delivers a reasonable connective tissue to this moment in Old Testament history. If the satirical David presented here is any equal to the author, one is incapable of not offering a small prayer for him, even two decades after his death.
The shortest possible encapsulation of ‘God Knows’ I can provide is that if you ever wanted to read the Old Testament as narrated by Woody Allen, well have I got a book for you. Heller writes this story of King David, slayer of Goliath, survivor of coups, stealer of Bathsheba, and man after God’s own heart not as the vigorous king of old but essentially as an old, disgruntled, Brooklyn-born and -raised Jewish father. To say there are anachronisms in here does not do it justice. The entire novel is an anachronism, the conceit of which is as David lies on his deathbed he considers the entirety of his extremely active life. Tragically, he finds not success, but sadness and solitude.
It is at times a great farce, but other times quite sensitive. Sometimes it evokes loud, neighbor-starling laughs, but a few pages later leaves the read dejected. I read that this book was not well received upon its publication, especially among Jewish reviewers at the various intellectual journals of the day. I find some of their critiques entirely reasonable. Parts of this novel are so frivolous that they detract from the enormity of the question Heller is seeking to pose: how does one “reconnect" with a God with whom he has lost touch. The title is both an exclamation following a question the narrator does not wish to consider in any depth out of fear of the answer he might find, as well as an implicit acceptance of the providence of God the Father. Throughout, however, David turns to the first. He blames God for his travails, for losing the only wife who provided comfort, for taking his baby boy born out of sin, the further penalty of which is the death of the only son he believes is worthy of his title. In this the reader, at the end, is never provided a comforting moment of closure. The king, as his life and reign slips away, is not able to take comfort in the longevity of his kingdom, as he learns the kingdom will one day fail—as a narrator knowledgeable of all of history he conveniently does not realize nor accept the kingdom-propitiating acts of Christ—but rather he is relieved to know that Bathsheba's life following his death won’t be so bad. There is a good heart at the center of Heller’s David, but his heart is not equal to the biblical David, even if ‘God Knows’ delivers a reasonable connective tissue to this moment in Old Testament history. If the satirical David presented here is any equal to the author, one is incapable of not offering a small prayer for him, even two decades after his death.
June 20, 2017
I have to admit I did not finish reading this cover to cover as one would expect from a novel; however, I am quite done with this book. That is not to say it's bad in any sense, not by a long shot, it's even quite good. Thing is, to really appreciate this book, one should know really well the biblical story of David. Moreover, one should be familiar with critics of the story, the fact it appears twice in the old testament and each instance has its own version of David.
What Heller does, is make David a well rounded character. Intriguing, funny, annoying, and more. God Knows is sort of a train of thought by David at his deathbed, retelling his story with a few twists on the biblical story (hence the requirement to know the story *well*); and with modern prospective of it. As I am not a huge Bible buff some of the nuances were lost on me, and I was left with a sketchy retelling of the biblical David. At a certain point the novelty of a cynic David, and a witty way of telling bible stories, went a tad stale and I started to feel like I exhausted the value this book has for me.
All in all, it was mostly entertaining, although somewhat chauvinist at times. I do recommend reading this book; though if you do, you might want to read up on King David, his appearances in the bible and his legacy.
P.S.
I *highly* recommend reading the Hebrew translation, if you have access to it and can actually read Hebrew. This adds a *lot* of flavour, the translator did a fantastic job interweaving biblical and modern Hebrew to the point of laughing out loud in appreciation of this sort of wordplay.
What Heller does, is make David a well rounded character. Intriguing, funny, annoying, and more. God Knows is sort of a train of thought by David at his deathbed, retelling his story with a few twists on the biblical story (hence the requirement to know the story *well*); and with modern prospective of it. As I am not a huge Bible buff some of the nuances were lost on me, and I was left with a sketchy retelling of the biblical David. At a certain point the novelty of a cynic David, and a witty way of telling bible stories, went a tad stale and I started to feel like I exhausted the value this book has for me.
All in all, it was mostly entertaining, although somewhat chauvinist at times. I do recommend reading this book; though if you do, you might want to read up on King David, his appearances in the bible and his legacy.
P.S.
I *highly* recommend reading the Hebrew translation, if you have access to it and can actually read Hebrew. This adds a *lot* of flavour, the translator did a fantastic job interweaving biblical and modern Hebrew to the point of laughing out loud in appreciation of this sort of wordplay.
October 30, 2011
I'm sorry but I just couldn't finish this book. I got to page 70 and decided to move on. Just been picking it up and putting it down all week. It was trying hard to be funny but I just found it boring.
September 11, 2022
I was assigned a bit of this to read for a class on the Bible. This particular prof was big into retellings of biblical stories. I enjoyed the assignment well enough to read the entire book. It was really fun and more than a bit humorous, although humor was not the main objective.
July 22, 2022
Joseph Heller knocks it out of the park. This book is a satire of the life of King David but still manages to depict a Jewish man's internal struggle with his faith, family, and ego. The story is surprisingly heartfelt and sad but at the same time laugh out loud funny.
March 10, 2024
idk man i wanted to love this book so much but it didnt really click for me.
way too repetitive- like catch 22 is repetitive, but nowhere near as annoying and dumb as this book is.
there was good parts but it just was a disappointment sadly.
way too repetitive- like catch 22 is repetitive, but nowhere near as annoying and dumb as this book is.
there was good parts but it just was a disappointment sadly.
January 27, 2023
“I think I may have been the first grown man in the world to fall truly, passionately, sexually, romantically and sentimentally in love. I practically invented it.”
June 28, 2023
It’s a human portrait of King David—warts, wives and all.
Hilarious at times, heartfelt at others, God Knows carries a heavy dose of religious satire without turning our narrator into a caricature. He’s filled with passions and flaws, all of which are on full display and make for an entertaining read. My only complaint is how repetitive the novel becomes. Heller seems to fall back into the same lustful asides, which were hilarious at first, but grew a bit stale as the story pressed on.
Still, it’s a funny take on this monumental (heh-heh) figure. Check it out, but don’t expect another Catch-22.
Hilarious at times, heartfelt at others, God Knows carries a heavy dose of religious satire without turning our narrator into a caricature. He’s filled with passions and flaws, all of which are on full display and make for an entertaining read. My only complaint is how repetitive the novel becomes. Heller seems to fall back into the same lustful asides, which were hilarious at first, but grew a bit stale as the story pressed on.
Still, it’s a funny take on this monumental (heh-heh) figure. Check it out, but don’t expect another Catch-22.
April 5, 2010
Sort of a madcap version of King David's story, told in the first person, of course including more vivid descriptions of some of the bawdier details than the Bible does. Heller doesn't sacrifice the real account at the expense of entertainment though, so I came away really being amazed by David's story told again, and reminded of many details I had forgotten. I was impressed by his steadfastness in the face of serious hardship and adversity and his faithfulness to God, even though there is plenty of his anger, lust, and general beleaguered longing here than in the Bible (For example, the Bible never goes into detail about the practical logistics and headaches of maintaining a harem in a warm climate). Included are funnier and more modernly humanized interactions with Abner- cast as an insensitive dolt, or Nathan- whom David considers a an enigmatic killjoy and is continually harassed that he answers everything in a Socratic way, and Jonathan- with whom he tries to dispel rumors of homosexuality, explains weeping together ("We did a lot of weeping back then."), and blames his difficulty of understanding him on the King James translators. Since this is a Joseph Heller novel, it is very funny, but can switch rapidly to sadness, anger, and violence. I enjoyed it a lot, even if some may find that making David into a cantankerous modern Jew is an affront to the mythical and/or Biblical casting. I say, just read the real Bible in that case, which clearly is the holier account.
March 22, 2014
For the first time in years I didn't finish a book. I was about 100 pages from the end and just could. not. go. on. Heller writes about King David's last days and memories, and it's one long complainfest. There's bits of humor, but for my money I enjoyed Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal written by Christopher Moore much better.
You know how the Bible has those long chains of "xx begat xx who begat xx who begat xx"? This is very similar but with "then I went to Giza to smite then I went to Maziz to smite there too and then to Judea to rest up, but there was smiting there..." blah blah blah. There was no map so I had no idea where all these places were anyway.
I didn't get the cover, but then I saw that it was similar to Catch-22, so the publisher wanted them to look the same in the box sets I guess. The font on this is tiny, and after reading for half an hour I was dismayed to find that I had only read 8 pages.
I would have taken off a star anyway because Heller copied a story over. We know about David and Goliath, David and Saul, David and Jonathan, David and Bathseba, etc.
You know how the Bible has those long chains of "xx begat xx who begat xx who begat xx"? This is very similar but with "then I went to Giza to smite then I went to Maziz to smite there too and then to Judea to rest up, but there was smiting there..." blah blah blah. There was no map so I had no idea where all these places were anyway.
I didn't get the cover, but then I saw that it was similar to Catch-22, so the publisher wanted them to look the same in the box sets I guess. The font on this is tiny, and after reading for half an hour I was dismayed to find that I had only read 8 pages.
I would have taken off a star anyway because Heller copied a story over. We know about David and Goliath, David and Saul, David and Jonathan, David and Bathseba, etc.
May 16, 2019
Many people read Catch-22 and consider themselves done with Joseph Heller. In fact, when Heller was asked why he had never written anything as good as Catch-22 later in his life, his reply was "Who has?"
Still, his wit and style are left untarnished in 1984's God Knows. In it, Heller recounts the story from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles through the eyes of their main protagonist, King David. In the novel, David is old and bedridden, waiting for death and reminiscing. His quarrelsome favourite wife, Bathsheba, keeps pestering him to make their son Solomon king, but he thinks the young man is unfit and dim-witted.
While Abishag the Shunammite unsuccessfully tries to keep the old man warm, David thinks back of his youth, his confrontations with Saul, his conquests, his many wives, and foremost his troubles with God, which led to heartbreaking family crises.
The book is laced with humour, its characters are vividly depicted and extremely human (especially the Lord), and its protagonist is both admirable in his eloquence and despicable in his smallness. It goes to Heller's credit that he is able to give a new spin to one of the greatest stories ever told, and make it feel fresh. I would recommend the book to everyone.
Still, his wit and style are left untarnished in 1984's God Knows. In it, Heller recounts the story from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles through the eyes of their main protagonist, King David. In the novel, David is old and bedridden, waiting for death and reminiscing. His quarrelsome favourite wife, Bathsheba, keeps pestering him to make their son Solomon king, but he thinks the young man is unfit and dim-witted.
While Abishag the Shunammite unsuccessfully tries to keep the old man warm, David thinks back of his youth, his confrontations with Saul, his conquests, his many wives, and foremost his troubles with God, which led to heartbreaking family crises.
The book is laced with humour, its characters are vividly depicted and extremely human (especially the Lord), and its protagonist is both admirable in his eloquence and despicable in his smallness. It goes to Heller's credit that he is able to give a new spin to one of the greatest stories ever told, and make it feel fresh. I would recommend the book to everyone.
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