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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

James Morrow

jentacular dreams

13:53 / 26.08.07

Having just finished Towing Jehovah, I'm starting to think that this guy is one of my favourite authors. I find them very thought-provoking, which is I suppose a hallmark of fantasy and science-fiction at their best. Though I have little education in literary criticism, it's obvious that all his books seem to follow a simple structure - take an absurd or unthinkable premise, inject some (reasonably) realistic central characters, and a handful of equally absurd ones, and use setting to explore human nature.

Is anyone else familiar with any of his novels? Which would you most recommend, and why? Do you find anything within his body of work problematic (the view of feminism within Towing Jehovah less than ideal, and from memory I think that his depiction of women in Only Begotten Daughter [central character aside] may be somewhat problematic)? All thoughts and criticisms welcome.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

20:16 / 26.08.07

It's been a while since I touched his books - I picked up The Last Witchfinder a few months ago but never made it past halfway through the book - but I enjoyed them when I did. Towing Jehovah had that tanker of lost souls and I liked the bits about transubstantiation....Only Begotten Daughter's probably my favourite, though Blameless in Abaddon did some interesting things, building on the significance of God's death.

Morrow's a competent writer, especially when he's not being too clever - his ideas sing when he's not really focusing on them too much. God coming as a sponge to talk to hir daughter. Who made it into Heaven.

I should probably hit Witchfinder again, actually, and finish it.

jentacular dreams

14:33 / 10.09.07

I'd agree with that. Big chunks of the island scene in Towing Jehova seemed a little forced, as if to browbeat the reader with the absurdity of morality being divine in origin. And in some ways his more absurd / two dimensional characters seem like they might also fit into the not overthinking too much pattern.

I've yet to read Blameless or The Last Footman though. Might hop onto Amazon and see if I can get them for cheap.

jentacular dreams

14:42 / 06.06.08

Finished Blameless in Abaddon. Very good, and the idea of platonic ideals was entertaining (though it got a bit old as the book wore on). But altogether it felt a lot more contrived than Towing Jehova. Plus I don't think I really connected with any of the characters as well as I did in the first one.