This odd parody of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has two threads or themes:
Gnosticism=good, very good.
In the book Shay Bourne, a convicted murderer sentenced to death for his crimes, is actually Jesus or a Messiah or at the very least, a miracle-worker. And if you can accept the highly individualistic Religion of Shay Bourne, you, too, can come to your own Gnostic enlightenment. Or maybe it’s all a trick, and Shay is a charlatan. But probably not. But who cares anyway because we make our own truth. Or something.
BLECH.
By the way, Sam at Book Chase wrote a post just the other day about how Jodi Piccoult dissed Dan Brown. I’ve never read any Dan Brown, but if this book is a good example of the writing talents of Ms. Piccoult, the pot shouldn’t be calling the kettle black.
I read one Picoult book–the one about the murder by the Amish girl–but I couldn’t get comfortable with it somehow. I haven’t tried her again, and maybe now I know why.
I actually like Picoult — for a good character-driven suspenseful easy read.
The My Sister’s Keeper audiobook is excellent. A good story (which I just noticed will be a movie this summer), and different narrators to represent the different POVs in the story. If you “do” audiobooks, you should track it down.
However, I read these kinds of books selectively based on the subject line, and I wasn’t interested in this one.