Oh for heaven's sake, you might as well laugh
By Patrick Cassels |
August 5, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SIMON Rich's first novel, the prep school sendup "Elliot Allagash," drew comparisons to Evelyn Waugh and PG Wodehouse. His new novel, "What in God's Name," evokes another titan of English comedy: Douglas Adams. Like Adams in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Rich drags heaven down to Earth. His paradise is a mismanaged corporation, Heaven Inc - full of departments like Prayer Intake and Geyser Regulation - whose chief executive, God, decides on a whim to retire, destroy Earth, kill all the humans and fulfill his lifelong dream of opening an Asian-American fusion restaurant.
Given the grim prognosis for the planet, it's shocking how optimistic "What in God's Name" is. In satires of religion, wit is typically wielded to criticize anti-intellectual beliefs and the institutions that promote them: think of "The Canterbury Tales"; Christopher Hitchens; or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the satirical god invented to lampoon creationism. But this gentle, enjoyable parody owes more to "The Simpsons" and to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens." Rich isn't interested in condemning religion - he just wants to have fun with it, using the Bible as an outrageous vehicle with which to present, in his own odd way, questions about faith and human nature. Funny and occasionally touching, "What in God's Name" is satire that avoids sanctimony.
The book is far from evangelical - to some it will be downright heretical - but it's not entirely secular, either. Its main characters are Craig and Eliza, two cubicle-dwelling angels from the Department of Miracles, whose main assignment is reuniting Lynyrd Skynyrd. Thanks to a bargain with God, the angels have the chance to save Earth, if they can get the world's two shyest humans to fall in love. Craig and Eliza are as flawed as the mortals they seek to help, subject to the same wild emotions, insecurities and jealousies. Their fallibilities make them comical but also sympathetic and recognizable.
At one point, Craig grapples with the moral ambiguity of miracles after helping students of a school for the blind win a wrestling match. "The victory dealt a major psychological blow to their sighted opponents," Craig recalls. "Was it still a miracle if someone had to suffer?"
Rich has created a satirical sandbox in which to play with the Bible's assertions. His imagined situations read like sketches he might have conceived at his old job as a writer for "Saturday Night Live."
God, a Nascar fan, orders an angel to send a car into a fiery crash, clearing the way for his favorite driver. In a post-race interview, the winner thanks God ("I couldn't have done it without him"), and so the gruesome logistics behind a sports cliche are laid bare.
The novel's secular bite is most evident in scenes like these, but Rich knows how to balance the smart with the funny. When "What in God's Name" bares its teeth, it's because it's laughing.
Given the grim prognosis for the planet, it's shocking how optimistic "What in God's Name" is. In satires of religion, wit is typically wielded to criticize anti-intellectual beliefs and the institutions that promote them: think of "The Canterbury Tales"; Christopher Hitchens; or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the satirical god invented to lampoon creationism. But this gentle, enjoyable parody owes more to "The Simpsons" and to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens." Rich isn't interested in condemning religion - he just wants to have fun with it, using the Bible as an outrageous vehicle with which to present, in his own odd way, questions about faith and human nature. Funny and occasionally touching, "What in God's Name" is satire that avoids sanctimony.
The book is far from evangelical - to some it will be downright heretical - but it's not entirely secular, either. Its main characters are Craig and Eliza, two cubicle-dwelling angels from the Department of Miracles, whose main assignment is reuniting Lynyrd Skynyrd. Thanks to a bargain with God, the angels have the chance to save Earth, if they can get the world's two shyest humans to fall in love. Craig and Eliza are as flawed as the mortals they seek to help, subject to the same wild emotions, insecurities and jealousies. Their fallibilities make them comical but also sympathetic and recognizable.
At one point, Craig grapples with the moral ambiguity of miracles after helping students of a school for the blind win a wrestling match. "The victory dealt a major psychological blow to their sighted opponents," Craig recalls. "Was it still a miracle if someone had to suffer?"
Rich has created a satirical sandbox in which to play with the Bible's assertions. His imagined situations read like sketches he might have conceived at his old job as a writer for "Saturday Night Live."
God, a Nascar fan, orders an angel to send a car into a fiery crash, clearing the way for his favorite driver. In a post-race interview, the winner thanks God ("I couldn't have done it without him"), and so the gruesome logistics behind a sports cliche are laid bare.
The novel's secular bite is most evident in scenes like these, but Rich knows how to balance the smart with the funny. When "What in God's Name" bares its teeth, it's because it's laughing.
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