Blasphemy
by Douglas Preston
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Book Reviews of Blasphemy
Book Review: And the Truth shall set you Free: Maybe
Summary: 4 Stars
And the truth shall set you free: Maybe
To date Douglas Preston's best solo work. A mixture of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Elmer Gantry, and The Greatest Story Ever Told all rolled into a James Bondish type suspense thriller. A little over the top but still a page turner as you wonder could this be the meaning of it all? Is God FINALLY going to reveal himself and tell his creations what the heck this journey on earth is all about? Is this really God? These and other esoteric insights are discussed as the nation's most expensive supercollider, hidden deep in a remote Arizona mountain, plumbs the depths of the very moment of creation: The Big Bang itself. As the scientists bring the machine to 100% capacity something mystical happens, the machine sends out a simple word: GREETINGS. From there the story takes off, as the believers and non-believers come to grips with what is really happening. Mix in a powerful televangelist, Navajo Indians, greedy Washington lobbyists, a deranged local pastor, and a messianic scientist and you have an interesting and volatile soup of characters. All in an interesting read. Of particular note is the interaction between the scientists and the God-like presence invoked by the supercollider. The dialog is snappy as the scientists ask penetrating questions and the "presence" seems to know all the right answers; eventually convincing the scientists that the presence is God. Once the believing threshold is crossed all but one of the scientists become ardent true believers and a new religion of science is born. Unlike Scientology, this religion of science stresses the journey as the way to the truth. Included in all this is a crusade led by the televangelist and his minions to destroy the machine and its Antichrist the lead scientist. An Armageddon like battle ensues in which the machine is destroyed, and the supposed "Antichrist" killed, but in the end the evangelists are stopped by the federal government and the remaining scientists escape to "spread the word". But, the ending has a twist and for that you need to read the novel.
Character development was a little thin and spotty. The lead character, Wyman Ford, was adequately developed but the other characters were shallow. The lead female scientist who played a major role could have been developed more. In one glaring example the author talks about a missing 2 year period in her life and never explains what that was! All in all a good story but lacking in character development.
No gratuitous violence, sex or language.
Good story and will probably be made into a movie. Good read with interesting philosophical overtones and discussion. Recommended. The ending is worth the wait.
Book Review: Overrated
Summary: 3 Stars
For such a fabulous premise (world's largest particle accelerator and the associated research agenda becomes the subject of political and religious conflict), this book falls far short of my expectations. It was so-so, at best.
First, Douglas Preston relies very heavily on stereotypes of characters rather than writing characters who are unique and interesting. For instance, the televangelist is a large, sweating closet alcoholic who (it is implied at one point) has an eye for young boys. The religious opponents to Isabella (the particle accelerator) are raving lunatics who can't think for themselves and are easily (and quite quickly) worked into a violent religious fury by a letter forwarded nationwide by a missionary on the Navajo reservation. The reaction by "God's army," in particular, is laughable. The scientists are all emotionally unstable atheists. And even the main character - a former CIA operative who has been in a monastary for the past few years - doesn't muster much interest. I wish Preston had moved beyond the obvious "character types" and created characters who instill some interest and emotion.
Second, some of the elements of the plot were just preposterous. And I'm not talking about how God apparently speaks from a tear in the space/time continuum caused by Isabella. That was one of the more interesting plot developments. I'm talking about the more mundane parts of the plot that are simply unfeasible or unbelievable. For instance - could the largest particle accelerator in the world be built within a president's first four year term? Probably not, yet that is the time frame we're looking at. Building Isabella is the president's technological coup, so the political and religious furor it causes before going on line is a real concern since the president is facing reelection. Also, has Preston been to the Navajo reservation area of Arizona? How could an emailed missive from a reservation missionary result in "God's army" appearing within mere hours of his sending out the letter? How could thousands have answered the call and made it to a remote, isolated area of the reservation by driving across country rather than on highways? I can more easily suspend my disbelief about God talking through a particle accelerator than believe the time frames the author sets up.
Lastly, I found it difficult to care about any of these characters. By the end, I was cheering for the fanatics and hoping Isabella would blow up so I could just get it over with.
I bought this book because the premise was unique and potentially exciting. I'm afraid that a good idea isn't enough though. Blasphemy just doesn't deliver.
Book Review: Fun reading and a passionate discussion to boot
Summary: 5 Stars
Blasphemy tells the tale of what could happen if a group of uber-scientists were allowed to build the largest particle accelerator in the world, along with the most powerful computer (aka Isabella) in the world to run it, and accidentally made contact with a higher being that calls itself God. Anyone living in this country and aware of political climates, religious lobbies, and government agendas can imagine the havoc this could create, and that is exactly what happens in this book. The central character, an ex-CIA operative and ex-monk, is sent in covertly to find out what is going on when the project does not meet its deadline, and winds up in the wrong place at the wrong time when several different ideologies come to a clash in the physical world. Because it's written by Douglas Preston, it's a fast-paced, page-turning, breathtaking ride that combines such disparate elements as televangelism, the Navajo religious belief system, the scientific concepts of matter and antimatter and black holes, and the remnants of a failed love affair, and brings them all together in one comprehensive and entertaining ride.
I finished reading Blasphemy last night, having gobbled up the last third of it at a speed that Isabella herself would have glanced askance at, and I am reading all the reviews and comments posted here and scratching my head. Every one of us read this thing start to finish: even from those who are saying less-than-complimentary things about the plot, the ending, the characters, what-have-you, the one thing I didn't see posted was "I could not finish this book." I think that alone is a testament to how powerful a writer Doug Preston really is. So maybe some may think he had an agenda, or leaned too heavily in one direction, or set up a story that didn't hold water in the end. He still kept everyone reading. More than that, he triggered quite a bit of discussion and commentary in the review and comments section of this site. I'd say he accomplished exactly what he set out to do: get people talking about topics that are uncomfortable, hot-button, knee-jerk things. Those subjects that somehow, when discussed, tend to see rational arguments go out the window and dissolve into heated blanket statements. Do you think he's having a good time watching some people react rather like some of the characters in his book???
I've been a fan of Preston and Child for years, singly and together, and it's easy to take shots at the big-name writers. On the other hand, this book went to the top five of the NY Times bestseller list for a reason -how many of us writing these reviews can make the same claims about our own work?
Book Review: Not very plausible, but very entertaining
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a sucker for a good `science vs. religion' thriller and Preston delivers with Blasphemy. This novel is entertaining (completely implausible...but entertaining).
Detractors of the novel will complain that the characters are superficial. They will point out flaws in the behavior of characters, noting that the scientists are not as skeptical as they should be when their super computer delivers `messages from God' and that, as radical as some fundamentalist Christians can be, it is unlikely that a single email could insight hordes of them to race to the desert and behave in such a violent manner.
These detractors have valid points. Preston's characters aren't fully developed and the plot is more than a little contrived. Surprisingly, this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel and to be fair to Preston, the author does provide some rationale for the lack of skepticism among the scientists (although it's pretty weak).
Christian readers will inevitably complain (and by `complain' I mean `be morally outraged') regarding the unflattering portrayal of the faithful in this novel. Most of the Christian characters in Blasphemy are cartoonishly evil. Again, to be fair, Preston does provide a voice of reason in his main character, anthropologist and ex-CIA agent Wyman Ford. Ford is a practicing Catholic who earnestly purports that science and religion can co-exist without negating one another. (This is a popular myth, designed to quell the concerns of the religious right - but still, Ford represents an attitude that is diplomatic, supporting both religious and scientific beliefs)
Despite these valid criticisms, I had a good time reading this novel. The final chapters are fast paced fun. The pages turn quickly as a team of scientists hunker down in the bowels of the Red Mesa talking to God on a supercomputer, while an FBI hostage rescue team and murderous Christians do battle, both determined to shut the project down. I like the fact that Preston is not reluctant to kill off sympathetic characters and is willing to end his novel on a cynical note. While I had no trouble predicting the secret of the Isabella Project (most readers of this type of novel will see the `big twist' coming well in advance) it didn't diminish the novel for me.
If you are willing to `go with the flow' and accept the flawed premise of the novel, Blasphemy is entertaining and worth reading. 3 ½ stars.
Book Review: Good once it got going
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a book that obviously offended a lot of people, and in a way I don't understand it. I'll grant you that the fundamentalists are portrayed in a poor light, but so are many of the scientists. In fact, the only character that remains sane is the person most centered - a scientist who also lived in a monastery. I don't think the message is that religion is evil, but rather, extremism is evil. Anything taken too far, even the best of ideas, can get twisted and corrupted. And I don't see how that can be offensive, but then, I suppose, I'm not an extremist.
The mob mentality portrayed is also very realistic. People do strange, uncharacteristic things in large crowds. It's a very well-researched phenomenon. And a frightening one. I don't think that was meant to reflect poorly on the individuals; it's highlighting a very real problem with whipping a bunch of people into a frenzy. It's just not a good thing.
As far as the story goes, I found it started fairly slowly. The introduction of all the characters and the various story lines was a bit tedious and dull, and you don't see their importance until later. Once they all start to come together, though, the pace picked up and I found myself carried along with the story. Right up until the end, which I do admit dropped off a bit. There were the lingering questions, the doubts, and the suppositions (which make for good discussion material, but a rather boring narrative), but the climax of the story happened a bit too long before the absolute end. So instead of ending on a high note, I felt it petered off into a predictable, boring end.
The characters were a mixed bag for me. A few I really liked and enjoyed, a few I hated (though they were well-done and I was supposed to!), and a few I felt very indifferent towards. And there were a few I had some conflicted feelings about - those are the most interesting, most well-done characters, I think. The ones you can't quite figure out and pigeonhole. Overall I think the good outweighed the bad.
If you're looking to be offended, you'll find that in this book. If you're looking for a fluffy, action-packed novel, you can find that, as well. And if you're looking for a very interesting study of characters and their interaction, you'll find that. You can even find some contemplation about the universe and the limits of technology. This book is what you want to make it.