Cradle and All
by James Patterson
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Book Summary Information
Author: James PattersonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-02-01
ISBN: 0446609404
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Vision
Book Reviews of Cradle and All
Book Review: A Guilty Pleasure
Summary: 4 Stars
"Cradle and All" is pop fiction, pure and simple. This is the sort of book located conveniently at the check-out aisle of your local grocery store. New outlooks on established thought patterns, meaningful social commentary, tear-jerking dialogue, inspiring prose, all the stuff that can make a novel great, absolutely none of that will be found here. Despite a serious lack of any of these redeeming values that might make this particular James Patterson tale worth reading, it does manage to be highly entertaining, in a "guilty pleasure" sort of way. A rewrite of an older book titled "Virgin", Cradle and All tells the story of two young girls who are both pregnant, despite the fact that they are still virgins. It is assumed that one is going to bear the child of Satan, while the other will bear a new savior to counteract the spawn of the devil. Of course, no one knows which girl is bearing which child. A former nun turned private investigator is hired on to check out the girls and ensure the virgin pregnancies are not really hoaxes. As this is technically a thriller, there is of course a twist at the end. Anyone who has seen the animated film Wicked City will catch on and understand where Patterson is going about a quarter of the way into the book.
Patterson has a particular style of writing in which he severely limits the size of each chapter. Chapters generally range from as small as one to as large as four pages. While this might sound silly, it actually works quite well, as it keeps the story flowing very well. Reading a book written this way surprisingly takes only about a quarter of the time as reading a book of the same size with standard sized chapters. There is also the added effect of forcing the novel to be a "real page turner", as the reader is more likely to read "Just a few more chapters..." which will quickly turn into half the book. Depending on your viewpoint, this could either be a blessing or a curse. While it breaks the story down into easily digestible chunks, and ensures the action never lulls for too long, there as a noticeable lack of detail. The settings, characters, and actions taking place are never fully explored, as to do so would require the chapters be considerably longer. Because of this, it's hard to get attached with any of the characters. Although their stories are interesting, the reader probably won't particular care as to their ultimate fate or whether they all finally have a happy ending or not.
Anyone who finds mature themes objectionable should probably stay far away from Cradle and All. Sexuality in general, and rape in particular, is at the forefront of this story, and there are plenty of graphically depicted sexual scenes. At one point in the story one of the young girls goes through a dream sequence in which she is passed among several men (As the girls is only sixteen, doesn't this count as child pornography?) who are presumably supposed to be representative of demons in mortal guise. There a few plot holes, or at least points where belief has to be suspended for a moment for the tale to continue properly, but overall the whole thing isn't too out there. The only thing that might cause a bit of disbelief with the audience is the matter of how the clergy in the book deal with the two girls. The main priest assigned to handle the whole situation shows repeatedly that he is not above violence or even murder if it means furthering the cause of good and fighting against what he perceives to be evil. With this in mind, one might wonder why the priest didn't simply kill both girls before they could give birth. If the spawn of Satan was killed off before he could be born, then the world would have no need for a new son of God to be born to defeat his nemesis. Problem solved, situation unraveled, green light, all's good! Of course, if this path had been taken, the book would have been considerably shorter and Patterson wouldn't have been able to reveal his Oh-So-Clever twist ending.
While not the greatest novel ever, Cradle and All is definitely a solid story and a decent read. Readers who aren't offended by mature (and possibly objectionable) material will have a pretty good time with this one.
Summary of Cradle and All
In Boston, a young woman finds herself pregnant--even though she is still a virgin.In Ireland, another young woman discovers she is in the same impossible condition.
And in cities all around the world, medical authorities are overwhelmed by epidemics, droughts, famines, floods, and worse. It all feels like a sign that something awful is coming.
Anne Fitzgerald, a former nun turned private investigator, is hired by the Archdiocese of Boston to investigate the immaculate conceptions. Even as she comes to care about and trust the young women, she realizes that both are in great danger. Terrifying forces of light and darkness are gathering. Stepping into uncharted territory where the unknown is just the beginning, Anne must discover the truth--to save the young women, to save herself, and to protect the future of all mankind.
James Patterson's Cradle and All pits the intensity of faith against the certainties of science within an arena of Millennial tensions. A reworking of his 1980 apocalyptic thriller Virgin, this remodeled version boasts a genuinely unnerving premise, amplified with Patterson's fast-paced, uncluttered prose.
In the midst of a series of unexplained plagues and famines, two teenage girls are heavily pregnant, despite being virgins. According to the sacred prophecies of Fatima, one will bear the child of Christ and the other, the spawn of Satan. Both Anne Fitzgerald, a former nun turned private detective, and the Vatican's Father Rosetti are sent to investigate. But which girl carries which child? The possibility of a miracle will be tainted with great suffering before the awful, unexpected truth is revealed. As the action moves speedily from the hallowed halls of the Vatican to the media frenzy of America to the small-town hysteria of Ireland, Patterson divines considerable suspense from the novel's central premise, tackling issues of faith with admirable aplomb:
"All over the world, after all the years of difficulty, decades of diminishing spirituality, so many people still believed.... Everywhere, people talked of the Apocalypse, perhaps the end of the world. Which explained why so many people were suddenly going to church."
A relentless pace culminating in a superbly twisted ending won't disappoint Patterson's faithful followers, and may even convert some new members. --Danny Graydon
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