A Children's Bible

 

By Lydia Millet

W.W. Norton     2020

240 pages     Literary

I have been thinking about A Children’s Bible for a couple of days in anticipation of our book club meeting later this week. This allegory “got” to me in ways that I had not anticipated. I knew from the outset that it was going to be a retelling of the Noah’s Ark story, but I did not know that it would be such a prophetic page turner. Then I heard Michelle Obama speak at the Democratic Convention Monday night, and one paragraph of her speech really spoke to me as it related to the children in A Children’s Bible.

“Right now, kids in this country are seeing what happens when we stop requiring empathy of one another. They’re looking around wondering if we’ve been lying to them this whole time about who we are and what we truly value. They see an entitlement that says only certain people belong here, that greed is good, and winning is everything.”

This is the first of the major themes of the book—lousy parenting. The kids in A Children’s Bible understand their parents in ways their parents do not expect—or understand. They know that their parents have gathered at a lakeside rental mansion for a summer retreat, but they also know that their parents only want to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol as a way to avoid facing the worsening world around them. The children are left to fend for themselves. Eve, the narrator, is part protagonist and part observer. Her primary task seems to be to take care of her little brother, Jack, and to help the others manage the world they are facing.

Someone gave Jack  an illustrated children’s Bible, which has fascinated him, and he and Eve use the Bible to help discern what is happening when a hurricane hits. The parents don’t know what to do, and the children leave to find higher ground. Although the book is full of Biblical illusions, Millet is not heavy-handed in her allegorical leanings. The reader says, “Oh, yeah!” and then quickly turns the page to see what is going to happen next. There are many ensuing themes, including, of course, the climate, greed, corruption, and rampant lawlessness.

The Wall Street Journal reviewer says, “Ms. Millet does not sermonize. Even at its gloomiest, her fiction is a pleasure ... It is a good thing Ms. Millet is so prolific, as her amusing portraits of human error seem terribly attuned to this disconcerting moment ... This book’s timeliness is almost eerie.” I loved that the Boston Globe compared the children in the book to Greta Thunberg. That was spot on. I have included the illustration from the New York Times review. Loved the ark-styled house.

Frankly, I just kept reading on and on, marking down particularly funny or poignant passages, and appreciated every moment of the experience. One of my favorites for the year.