- Hardcover: 191 pages
- Publisher: Red Deer Press; 1 edition (Mar 29 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0889953023
- ISBN-13: 978-0889953024
- Product Dimensions: 22.1 x 15.9 x 1.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 322 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #956,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
C. S. Lewis' 1942 theological fantasy The Screwtape Letters gave us the letters of an elder demon to his nephew, advising the young devil how to manipulate a mortal into falling from grace. Donnelly cleverly echoes the design and themes of Lewis' classic, albeit in two sets of alternating letters. The first set is composed by an extraterrestrial living on Earth in the time of Christ; the second consists of a microbiologist's e-mails to her cousin, a public-school biology teacher. The sardonic spins Donnelly puts on Lewis' Christian message arise from the happenstances that the ET has accidentally invaded the body of Saul of Tarsus, who--unwittingly, in this context--then gives rise to modern Christianity, and the microbiologist is a pro-evolution Darwinian battling Creationist parents. Donnelly masterfully interweaves suspenseful confrontations and theological debate into both time-frames while wittily demonstrating that the worldviews of science and religion aren't as divergent as they seem. Some few readers may find its subject matter offensive, but this is an entertaining and thought-provoking book. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"A biting and highly entertaining intellectual delight."
-SF Weekly
"A compelling reading experience. . . . Those who can embrace Donnelly's inspired use of religious backdrop will find two genuinely personal stories that offer unexpected revelations."
-scifidimension.com
"An unexpected delight."
-Locus Magazine
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Good Book!!!,
By ogi8745 (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Letters from the Flesh (Hardcover)
I was plesantly surprised when I read this.The Book is in the form of letters. The first set are from an Alien visiting Earth around 2 thousand years ago. The second set are e-mails between cousins. I wasn't sure how both correspondences fit togather but Donnelly's storyline brought them togather effortlessly. I was a little hesitant about the writing style but it really worked for this book. I kept eagerly reading each letter to see where he was going with it. Very good read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another excellent read,
By Ted W. "edward-r" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Letters from the Flesh (Hardcover)
It's always a pleasure reading new fiction from Marcos Donnelly and his latest contribution to the SF world is no exception. Following the religious explorations of his first novel (as well as a number of his shorter pieces), Donnelly now turns the reader's eye to the conflict/tensions between science and religion -- in this case, Creationism and evolution -- while paying an endearing homage to C.S. Lewis' THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS in the process.The book tells its tale through two sets of seemingly unconnected letters: One set from Dr. Lillian Uberland, a biology professor, to her sometimes bull-headed cousin Michael, and the other from Paul of Tarsus (after a fashion) shortly after his conversion on the road to Damascus two thousand years earlier. What emerges from these alternating storylines, apart from brilliant plotting and characterization, is an unrelenting examination of the passions of belief that is certainly refreshing to find in SF, much less the wider world of mainstream fiction. Intelligent, engrossing, and blazingly (and brazenly) hilarious in parts, LETTERS FROM THE FLESH is a wonderful read through-and-through, and most assuredly does not disappoint.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
SF Literature at its Best,
By Nick (Rochester, New York United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Letters from the Flesh (Hardcover)
If you think the epistolary novel has gone out of style, think again. In LETTERS FROM THE FLESH, Donnelly brings it back with a vengeance. He takes on the debate of creationism versus evolution and breathes new life into it with a carefully constructed story line eerily reminiscent of C.S. Lewis' THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, remarkably deft prose, and an absolutely brilliant sense of satirical humor. Donnelly avoids the trap of pigeonholing his characters into neatly drawn party lines and offers his readers one of the most interesting approaches I've ever seen to Christianity in science fiction. (Paul of Tarsus is masterfully rendered, and those of you familiar with the Bible will never see the Road to Damascus in quite the same way.) This book is deceptively deep. What do people believe and why do they believe it? How entrenched are their beliefs and how far will they go to defend them? Donnelly makes us look at some tough questions and doesn't back off for the sake of comfortable answers. This is what good fiction is all about: complex thematic issues, characters who are as formidable and real as we are, and thought-provoking arguments that make us want to think about them and debate their relevance long after we put down the book. Some people will love this novel, while others will become afraid of it and think they hate it. That's what makes LETTERS FROM THE FLESH such a great piece of SF literature.
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