The Second Greatest Story Ever Told [Hardcover]

In 1988 the world is astounded when Ilona Coggswater, born in Cooperstown, New York in 1970, reveals herself to be the daughter of God. Ilona is a modern-day deity who guzzles Tab and Rolling Rock beer, and calls her heavenly father "Dad." She's a card-carrying liberal who despises fundamentalists, the National Rifle Association, and the often-vilified Randall Terry of Operation: Rescue. Ilona's story, her encounters with David Letterman, her visit to Hell with "Dad" and "Jerry," the devil, cry for a humor and wit that the author just doesn't deliver. This story is flat, enlivened only by the clever titles that Bechard has created for the books that anyone and everyone who has known Ilona has written. The political jabs are so pointed and relentless that this novel often seems to serve as the author's personal soapbox. Not recomended.
- Lydia Burruel Johnson, Mesa P.L., Ariz.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Filmmaker Bechard's first novel is the brash, broad, borscht-belt account of the life and ministry of Ilona Ann Coggswater, the daughter of God. Born in Cooperstown, New York, in 1970--an immaculate birth, natch--Ilona enjoys a relatively normal childhood, arguing with the nuns about religion and graduating from Cy Young High School as valedictorian. But her life shifts abruptly into high gear on Thanksgiving Day 1988, when the Pope interrupts a parade to acknowledge her as God's daughter. After that, matters follow the inevitable farcical route--Ilona does guest spots on Letterman and Larry King, moves with her model/bartender roommate Stephanie LaVasseur to a trendier Manhattan address, and signs an advertising contract with Coca-Cola--the proceeds to be divided among Greenpeace, Handgun Control Inc., Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, and the Better World Society--coming out in favor of all the right causes (the Brazilian rain forest, abortion rights, a ban on fur and leather), dispensing widely her trademark bromide, ``Be Kind,'' and pausing only for offhand miracles (changing water into Rolling Rock or Tab) and theological elaborations worthy of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (``Unless one is truthful and kind, they cannot see the kingdom of God'') before she meets her destiny a month later at the hands of NRA vice-president John Charlton Hanley. Lots of whimsical fun here, but not so many laughs: this satire is mostly as witless as its all-too-familiar targets. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.