A Children's Bible: Book review

Book review

Title: A Children's Bible
Author: Lydia Millet
Genre: Fiction/Climate

A Children's Bible tells the story of a group of children and how they are left to fend for themselves in a storm. 

Evie and the rest of the children spend their vacation in a summer home with their parents. While the parents have their own ways of amusing themselves through alcohol and other frivolous activities, the children explore the area on their own. When a storm hits, the kids find refuge in a farm while the parents abscond. The rest of the narrative takes us through some interesting adventures, issues the author is trying to tackle and the parallels that are drawn. 

The entire story navigates through the eyes of our adolescent narrator Evie who uses first person plural. This seems to indicate the collective voice of adolescence. It's interesting to note how Lydia switches between the disdain voice of a young teenager to a mature person who is responsible for her baby brother Jack. Jack is an interesting character, a mix of naivety and wisdom. He is fascinated by the bible given to him and finds parallels between the contents of the book and what is happening in the world around them. 

At first the novel may appear like just another coming of age story until it converges into a much detailed picture and serious overtones. The book may comprise of several characters which can be a little unsettling at first, but eventually hooks you. The setting seems to indicate a large vacation house and it isnt quite clear whom it belongs to. At first the novel feels timeless with old age language and contemporary references to social media and technology. The occurrence of the storm that creates havoc is the first shift to a dystopian world. It is here the author brings about the nuances of climate change and its repercussions, resulting in a strange apocalyptic world.  

One thing that stands out is how the author merges the coming of age theme with multiple elements in the plot-religion, floods, angels, and several metaphors which seems to equate God with science. Overall an intersting and an engafing read, tackling a topic much in need of the hour. 



 

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