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Experimental, breathtaking style: check.
Frequent changes of point of view: check.
Frequent changes of time period: check.
Interesting, wide-ranging discussion of fascinating themes such as religion,
science, and ethics: check.
Difficulty in bringing it all together to form a coherent plot: check.
Don’t get me wrong: this is a very interesting experimental novel. Just don’t
start it expecting a plot. More loosely threaded together ideas, really. I was
fascinated at first by the quick changes of point of view and time period and
place, the breathless feeling like being plunged repeatedly into theoretical
pools of water, being whipped around among characters’ heads, including Einstein’s
(!). But a reader—at least when that reader is me, and I’m pretty patient
that way—can only stand so much pushing and prodding without being given
a pretty darn good story to reward my patience, and quite frankly, the description
of the “plot” on the back of the book (cross being stolen from an
Anglican church and placed on the roof of a synagogue) takes about as much time
to read as the few pages that actually deal with that story in the actual book.
Like I said, it’s a good philosophical exploration of themes, but don’t read
it looking for a typical story. It’s just not there.
