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Title: the son of laughter
Review: I'd advise not to read this book. Certainly don't spend money on it. Buechner's sole strength seems to be imagination. But so is a 7 year-old's. At times his writing seems pedantic. Other times like he's trying too hard to be poetic (using "moors" for hills near their tents - in Palestine!). I feel he goes beyond proper liberty-taking for even historical fiction (why make the three visitors to Abraham and Sarah into birds, of all things? Why make Isaac out to be someone suffering from PTSD?) Maybe worst of all is a juvenile 'potty' infatuation: three potty allusions in the first three chapters - a bladder incontinence by A. at the near-sacrifice of Isaac, 'droppings' by one of the bird-angels at Sarah's laughter, and the considered beard-pissing at the Esau-stew-birthright scene. Give us a break. My copy goes in the trash.
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