Lydia Millet

An indelible novel of teenage alienation and adult complacency in an unraveling world.

A Novel

A Children's Bible

Lizzy Jensen

Long after the others had slipped into their sleeping bags and tents, I lay out in the grass and watched the green waves. Finally had my alone time. 

Genghis Khan had seen the waves, if you believed Low. The Inuit had seen them. Walruses and penguins. And now I was seeing them. But who would see them later? 

I thought of sparkling platforms in space, silver airships moving in front of the billions of stars. I thought of vines that grew over the ruins of buildings and monuments. I felt an itch and thought, is there a tick crawling on me? Right this minute? Burrowing into my skin?

And then I thought, Wait. Forget the tick. Why are we always complaining? We get to be alive. 

Eva Ströberg

Lydia Millet - A Children’s Bible
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Think of Lord of the Flies, with climate crisis thrown in. I found Millet’s A Children’s Bible shocking and yet soothing at the same time. It’s a tale of survival, harsh but glad to see how humanity will prevail once again and that we hope the younger generation do a better job than us.
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Somewhere in the countryside America, not too far from big city (New York City?), a bunch of parents and their childen rented a big mansion. They were old college budies and this reunion was supposed to be the last hurrah what’s with the climate (?) catastrophe looming. The parents did their own things and so did the children. They were almost running wild in the background with the protagonist Evie still minding her younger brother Jack. 
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This book is almost a premonition, of what might come, and also about adult decadence, in the eyes of their children. It’s a real eye opener and Millet did an (almost) original work with this kind of theme. 
Recommended!
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#lydiamillet #achildrensbible #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #americanauthors #2023readingchallenge #2023reads #currentlyreading

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the meanings behind this novel and all of its biblical referencing. What is on the other side of revelation? Is the new generation always better than the old, and is it possible to prevent divide? 

Abigail Marie

Jeffrey Mack

How was this a NY Times “Best”

Maybe I’m not part of the literati and maybe I just didn’t get it, but this book was terrible. It was disjointed, confusing, and did a poor job in getting you to care about any of the characters. Do yourself a favor and skip it.

Andrew Louis

Shona Tiger

This book. The POV is delightful, and the mystery/magical realism is very intriguing. I think it will stay with me for a while.

I’m a huge fan of religious allegories in fiction and this book had me giggling and kicking my feet. It was so clever. The biblical parallels were so expertly placed I didn’t even notice them until it was too late and it took me by delighted surprise. This book bridges the dissonance between the world’s current climate crisis and the utter disregard of such by the hyper religious. Jack & Shel’s view on God and science is a call to action for all (religious and not) to be stewards over the earth. No one is going to do it for us, not even God. 

Amy Thibodeau

paulina bug

Good, not amazing. But good. I think i’d recommend.

Ethan Hill

What a great yet terribly depressing novel.

Celeste Richardson

This book has some interesting things to say about age. Feral children shun growing up with every ounce of energy in their bodies. Adults, and thus their future selves, are the enemy. This extreme dislike is compounded by the knowledge that their parents and every other grown up is handing down to them a swiftly dying planet. The resentment and impotent rage radiates off the page. 
 
A Children’s Bible contains the weirdest interpretation of the Bible I’ve ever come across. The Bible is a mystery? God is nature and Jesus is science? There is also a ton of symbolic imagery that was both interesting and off-putting. There were some weird environmental moments that reminded me of Annihilation, not in the physical appearance portrayed but in tone.

What made this book feel different is that it’s not about kids in a post-apocalyptic world but kids experiencing the apocalypse as it happened. It honestly felt a little too believable in the current social climate we’re living in. This is especially seen in the ways the parents try (and fail) to deal with what’s going on, and in their decision to ignore everything as long as they can and drug themselves into a stupor instead of actually facing the situation. 

Ultimately, A Children’s Bible is just disconcerting. The ending or lack thereof is uncomfortably bleak. Part of me thinks the book is incredibly apt for the times in which we’re living, but the rest of me thinks that the timing of its publication made it very unenjoyable. I’m honestly thankful that it was such a short little book. It was well done and I’m glad to have read it, but I’m even more relieved that it’s over.

Cindy Lieberman

A teen and her younger brother are brought to a lake house with their parents and meet the other kids of their parents’ friends. All the kids are basically left to their own devices whilst the parents engage in drinking, drugs, some sex, and more drinking. So the teens do likewise. Then a Storm of the Century arrives (you know, the ones that happen every few months now) and things start to spin out of control. I kept waiting for a Lord of the Flies moment, but instead just more of the sort of obstacles you’d see on any number of evening drama TV shows. A weird non-ending as well. I might have liked this more if I had read it for one of my book clubs, as these wonderful women always add to my enjoyment and understanding of a book through our discussion. Perhaps I will read other reviews. If you’d like to discuss, let me know!

Jane McCullough

Lea de Sousa

3/5 ⭐

I have words... But right now I have work, so full review to follow shortly.

Shreerag Plakazhi

Excellent book. Lydia Millet's voice is so unique. I listened to the book on Scribd as an Audiobook and I felt like I was in that world. Of course it helps that we really are in that world right now. Poignant, extremely timely, and utterly depressing.

A Children's Bible A Novel

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