Rating: 
Summary: Vonnegut's heir
Review: P>TOWING JEHOVAH starts with an intriguing premise; if God were dead, what would happen to the body? In this case, it lies in the Atlantic Ocean, a two mile-long corpse of staggering dimensions. Faced with this dilemma, leaderless angels take it upon themselves to contact the Vatican, hire a ship commanded by the disgraced captain of a horrific oil spill (think EXXON), and tow the body to the Arctic, where an icy tomb awaits.Along the way, a variety of people and events serve to point out the many, MANY foibles of mankind. Suddenly faced with the prospect of life without constant watch from above, the boat's crew begins to experiment with life in Anno Postdomini One. Sin becomes pointless, and anarchy begins to take hold. Murder occurs, sex explodes, and gluttony becomes the order of the day, despite the ship's Vatican representative insisting that despite the lack of a supreme being, it does not negate the Kantian moral law that exists within. The Vatican (or, the Big See) faces extinction, and attempt to hide God's death from the public. Devoted atheists, also facing extinction, seek to destroy the corpse, thus hiding proof of God's existence. I recall a particular sketch from Canadian comedy troupe THE KIDS IN THE HALL; a priest, faced with proof that God both existed and is dead, solemnly intones, "I've got some good news . . . and some bad news." Critics have compared Morrow's tale to the works of Jonathan Swift, but the comparison is not accurate. Morrow's methods are a much more direct version of satire than Swift, who preferred metaphor to direct comparison. This is not to slight Morrow's accomplishments at all, only to point out that Morrow's targets are never in doubt. Vonnegut is a far more incisive comparison in both Morrow's scope and humour. However, Morrow has a more detailed style than Vonnegut. Where Vonnegut's classics read as fables in their simplicity of design and form, Morrow favours more descriptive language, more asides as to the nature of his characters and settings. For example, Morrow goes into unexpectedly particular depiction of God's floating body. As the shipmates watch over the gigantic corpse, ensuring that scavengers do not make off with large chunks of it, the overall immensity of the body hits home. Hunters drive jeeps over the belly, into the navel. Divers swim into the ear canal to attach tow hooks. Trekkers pause in the shade of a mole. While Morrow unflinchingly details the descent into chaos that mankind is capable of, TOWING JEHOVAH is not a condemnation of our faults. It is a celebration of everything that makes us who we are, capturing the beauty and sorrow of our existence in equal measure. In TOWING JEHOVAH, Morrow has captured the comedic essence of mankind's search for meaning beyond what we can see. Like Vonnegut, he satirizes while sympathizing, a rare combination. If Morrow can avoid the almost standard protests that accompany the more widely seen films that question faith (e.g., DOGMA, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST), he may reach the level of respectability that Vonnegut has achieved.
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