Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating, but Troubling
Review: I can't remember the last time that a book both fascinated and disturbed me as deeply as this book. The premises that James Morrow pushes in this book - that God is ultimately responsible for the evil in the world is not new. As Morrow explains in his book, this question has its roots in the Book of Job and has been addressed by history's greatest theologians. What separates Morrow from his predecessors is his cataloguing of history's horrors, perpetrated on both societies and individuals. And this catalog is very disquieting. Ultimately, I disagree with Morrow's ultimate position, but I very much respect his writing and his penetrating attacks upon traditional theological justifications for the existence of evil in a society created by an all-knowing and all-loving God.
Rating: 
Summary: A Satiric Masterpiece
Review: I must admit to being a little disappointed with the first book in James Morrow's "Godhead" trilogy, Towing Jehovah. It wasn't as deep and complex as I expected, and it wasn't particularly realistic or effective as satire. This, the second book in the trilogy, however, is absolutely a great masterpiece. One of the best theological satires I have ever read - this ranks up there with Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Twain's Letters From The Earth, and Heinlein's JOB. Morrow obviously put a TON of work and research into the writing of this book, and he should be commended for it. Not only does he posit - and offer a counter-argument to - most of the major theories for and against the existence of God, but also those of theodicies, and tackles such uninviting, thankless, and complex questions as the root of evil, the benevolent Creator, the problem of existence, among other such savory topics. It is almost incredible the amount of information that Morrow is able to cram into this book's 300 pages - you'd have to read several volumes worth of philosophy, theology, and fiction to come close to enduring all the topics that this book touches upon. It is very, very well written as well. Morrow has obviously matured much as a writer. Whereas Towing Jehovah was filled with screwball characters who were hard to follow and relate with, all the characters in Blameless In Abaddon are very well sketched - and many of them are simply hilarous. The book is great satire. It's one of the funniest books I've ever read, as well. It's very, almost astonishingly, well done. This book is everything that Towing Jehovah wasn't. I strongly, strongly reccommend it - my highest reccommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting at first but putters out
Review: I really enjoyed Towing Jehovah. However, Blameless in Abaddon does not live up to the same standards as Towing. For me, it bogged down in the middle. I think I got tired of all the satire based on biblical figures being sexually depraved. The trial also was just too slow for me. I understand the need to show all the evidence but it was just too overwhelmingly boring. If you are interested in religious philosophy it is probably worth the read. I was looking for an interesting book that made me think a little and was just happy that I was able to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting at first but putters out
Review: I really enjoyed Towing Jehovah. However, Blameless in Abaddon does not live up to the same standards as Towing. For me, it bogged down in the middle. I think I got tired of all the satire based on biblical figures being sexually depraved. The trial also was just too slow for me. I understand the need to show all the evidence but it was just too overwhelmingly boring. If you are interested in religious philosophy it is probably worth the read. I was looking for an interesting book that made me think a little and was just happy that I was able to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Bring it to the seminary
Review: I thought Towing Jehovah was good but this one tops that on a bunch of levels. It's both funnier and darker at the same time and TJ was lacking in neither, while at the same time it takes the ideas that were brought up in the last book and adds a little more depth to them while taking it to the logical conclusion. In essence, Martin Candle is a justice who has a bad few days, first he's diagnosed with prostate cancer and then his wife dies in a really freaky accident. In despair he compares himself to the Biblical Job and decides that what he has to do is put God on trial before the World Court for all his crimes against humanity, whether it be wars or plague or famine or just any of that nutty stuff. To do so he has to tackle lots of hard to fathom religious questions, most of which if they weren't explainined in a normal fashion, probably would make your head hurt. Before the court trial, Candle has to gather evidence and that involves taking a big ol' trip into God's head, where the things he sees have to be read to believed. All the things that Morrow hinted at in the first book (and they really are two separate animals, other than the shared theme of a dead God) come to life here and you'll be hard pressed to find a more entertaining set of theological arguments presented in such an engaging fashion. This book gives you a heck of a lot to think about and Morrow must have done a staggering amount of fairly boring reading to make this all work. Still, it's funny stuff in the Vonnegut tradition, which means that it's still mostly absurdist humor, sometimes bordering on cruel, often black humor. But underneath all that is a honest questioning spirit and some fairly touching moments that make it all worthwhile. Oh yeah and the Devil is the narrator. Doesn't get any better than that.
Rating:
Summary: Light a Candle
Review: I've now read all three books of Morrow's trilogy and think that Blameless in Abaddon is the best of the three. Each book is quite good and contributes to the overall plot and set of ideas behind this uncanny device: namely, the dead body of God. Morrow exploits this idea with aplomb, giving us a comprehensive and thorough analysis of God's presence in the modern world and the various issues associated with this. For believers and non-believers alike, these ideas need to be carefully surveyed.
Blameless in Abaddon seems to be the most philosophical of the three novels and does a fine job explaining theodicy and its various `solutions.' Theodicy is a philosophical/theological concept that tries to rectify the existence of God (a given in this plotline) with the existence of evil (a given everywhere). The traditional formulation goes: since evil exists then either God is not all good or God is not all powerful. A number of theologians have tried to rectify the existence of evil as: 1) instructive for our spiritual development; 2) unavoidable in the structure of the universe; 3) due to our capacity of free will (and thus our own doing, not God's); 4) an illusion.
While theology can sometimes seem abstract, Morrow achieves a fine balance between providing the details of these matters within the context of fiction and character development. These theological matters are of great significance and do affect how people think about God and the world. Morrow's main character in this book, Martin Candle, is enraged with God and is trying to convict him before the entire world. In order to do so, he needs to explain why it is unforgivable that God has allowed so much evil and further provide true evidence of this evil to sway judges and jury alike.
To the list of righteous and spiritually advanced dissenters-from Job to Ivan Karamazov-we can now add Martin Candle, aka Blameless in Abaddon.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book EVER
Review: I've read every James Morrow book I could get my hands on, and they are all magnificent, however, this one outshines them all. I still can't believe he has books that are out of print. BIA is the reason I read. It's the Book I Search For, the one I hope to find every time I start a new book. It's fascinating, hilarious, poignant, and impossible to put down. I don't even want to give it five stars, because it deserves so many more. An astononishing book, do yourself a favor and pick it up today.
Rating:
Summary: 2000 Years of Perplexity
Review: In this sequel to *Towing Jehovah* James Morrow continues his well thought-out theological diatribes. Morrow's clearly Atheist theologizing has caused him some controversy in the past, and this book will surely be no exception. Continuing from the last book, God's decomposing two mile-long corpse is still on Earth, now being used at an overpriced amusement park by the Southern Baptists, but that's just the backdrop this time. As the corpse proves God's existence, living or dead, a small-town magistrate named Martin, who was given a raw deal in life, starts a movement to put God on trial for crimes against humanity. That's where the philosophizing starts. Morrow is not an agnostic, who believes nothing, but a very learned Atheist who has deeply studied Christian theology and has likely arrived at Atheism through a process of elimination, finding organized religious tenets unsatisfactory. The competing theories are embodied by the characters in the book, which don't have much substance and mostly exist to debate each side of the theological conundrum. The key concept of the book is Theodicy - the attempt to reconcile good vs. evil (e.g. the presence of evil helps you appreciate goodness, etc.) The characters work their way through this problem, and Morrow even tries to propose a solution. This can be seen as either arrogant, as Morrow deigns to solve problems that have been perplexing philosophers for 2000 years, or sacrilegious by reactionary fundamentalists, or courageous by those who are intrigued by inconsistencies in Christian theory. Whichever side you're on, give this book a chance and draw your own conclusions. You will at least be rewarded with an entertaining story and some intriguing philosophical debate.
Rating:
Summary: God---Guilty or Innocent
Review: Morrow dares to confront questions about the nature of God and "His" relationship to his creation such as "Why would a benevolent God allow suffering in his world?". Second of three related books (each can be read on its own) about what happens when God falls from the sky, dead, here he dares to put God on trial for sins against hunmanity(a theme addressed repeatedly in literature). In this marvelous book, Morrow makes his arguments both with scholarly insight and a wry (perhaps peculair) sense of humor. You may not agree with him always, but you'll be all the wiser and more thoughtful for the journey.
Rating:
Summary: Clever, Funny and Incisive
Review: Much better than Towing Jehovah-this book has it all!
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