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Summary: What is the attraction of the Joshua stories?
Review: What is the fascination with the Joshua stories? They're not particularly well-written, yet they have earned a devoted following. The series is based on the premise that Jesus has returned to earth in the form of a carpenter/sculptor/upholsterer named Joshua. He has no home and no worldly possessions, only dignity. He changes lives by encouraging, touching, and healing the people with whom he comes in contact. In this particular installment, Joshua initiates an urban redevelopment program. Girzone, a retired priest, describes the project with the naiveté of an idealistic teenager. The inevitable strife between the inhabitants of the condemned neighborhood and the developers is eliminated by Joshua's "public relations" work. Joshua just encourages the people to cooperate. The unemployed in the neighborhood are trained to work on the project. The possible existence of infirm and elderly who could not afford to lose their homes or to work for improved living conditions is ignored by Girzone. The delineation of the project lacks conflict, depth, and credence. The training that some of the people receive is too superficial to be believable. Joshua spends a day reupholstering a sofa with two street punks. Immediately afterwards, the brothers start their own wildly successful reupholstery business. I guess if you learn your business from the Son of God, an apprenticeship is unnecessary. I'm disturbed by some of the theology of the book. Joshua wanders around the hospital visiting patients. To a terminal AIDS victim, he gives the peculiarly Catholic assurance that his soul has been purified by his own suffering, and that he would see his companion again. When Jesus returns, it won't be in the form of an itinerant handyman and street preacher. However, this is fiction, so I suppose Biblical accuracy can be ignored. Perhaps the attraction of the Joshua stories is their simplicity. If you turn on the TV or go to the theater, you'll generally see the worst of what society has to offer: violence, immorality, betrayal. But open one of Girzone's novels, and you'll find the antidote--the Savior. Reviewed by Andrea R. Huelsenbeck
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