Jesus’ Son Book Review
Jesus’ Son is a novel written by Denis Johnson. The genre is Fiction. It is 133 pages long and is about 14 dollars. This novel was published in 1992. This book is a novel full of different short stories that make up the chapters.
The narrator is an unknown drug user that is just shifting us through different incidents that he has either witnessed or been a part of. There is no exact theme, in my opinion. Each chapter has a different story to tell with one thing in common; the feeling of being alone. There is an immense amount of characters; the unknown narrator is the only constant thing. In each chapter, new characters are introduced, ones that are important anyways. The tone is one of a person who has been alright, …show more content…
It was easier for me to understand once I knew a little about the author, Denis Johnson. Dennis Johnson was born in the Federal Republic of Munich, Germany in 1949. He is the son of a U.S. State employee. He traveled around hos whole childhood because of this. Denis began abusing Rum and starting his “chemical love affair” at 14, when they were stationed in the Philippians. Alcohol was Johnsons “crutch.” As time went on, his problem with alcohol turned into an addiction of hard drugs, like heroin. Being hospitalized three times, Johnson explains that “one of the reasons he did not take control of his problem was that he was afraid that it would adversely affect his creativity. The short stories in Jesus’ Son come from “memories” he wrote down from his drug-abusing past. In Jesus; Son if you carefully read, the subtext is religious; this is because Johnson considerers himself to be a conventional Christian. He states, “I’m sure you could find a number of Christians who can assure me I’m going to hell. What I write about is the dilemma of living in a fallen world, and asking: ‘Why is it like this if there is supposed to be a God?’ “I have a feeling God finds us funny, which is why I choose to write it with a sense of …show more content…
The woman’s husband pulled in the driveway when the narrator was still looking in the window. He leaves and takes the next bus home. However, he makes a habit of missing his bus often, “waiting to spy on the wife in the town-house apartment.” In this chapter, he states “How could I do it, how could a person go that low? And I understand your question, to which I reply, Are you kidding? That is nothing. I’d been much lower than that. And I expected to see myself do worse.” He would watch her shower and how they both prayed before they ate dinner. The narrator syncs his schedule with the married couples. He admits that he likes watching the couple eat, pray and read their bible just as much as he likes watching her naked in the shower. One night, he watched them argue and the wife cries. Moments later, the husband came in and started washing her feet. This is another biblical reference from the bible in John 13: 1-17. This was how Jesus displayed his humility and servanthood. This is how her husband also showed his humility and servanthood towards her. The narrator also mentions how he attends an AA meeting Thursday nights. This shows and indicated that he is sober and putting forth effort in continuing to be
Jesus’ Son is a novel written by Denis Johnson. The genre is Fiction. It is 133 pages long and is about 14 dollars. This novel was published in 1992. This book is a novel full of different short stories that make up the chapters.
The narrator is an unknown drug user that is just shifting us through different incidents that he has either witnessed or been a part of. There is no exact theme, in my opinion. Each chapter has a different story to tell with one thing in common; the feeling of being alone. There is an immense amount of characters; the unknown narrator is the only constant thing. In each chapter, new characters are introduced, ones that are important anyways. The tone is one of a person who has been alright, …show more content…
It was easier for me to understand once I knew a little about the author, Denis Johnson. Dennis Johnson was born in the Federal Republic of Munich, Germany in 1949. He is the son of a U.S. State employee. He traveled around hos whole childhood because of this. Denis began abusing Rum and starting his “chemical love affair” at 14, when they were stationed in the Philippians. Alcohol was Johnsons “crutch.” As time went on, his problem with alcohol turned into an addiction of hard drugs, like heroin. Being hospitalized three times, Johnson explains that “one of the reasons he did not take control of his problem was that he was afraid that it would adversely affect his creativity. The short stories in Jesus’ Son come from “memories” he wrote down from his drug-abusing past. In Jesus; Son if you carefully read, the subtext is religious; this is because Johnson considerers himself to be a conventional Christian. He states, “I’m sure you could find a number of Christians who can assure me I’m going to hell. What I write about is the dilemma of living in a fallen world, and asking: ‘Why is it like this if there is supposed to be a God?’ “I have a feeling God finds us funny, which is why I choose to write it with a sense of …show more content…
The woman’s husband pulled in the driveway when the narrator was still looking in the window. He leaves and takes the next bus home. However, he makes a habit of missing his bus often, “waiting to spy on the wife in the town-house apartment.” In this chapter, he states “How could I do it, how could a person go that low? And I understand your question, to which I reply, Are you kidding? That is nothing. I’d been much lower than that. And I expected to see myself do worse.” He would watch her shower and how they both prayed before they ate dinner. The narrator syncs his schedule with the married couples. He admits that he likes watching the couple eat, pray and read their bible just as much as he likes watching her naked in the shower. One night, he watched them argue and the wife cries. Moments later, the husband came in and started washing her feet. This is another biblical reference from the bible in John 13: 1-17. This was how Jesus displayed his humility and servanthood. This is how her husband also showed his humility and servanthood towards her. The narrator also mentions how he attends an AA meeting Thursday nights. This shows and indicated that he is sober and putting forth effort in continuing to be