from The New York Post’s Page Six
Novel faces unholy uproar
Controversial author James Frey is set to ignite another firestorm with his new book, “The Final Testament of the Holy Bible,” in which the second coming of Christ takes place in The Bronx projects — but the Messiah turns out to be a former alcoholic who impregnates a prostitute.
Frey — who was famously ripped apart on TV by Oprah Winfrey and ostracized by the literary community over his partly fabricated memoir, “A Million Little Pieces” — has sidestepped traditional publishers and teamed up with gallery owner Larry Gagosian, who will publish just 11,000 copies in the US while Frey will self-publish online.
His Messiah, Ben Jones, starts off as a lonely alcoholic bachelor living in a filthy apartment. He survives a horrific work accident, but strange things then happen that lead to him being recognized as the Messiah. Ben also smokes pot, has sex with a prostitute and makes out with men.
Ben tells followers that the Bible is “antiquated,” saying, “The Bible was written 2,000 years ago. The world is a different place now. Stories that had meaning then are meaningless now . . . those books are dead.”
Of religion, he says, “Faith is what you use to oppress, to justify, to judge in the name of God . . . a means to rationalize more evil in this world than anything in history. If there were a devil, faith would be his greatest invention.” The novel will be released for maximum impact in the US on Good Friday.
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HUFFINGTON POST – “James Frey To Spark Controversy With New Book “The Final Testament Of The Holy Bible”
DAILY INDIA – “Fictitious Messiah portrayed as alcoholic who impregnates prostitute”
MEDIA BISTRO – “James Frey To Self-Publish ‘Radical Book’ About the Messiah”
BLACKBOOK – “James Frey Teams Up With Gagosian to Publish Book About Drunk Jesus”
JESUS NEEDS NEW PR – “Author James Frey to publish NEWER New Testament about drunk sleazy ‘Jesus’
NEW YORK MAGAZINE – “Larry Gagosian Will Publish James Frey’s Book About Jesus“”
ARTINFO – “XXX Jesus Reborn in James Frey’s Gagosian Book”
THE DEACON’S BENCH – “Just in time for Easter, James Frey’s new book about an alcoholic Messiah”
INTERVIEW – “Gagosian to Publish James Frey’s Jesus Book”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY – “James Frey’s controversial Messiah”
NEW YORK TIMES – “Nontraditional Route For James Frey Book”
BOOKTOPIA BLOG – “The Final Testament of the Holy Bible by James Frey”
REUTERS/MSNBC/VANCOUVER SUN – “James Frey takes on God, publishing with new book”
LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR (NE) – “Meet the year’s most controversial book.”
REFINERY 29 – “James Frey’s New Book Is About A Pot-Smoking, Bisexual Jesus Living In The Bronx”
NEW YORK PRESS – “The Third and Final Edition of the Bible, By James Frey”
THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD – “‘Bad boy’ takes on Jesus for Easter“