{"id":2741,"date":"2011-01-09T11:27:23","date_gmt":"2011-01-09T18:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2011\/01\/the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2012-03-21T14:19:28","modified_gmt":"2012-03-21T21:19:28","slug":"the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2011\/01\/09\/the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GUARDIAN: Final Testament Makes Best Books of 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/culture\/2011\/jan\/03\/best-books-2011\" target=\"_blank\">from The Guardian UK<\/a><\/em><br \/>\n<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: #d1008b; border-bottom-color: #d1008b; border-left-color: #d1008b; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; font-size: 2.166em; line-height: 1.154; width: 480px; border-top-width: 0px; border-top-style: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\"><\/h1>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: #d1008b; border-bottom-color: #d1008b; border-left-color: #d1008b; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; font-size: 2.166em; line-height: 1.154; width: 480px; border-top-width: 0px; border-top-style: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\">The best books of 2011<\/h1>\n<p id=\"stand-first\" class=\"stand-first-alone\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: #666666; font-size: 1.333em; line-height: 1.25; width: 480px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; margin: 0px\">Alison Flood anticipates the literary delights of the coming year<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; font-size: 14px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"article-attributes\" style=\"padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; list-style-type: none; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25; position: relative; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; min-height: 66px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-color: #d1008b\">\n<li style=\"border-collapse: collapse; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/profile\/alisonflood\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/static.guim.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2009\/10\/16\/1255690477387\/alison.jpg\" class=\"contributor-pic-small\" width=\"60\" height=\"60\" alt=\"alison\" title=\"Contributor picture\" style=\"margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-style: none; padding: 0px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"contrib-shift\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; position: absolute; left: 70px; top: 5px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">\n<ul style=\"border-collapse: collapse; list-style-type: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">\n<li class=\"byline\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; display: block; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/profile\/alisonflood\" class=\"contributor\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\" target=\"_blank\">Alison Flood<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"publication\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/theguardian\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\" target=\"_blank\">The Guardian<\/a>,\t<time datetime=\"2011-01-03\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">Monday 3 January 2011<\/time><\/li>\n<li class=\"history\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; display: block; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/culture\/2011\/jan\/03\/best-books-2011#history-link-box\" class=\"rollover history-link\" id=\"history-link-byline\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\" target=\"_blank\">Article history<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"article-wrapper\" data-global-auto-refresh-switch=\"on\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; position: relative; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/static.guim.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/About\/General\/2010\/12\/30\/1293729423732\/james-frey-007.jpg\" width=\"460\" height=\"276\" alt=\"james frey\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\" \/><figcaption style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 12px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">Author James Frey. Photograph: Antonio Olmos\/ Antonio Olmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\"><strong style=\"border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/books\/james-frey\" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on James Frey\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">James Frey<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\">Christian-baiting has, of late, become something of a fictional trend. Philip Pullman goaded believers last year with his take on the New Testament, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, which gave Jesus a manipulative twin brother. And Michel Faber&#8217;s novel The Fire Gospel saw Jesus die ignominiously on the cross with the entreaty: &#8220;Please, somebody, please finish me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\">But literary aficionados know that if it&#8217;s real controversy they&#8217;re after, there&#8217;s no one better than James Frey. His bestselling 2003 memoir, A Million Little Pieces, contained various fabrications about his life as an alcoholic drug addict; his new novel, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, is out this spring, and looks likely to prove equally headline-grabbing. The book imagines what might happen if Christ returned to Earth, and was living in 21st-century New York, and having plenty of sex \u2013 with both men and women.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\">The story is written from the perspectives of 13 of his family, friends and followers \u2013 including an old rabbi, a young homeless man, and a surgeon. &#8220;It&#8217;s a serious attempt to write a valid Messiah story,&#8221; says Frey. &#8220;A book which addresses ideas of God and religion, and what it means if they are valid. I personally believe that if the Messiah were to arrive on Earth, he would not be an intolerant person who condemned people to hell for how they lived or who they loved.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\">Frey has consulted an array of real-life religious and secular experts, from rabbis, Catholic priests and evangelical pastors, to neurosurgeons, lawyers and mental health experts. But, however well-researched the book is, its focus on Christ&#8217;s sex life will inevitably incite controversy. Why did he think the sex was so important? &#8220;Sex is part of love,&#8221; Frey says, &#8220;so if someone is preaching the gospel of love, then sex has to be a part of it. And I don&#8217;t believe that sex would be limited to sex between men and women. Jesus has sex with people he loves. So yes, in my book the Messiah has sex with men and women.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\">Frey&#8217;s pretty sure that he&#8217;s &#8220;going to get blasted&#8221; for the book. But then, the writer adds, &#8220;I get blasted for everything I do.&#8221; He insists this wasn&#8217;t his motivation, however: &#8220;If you set out to enrage people, you&#8217;re just going to write a lame book. If you do it because you believe in what you&#8217;re writing, you can do something interesting and meaningful. It&#8217;s easy<strong style=\"border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">\u00a0<\/strong>just to piss people off.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\"><em style=\"border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px\">The Final Testament of the Holy Bible is published by John Murray in April .<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px\">[ <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/culture\/2011\/jan\/03\/best-books-2011\" target=\"_blank\">click to continue reading at The Guardian<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from The Guardian UK The best books of 2011 Alison Flood anticipates the literary delights of the coming year Alison Flood The Guardian, Monday 3 January 2011 Article history &nbsp; Author James Frey. Photograph: Antonio Olmos\/ Antonio Olmos James Frey Christian-baiting has, of late, become something of a fictional trend. Philip Pullman goaded believers last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conversation-information","category-literary-news","category-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}