A Book in Review – Eli

Eli BY: Bill Myers
Fiction: Religion/ Sci-Fi, 349 pages Copyright 2000

This book is based on two interesting premises; one, what if there really are parallel dimensions, and two, what if Jesus was born in modern times. On the first idea the author did a good job explaining the basics of the science involved to make the story believable, but didn’t get bogged down in too many details. On the second idea even the author themselves admitted to not making all the changes that would have to be for that to happen. For example, there are churches that a large number of people belong to, only they are kinda like modern Jewish temples, but the people aren’t Jewish but some different religion also based off the Jewish Bible. Also Jesus (called Eli in the story) is born in L.A. to make it easier for American readers; however, there is no way in which L.A. can be made to fit into being “Bethlehem” or even “the city of David” to fit in with the bible. He also doesn’t directly link the people and events from the Bible with the people in the book. But, although it is confusion if you’re trying to see who’s Peter or who’s Judas it is done in a way that make sense, and is true to the underlying things that were necessary to be in Jesus’ life.
As a whole were would recommend this book the people who are Christian and would like a fresh look into the life of Jesus, as by changing all the details that aren’t important it makes it easier to think about the ones that are. Also the book was a real page turner.