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A review by rui_leite
I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan
4.0
Consider Lucifer. Does he want to do what he does? Is he really evil? Why is he what he is? What is his stand on God? And on humans? Does he like ice-cream? Given the chance, would he repent?
These are just a few of the questions this brilliantly written book will make you ask before it’s over, and I guarantee that no matter how certain you are about what your answers to them might be, they will be changed, or at least very much shaken, during this reading.
The story begins with Lucifer getting “a second chance” before the end of times: if he manages to live decently as a human during an entire month he will be accepted back in the celestial hosts; to do so he gets possession of the body of a writer, Declan Gunn, whose soul is whisked away just as he is about to commit suicide.
But things are not easy for the father of lies, because with the body comes a whole new world of sensations; smells, colours, taste, tact… all these things we take for granted very much overwhelm Lucifer once he is incarnated. Without a body he never had them, you see? Besides Declan’s body comes with a load of memories and emotions he has to deal with. All this ends up sending him very much on a crazy spiral of sex, drugs and writing (because everyone knows writing is the new rock ‘n roll) during which we get to learn not just about his month on earth, but also his point of view on many biblical and historical episodes. (And I must say the bit about Christ and his crucifixion was particularly mind-blowing to me, not just because of the unusual point of view, but also because of the way it is so opposed to the habitual take on that story and for the fact that it does, incredibly, make much more sense like this).
In fact, by the end of the text, I was rather surprised that for a story written from the point of view of the most evil being in creation (although, I dare say, that becomes debatable) this actually manages to have a very solid ethical core. It never shies away from the most complex questions it poses (human cruelty, free will, cost and meaning of freedom…), but it always ends up putting them into perspective, relating them with personal responsibility from one side and also social conditions on the other. I rather liked that.
The writing is absolutely superb; in fact, one of the strongest points here is the energetic, intelligent and subversive narration by Lucifer himself. He really is a delight to read.
The only thing I felt was slightly missing was a stronger plot… things (very much like in real life, I dare say) seemed to “just happen”, but given the fact that this was, very much, character driven, and the characters were all very well achieved indeed, that is more a question of personal taste than a problem with the writing itself.
In the end this is a great book about life, about humanity, about good, about evil, and about the meaning all these things may, in fact, have. A book very much worth reading.
These are just a few of the questions this brilliantly written book will make you ask before it’s over, and I guarantee that no matter how certain you are about what your answers to them might be, they will be changed, or at least very much shaken, during this reading.
The story begins with Lucifer getting “a second chance” before the end of times: if he manages to live decently as a human during an entire month he will be accepted back in the celestial hosts; to do so he gets possession of the body of a writer, Declan Gunn, whose soul is whisked away just as he is about to commit suicide.
But things are not easy for the father of lies, because with the body comes a whole new world of sensations; smells, colours, taste, tact… all these things we take for granted very much overwhelm Lucifer once he is incarnated. Without a body he never had them, you see? Besides Declan’s body comes with a load of memories and emotions he has to deal with. All this ends up sending him very much on a crazy spiral of sex, drugs and writing (because everyone knows writing is the new rock ‘n roll) during which we get to learn not just about his month on earth, but also his point of view on many biblical and historical episodes. (And I must say the bit about Christ and his crucifixion was particularly mind-blowing to me, not just because of the unusual point of view, but also because of the way it is so opposed to the habitual take on that story and for the fact that it does, incredibly, make much more sense like this).
In fact, by the end of the text, I was rather surprised that for a story written from the point of view of the most evil being in creation (although, I dare say, that becomes debatable) this actually manages to have a very solid ethical core. It never shies away from the most complex questions it poses (human cruelty, free will, cost and meaning of freedom…), but it always ends up putting them into perspective, relating them with personal responsibility from one side and also social conditions on the other. I rather liked that.
The writing is absolutely superb; in fact, one of the strongest points here is the energetic, intelligent and subversive narration by Lucifer himself. He really is a delight to read.
The only thing I felt was slightly missing was a stronger plot… things (very much like in real life, I dare say) seemed to “just happen”, but given the fact that this was, very much, character driven, and the characters were all very well achieved indeed, that is more a question of personal taste than a problem with the writing itself.
In the end this is a great book about life, about humanity, about good, about evil, and about the meaning all these things may, in fact, have. A book very much worth reading.