I had very mixed feelings regarding this book. Overall, it was interesting, but the plot devices seemed too contrived and became tiring. I enjoyed much of the humor, unlike much of the humor I attempt to read. There were also details that were so incorrect I was bothered, and I really am not sure that Lester illustrated his point well. However, I did find valuable how the rabbi comforted who students. ( )

There are many thoughtful and nuanced and challenging books about theodicy. The Autobiography of God isn't one of them. This is the story of a failed rabbi and her distrust of the goodness of God - which, since her parents were Holocaust survivors, and she was disabled in a car crash when she was young, she probably has good reason to doubt. I found it tasteless, however, that all the bad things that happened were kind of categorically lumped together: the car crash is just like a murder is just like a stalker is just like the entire Holocaust, because they're all bad and where is God when you need him, anyway?

So the theology is unimpressive. The writing itself is unimpressive too; all the characters are written in a "tell, don't show" sort of way, and there's cheap pop psychology littered everywhere. For example:

* "Even though she was the most stylish dresser anyone had ever seen in Brett, sorrow wrapped itself around her like a beautiful and warm shawl knitted from the finest wool since Jacob made Joseph's coat."

* Or another, a young man talking about a female acquaintance: "I had thought she might be very shy but when I looked into her face I saw a sadness as if she had been mourning for someone or something almost since the day she was born....She had been beaten down by the unwanted attention of boys and quite a few men. I can't imagine what it must be like to be desired as if you're nothing more than a cream-filled pastry. The only way she knew to protect herself was to retreat into a corner, literally and psychologically, yearning to be a part of the social life around her but knowing worse might happen if she joined."

Yeah. The entire thing was written as though the author knew what Points Needed To Be Made, but didn't have the stability of an actual story upon which to make them, so the entire thing feels very cobbled together and transparent, to the detriment of whatever points may have actually been raised in a better telling. ( )

Fascinating story with some flaws, but the issues the author raises are well worth thinking and talking about. ( )

A peculiar book. The title is rather misleading; it's nothing like The Life of God, As Told by Himself, by Franco Ferucci, which I read several years ago & enjoyed. Rather, this is the story of a failed female rabbi who becomes a therapist for a small college in an isolated community in Vermont, where she helps others (and herself) come to terms with the evil in their midst. She is helped at one point, briefly, by her discovery of a very short autobiography God has written to share specifically with her. But that's not very well developed, like much else in the book. There are flashes of wit & insight, but the theodicy & spirituality mostly strike me as superficial, the bits of something like magical realism (or perhaps better, spiritual realism) seem out of place, & as a whole it was too preachy for my taste. ( )