Michael Faber's Book of Strange New Things is part science-fiction, part Christ fiction. It's a book that genuinely deserves its title, and a book I thoroughly enjoyed. In fact, it's the best fiction I've read since Neil Gaiman's American Gods in 2005!
The novel chronicles Peter, a pastor who's been accepted to go on a mission to a planet in another galaxy, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spread the Gospel to the -- what should he call them? Creatures? Beings? -- living there. But he must leave behind his beloved wife, Bea, a nurse who converted him to Christianity and saved him from his life as a thief and druggie.
Peter finds his new life working for the shadowy USIC, on the planet Oasis, after having worked amongst England's downtrodden on Earth. And it's the Oasis that we come to know through Peter's eyes that makes The Book of Strange New Things an absolute treat!
Peter finds that the folks of Oasis, much to his delight, have already been told the Good News, have learned some English and are eager to talk about Jesus and the Bible, which they call The Book of Strange New Things. And Peter soon finds himself among friends.
These folks are gentle, unassuming and oddly reserved, and before long Peter is losing his terrestrial entanglements -- Bea and her pregnancy -- for strange new ones.
At the core of this book are theological questions that Faber asks of his audience but never answers (which doesn't seem odd to me at all, because Faber is an atheist!): What makes a good Christian? Did God intend other beings to be Christians? If not, why not? How does the Bible translate in other cultures? Ultimately, of course, how do we connect with and love other beings? How alien are we to one another? And, finally, what do we "owe" one other?
This really is The Book of Strange New Things of 2014. And you deserve to read it. The writing is crisp and truly wonderful.
___________________
I received this book free, from the Blogging for Books program, in exchange for my honest review.