Updated review:

I am sad to report that I did not enjoy this book nearly so much as I thought I was going to. I have to quote the acknowledgements section in the back of the book; "This book wouldn't have been possible without my agent, Gail Hochman, who read the first draft and told me in the nicest possible way that it didn't make any goddamn sense." Presumably several drafts later, I have to still agree with the sentiment. I mean, it made sense in the sense that I could follow the plot, but not in what the point of the novel was, or what I was supposed to get from it. There were a few pearls in here for sure, but a cohesive novel it did not make. Now, I know this was supposed to be a "retelling" or "reimagining" or maybe at least a homage, to the story of Abraham and Isaac--and maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it--but I just thought it was poorly and barely connected. I don't generally get hung up on "unlikeable" characters, but these folks really took the cake. Barely a redeemable quality in the lot of 'em. In fact, the only character I really enjoyed was the arbitrator present in one chapter. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I just couldn't. My apologies to the author, who as I mentioned below, was kind enough to send me a copy of this book for this review.

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I just want to say that I won a free copy of this book, but it never arrived. I tried to get in touch with the publisher, but never heard back. Finally I sent an email to the author, and he mailed me a copy himself! I just got it in the mail today; barely started, but I can already tell I'm going to enjoy it. ( )