Roger Bennett (1) (1970–)

This book had so much promise, SO much! But it fell flat on its face in its execution. The bible is endlessly inspiring, in terms of spirituality, but more so (at least for me) in terms of creativity. I have created many projects using The Good Book as source material. Here, however, what should have stood out as unique simply wasn't so. 54 writers were commissioned to reinterpret one torah portion each, and I would have expected the editor to ensure that each segment stood out by itself from the others. They did not. Too many of the writers used the same ideas, some even used commentary that did not revolve around the torah portion at all. Some just mailed it in. It's as if they were secure in their own opinion of their genius, and wouldn't work with the editor on maximizing their creative energies, perhaps forcing him to accept whatever it was they brought to the table. The input felt lazy. Only about 6 or 7 of the entries were truly borderline genius. The rest were flat as millenia old Coke.… (meer)