They Call Me Carpenter is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek Second Coming story narrated by rich young socialite Billy, who retreats into a church after receiving a head wound during a protest outside of a movie theater, only to have "Mr. Carpenter" descend out of the stained-glass window behind the alter to heal him. Billy then tags along as Carpenter wades into the modern world in a modern retelling of Christ's story from the bible that parallels the biblical story to such an extent that Sinclair includes an appendix at the end that details each direct reference to the corresponding gospels (Matthew, Isaiah, Mark, Luke, John, and James among them).

The main theme of Upton Sinclair's novel is how contrary today's society behaves to the Christian ideologies that it not only claims to uphold, but to have constructed itself upon its foundation. This is demonstrated first through the more superficial fish-out-of-water conflicts that occur by exposing Carpenter to modern attitudes towards feminine attire and self-beautification, but proceeds to hammer home on more substantial issues when Carpenter gets himself involved with wealth disparity.

Within the main theme of the poor versus the rich, Sinclair has three main targets in his cross-hairs. First is the labor rights movement, of which Sinclair was a major supporter and would later adopt as his platform when running for Governor of California in 1934. Carpenter eventually gets involved with the labor unions, which acts as the main catalyst for most of the conflict, and provokes the ire of local government officials and the industrial leaders that hold oligarchic control over them. This is not a new topic for Sinclair, who covers similar ground in some of his most famous and influential works, The Jungle (1906) and Oil! (1927).

One of the power structure's weapons of attack is Sinclair's second target is the news media, which - as in real life - remains primarily in the background yet manipulates the course of events through misrepresentation of the events it records, acting as a propaganda arm of the elite power structure. The destructive potential of "yellow journalism" is also not a new subject for Sinclair, who wrote about it previous to They Call Me Carpenter (1922) in The Brass Check (1919), and would later find that weapon used against him during his run for Governor.

The third group that clashes with Carpenter is - ironically, but not surprisingly - organized religion, or more specifically, modern day Christianity. The values that Carpenter preaches in regards to the treatment of the lower classes is demonstrably ignored by society as a whole, and when presented to self-proclaimed Christians in the story he is either misunderstood or rejected outright. In fact, church leaders of Western City (the name of the book's generic location, most likely a stand-in for Los Angeles, California) are openly accused by Carpenter of being beholden to the rich elites over the word of God, and they do little to prove him wrong.

Overall, there are individuals who respond positively to Carpenter's message and actions - many of whom take on complimentary roles to the apostles whose gospels are mirrored - but it is the groups and organizations that either rejects his teachings because they challenge or contradict the group's goals, or muddle them incomprehensibly based on their own world view or the world view forced upon them by outside elements.

They Call Me Carpenter might be labelled by some as a satire, although I personally don't think it fits that definition, and while there is a undercurrent of humor throughout the book - unavoidably so in such an extreme fish-out-of-water tale - it never rises to the true level of a comedy of errors. Needless to say for an Upton Sinclair novel, the political views supported by the narrative swing very far to the left, so those who are vehemently opposed to labor unions or can't conceive of Jesus being portrayed as a socialist may want to steer clear and reread Atlas Shrugged instead. For everyone else, They Call Me Carpenter is possibly a more lighthearted and entertaining read than some of Sinclair's more renowned works, even if the subject matter at hand is just as serious. ( )