The Book of Strange New Things

By: Michel Faber

Narrated by: Josh Cohen

Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

'I am with you always, even unto the end of the world . . .'

Peter Leigh is a missionary called to go on the journey of a lifetime. Leaving behind his beloved wife, Bea, he boards a flight for a remote and unfamiliar land, a place where the locals are hungry for the teachings of the Bible - his 'book of strange new things'. It is a quest that will challenge Peter's beliefs, his understanding of the limits of the human body and, most of all, his love for Bea.

The Book of Strange New Things is a wildly original tale of adventure, faith and the ties that might hold two people together when they are worlds apart. This momentous novel, Faber's first since The Crimson Petal and the White, sees him at his expectation-defying best.

©2014 Michel Faber (P)2014 Canongate Books Ltd

Not sure Michel Faber does resolution...

If you are familiar with Michel Faber's works you won't be too surprised by the ambling nature of the novel. An evangelistic pastor is recruited by a mysterious corporation to bring the gospel to an alien race on a planet they wish to colonise. It's less about a plot than an exploration of a set of possibilities and human nature in extreme circumstances. I think I enjoyed it even though the pronunciation of the "alien" speech was absolutely tortuous and made me glad the narrator wasn't with me in person to cover me in spit.
Thought provoking and given the recent extreme weather in Vanuatu possibly prescient.

Bad story, good narrator.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was okay, but not mind-blowing.

What was most disappointing about Michel Faber’s story?

It had a lot of potential that remained unexplored. The way I understand it, the author took on a very limited point of view of emphasise that it was Peter's outlook and priorities that counted, but then a first-person narrative would have suited this novel much better. As it is, the reader is left with the feeling that many important issues have remained unexplored.

What does Josh Cohen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He brings an boyish enthusiasm to Peter that fits his personality, and the way he reads the Oasans is also good (and not easy to pull off).

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No, unless they fixed the plot holes in the novel.

Slow and without resolution.

This book had a few interesting concepts, none of which were explored. The ending was particularly poor, I think a better ending May have saved the book, unfortunately not the case.