This is another book I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read, for a few reasons. First, I’m not well versed in religion. Christianity is, for me, a bit of a mystery. I’ve heard some of the more pervasive references (Noah, Kane and Abel, the story of Jesus’ birth and that of his death, those kinds of big ones), but I have never read any part of the Bible, nor did I grow up going to Sunday school. So I worried I would be missing a vital set of references necessary to truly understand this book. But Kamil (formerly of the YouTube channel What Kamil Reads and now on Instagram) had read it and I mentioned my misgivings. He said that those major references were all that was really required to understand the novel, and even without them the story would work. So I decided to give it a go.
This was a very interesting reading experience. I read it nearly two months ago, but I’m still sorting through it in my mind. It’s the story of a group of families who rent a house in a remote area. The parents embark on a debaucherous free for all and the children, lacking any form of supervision, set up their own little society. They disavow their parents, making a game out of who can keep their parentage a secret the longest. The children take over a wing of the house and venture forth from there to have adventures and explore.
The story really picks up when a storm hits, causing major damage to the house and the surrounding area. What follows, without spoilers, is kind of like a cross between what I imagine is the tone of The Lord of the Flies (I’ve never read it) and The Walking Dead. It’s chaos and the wild west rolled into one. I’m still trying to make sense of the end of the book, to be honest.
I’m really unsure what to make of this. My main criticism of the book is that I can’t imagine a group of parents being so willing to completely ignore their children. Sure, maybe one or two would be terrible parents. But even a group of friends are unlikely to all be so completely negligent. So it seems unrealistic from the off. Then the children themselves are oddly mature and able to deal with a wide range of situations – not only are they able to deal with them, but it never seems to occur to any of them to ask an adult to help. Which is also pretty unrealistic given the circumstances. I’ve read a few reviews that indicate that this was purposefully done – exaggeration to the point of absurdity. But because it wasn’t really clear that that was what was happening, it just made it hard for me to suspend my disbelief to get into the premise of the story, particularly as a possibly over-attentive parent myself.
I really don’t know what to make of this book. I enjoyed some of the writing, and the scene building was done exceptionally well. I was chilled to the bone as I read some passages of the book, and deeply uncomfortable while reading others. I just couldn’t get past my desire to step into the story and parent these seemingly completely forgotten children. Perhaps it would be an easier read if I weren’t a parent or if I had a better basis with the Bible. But as is, it was just okay for me. I do think that anyone who has a better grasp of the source material or who really enjoyed child-focused books like The Lord of the Flies will get a kick out of it.
A Children’s Bible follows a group of twelve eerily mature children on a forced vacation with their families at a sprawling lakeside mansion. Contemptuous of their parents, the children decide to run away when a destructive storm descends on the summer estate, embarking on a dangerous foray into the apocalyptic chaos outside. Lydia Millet’s prophetic and heartbreaking story of generational divide offers a haunting vision of what awaits us on the far side of Revelation. – Goodreads
Book Title: A Children’s Bible
Author: Lydia Millet
Series: No
Edition: Hardback/Audiobook
Published By: W. W. Norton Company
Released: May 12, 2020
Genre: Fiction, Dystopia, Allegory
Pages: 240
Date Read: March 15-April 5, 2021
Rating: 6/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.75/5 (16,332 ratings)