I’ve long been a fan of Fred Clark’s continuing analysis of “the worst books in the world” but this week’s entry is particularly amusing.
Best part - the main character, Buck is listening to prayers in Hebrew, in Israel
"Buck had never heard people praying together aloud in a foreign language. " which is an awkward way of phrasing the idea that the prayers aren’t in English, but just a few lines later is this:
“Eventually the prayers became groanings and what sounded like Hebrew versions of amens and hallelujahs.” - the Hebrew equivalents to amen and hallelujah are of course amen and hallelujah.
No doubt this is a terrible work, but… (You knew a “but” was coming.) My guess is that most English speakers hearing the Hebrew wouldn’t be able to guess the word. In my memory, the word amen at the end of a chanted prayer sounds like awwwwwwww-maaaaaaaaain. I can’t even conjure up what a hallelujah sounds like but I’ve never heard anything like what is heard in a Christian service.
Calling them the Hebrew equivalents of amen and hallelujah is exactly the way I would expect a Christian to interpret them. Sorry. We now return to our regularly scheduled stoning.
The review contains several quotes. Here’s my favorite:
“Swallowing back what he’d prepared to expurgate, he slated himself on the tepid red wine, emptying a third. After a loud burp, he rested the bottle on the lap of his outstretched legs and took stalk of his surroundings.”
