Descriptions of Heaven by Randal Eldon GreeneMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The book commences with a brief exposition about a monster that is supposedly found in a nearby lake to Robert, the main character. He is a professor of linguistics and he relates the book throughout, which I felt was a problem. While one could occasionally enjoy some of the articulation and eloquence that frequently flowed from the professor’s lips I thought it was overdone. It is expected and enjoyed when you read a nineteenth century classic but within a short contemporary tale about incurable cancer? – then I have my doubts. Many of the sentences were far too long and often overburdened with too much description, verging on verbosity.
Robert’s wife, Natalia, is the one dying and, while he struggles to explain events and the concept of Heaven to their son, Jesse, he has to cope with his own grief about his loss and lack of understanding of “Why?”. The whole topic is bound to cause strong reactions in the heart of any compassionate reader and overall I found the quality of Greene’s writing did much to convey an atmosphere of despair and grief, with very little hope or joy for the future. For me the main problem with such an excess of flowery prose was that it continually distracted from the essence of the story – love, life, loss and the inevitability of death. It made me suspect that the point of the book was to display a love of language and to demonstrate the author’s skill through its narrative style; the latter of which I have no doubt. Unfortunately, this reader found many of the long descriptions tedious and irritating which clouded out the inevitable emotions that would, and should, emerge from such a plotline.
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