City of God p. 140

Ugh, this is not getting any more interesting.

Not sure what to make of this Midrash Jazz quartet, to be honest, after skimming it this last time I have decided to skip it entirely the next time it appears. Who it is suppose to be representing? In fact I am quite confused as to who is speaking most of the time, except when it is very obvious.

I am enjoying the story of Sarah's father, I am not sure how it is going to tie into the Heist. Perhaps this story is more concerned with the existence of God. I can say that it was also enjoyable to hear the story of Pem's father, again not sure how or why it is a part of the book. As I am reading more and more, I am not sure what is really going on, with 140 pages left I am not sure if I am halfway in or at just the tip of the iceberg.

In summary thus far I can say that the book is not entirely awful, but as Ryan suggested in his introduction, this is an ambitious and involved novel. I feel that at this point ambition is over running accomplishments. Doctorow is attempting to neatly package a subject that is too large, he has addressed the problems with science and religion, two studies that are fundamentally at odds with each other. I am not sure that he will be able to come to any useful conclusion. The introduction of personal accounts from the Holocaust and the war give way to the argument of if God exists, then why does he allow such horrible acts to take place? Again, not sure how this will be concluded. I hope that this whole novel is not going to be an exploratory novel where at its conclusion the reader will have to realize their own conclusion about the existence of God. If this is the case, I feel that story is not strong enough and I am wasting my time. If Doctorow had chose one aspect of the great God debate this novel might be a little more compelling. I would also offer the opinion that the detective genre is not the best forum for this topic. In fact, the stories from WW2 are a much better background for the argument for and against the existence of a God. In fact, where is the initial plot? The act of thievery has alluded  me thus far. 


Summary, at this point I understand that there has been a heist, to the extent that a cross has been stolen and recovered. The motives of the heist are still unknown, but it does appear that the mastermind(s) was caught. Also, it appears that the motives and capture of the perpetrator(s) is book worthy. So why have we not been clued in?? I am confused. Anyone else in this boat?