Book Discussion: I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan
 

Ok guys, I'm starting this here so those of you who are speedy can get comments goin. my trusty Barnes and Noble declined to carry the book, so I'm ordering as we speak, and when i get my mitts on a copy, I'll try to lay out a hopeful time-scale for how far we should be, to keep the discussion somewhat.. on track. As far as that goes, I've never read the book before, so if you guys see something neat you wanna discuss, shout it out!

got my copy, waiting for you guys to start

sorry asquint, mine shipped today, USPS, so... :/

Amazon didn't have it. However, WH Smith did yip yip yip.
just waiting for the 3 day delivary, Booo Hisss. I need instant gratification

double damn. can't afford to buy, the library dosen't have it due back til the middle of august.

Check Borders, they had several copies here.
I always check the used bookstores too.
People often read a book and take right to the used store for fast credit.

got mine... are we waiting on anyone? sadly, no obvious chapter dilineations, so... I think we're gonna do this free-form. read at your own pace, bring up what you're interested in talking about, and we'll roll w/ it, from there. :D happy reading!!!

sounds good, will start today

starting today

whee! so, for a question to get things started...

Satan, being the prince of lies and all... how truthful do you think he's being with us?

I don't think he has anything to lose by being honest, however, with the whole prince of lies thing, not tusting him mightn't be a bad idea, me, i'm gonna treat it as an it's joker time situation

Lucifer seems to be truthful.....so far. Of course with only his POV we can never be sure.

Its the truth from his point of view!

I think Lucifer has a wanking obsession

Wouldn't you if you were dropped into an adult body after thousands of years of just watching?
The tasting and smelling everything part was cool too.
All the things we filter out he is experiencing for the first time.

ya, I enjoy hearing him lament on how simple simile's aren't enough to describe everything. he's so... flamboyant, it sucks you in. evil charisma, I guess ;)

i find it odd that the prince of hell is in constant incredible pain when disincarnate

well... he IS being punished by god...

< poke poke >... did it die?

I'm about half way through.
I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that Satan would choose such a boring course.
A rape and murder for entertainment?
Drugs, anal sex, movie making for a his life activities?
I guess I expected something more interesting and creative (especially since the beginning was so interesting).
His description of Eden and the relationship with Eve was very cool.

I apologize guys, I've been stuck at Fort Stewart GA in a bay with 40 of my closest of friends as my unit went through the DeMobilization process. 20 Months deployed and it is good to be home

Just ordered mine from Amazon after screwing up the title at the book store and looking for "I, Satan" (yeah yeah, I know).

Anyway, guess I'll have to play catch up...

oye, no worries, guys, wondered if I'd lost you, is all. :)

OK,

Here we go...


All in all, I thought it was a great book, so let me start with the criticism before the accolades.

First, I find it interesting to see the writers own theology while I NOT try to react negatively or positively (like I'm really reading Lucifer's words.

I had a heavy dose of this when Lucifer was talking about what sins put you in Hell, specifically, homosexuality and even so called 'dirty' sex between couples.

"Nope!" I said. I just don't believe it.

I got around this by reminding myself that the author was relying heavily on Milton for his 'facts' about Heaven, Hell, Angels, and Demons.

That being said, I REALLY enjoyed his writing style.

At first, I was afraid that he was going to make Lucifer out to be just a misunderstood guy. And certainly, that is how Lucifer seems to portray himself. But I was jolted back to reality by how easily Lucifer plans to rape and kill that other woman after he can't get his jones up for Violet. The coldness and cruelty of it, like walking to the store and stepping on a bug, told me that the author definately wasn't appologizing for Satan.

For some odd reason, I kept expecting life to make Lucifer gentle, but again, the author held true. So yes, I was shocked when Lucifer/Gunn was helped by the woman after getting the shit kicked out of him by the gay prostitute and his friend and he (Lucifer) rewarded her by stealing her purse.

On the "Prince of Lies" angle, I believe the author also did an excellent job.

I've heard it told that Satan will tell you 99 truths to get you to believe one lie, and I definately saw that in our Lucifer. He was so darn likable, you just wanted to believe him when he said that they "gave up" on all that torture stuff in Hell, but then in another chapter he was describing how the demons liked to torture just for the pleasure of eliciting pain. And at the end, how Lucifer leaves the reconstituted Gunn a message on his phone machine, "See you in Hell, scribe", well, you know that Lucifer deserves the nasty reputation he has.

So, I thought this was a great book, definately a keeper to put along side my copy of "The Screwtape Letters" as a study of evil.

I enjoyed the book too.
Though to be truthful I like his reminisces about the past more then I did his current situation.
The part about the Garden of Eden reminded me of Mark Twains Letters from Eden.
His relationship with Jesus and the temptation in the desert was nicely handled as well.
Lebell is right that the Devil is primarily a Milton Catholic type but there is does a bit to explain why he is like that.
I'm curious how other people reacted to the current story line.
Is he so heavily effected by the person whose body he inhabits that it limits his control and imagination?

Cool.

For a while, I was afraid I was the only person who actually got the book and read it :)

damn at the rate im reading lately.. if it's in i'll read it and have my thoughts here by the end of the week

I enjoyed some of the concepts in there, but unfourtunately, the book failed to impress me greatly. Great idea, and bits of it are real gems, but i found myself getting bored with it a lot. Too bad. It had real potential.