The Story of B
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by Daniel Quinn
I think that the Story of B is one of my favourite books of all time. I also think it surpasses Quinn's earlier novel Ishmael by far.
It is fiction - and it is not. It is about the world today, about how we got to where we are, about the insanities of the society we have constructed that parade as sanity - all in a compelling story of a priest's journey to Europe to trace a man, B, who is steadily gathering a following simply based on his talks, on his words and views.
In the Story of B, Daniel Quinn challenges nothing less than our world view, and he does it well. He left me with gratitude for a new way of looking at reality, but also a frustration with how to bring such a challenging view out into the mainstream. I suppose that is the question of our day.
Unfortunately I have lent my copy of the book to a friend, who has since left Denmark, so below I have copied a description from Amazon, and will be back once I have bought a new copy (I am looking forward to reading it a second time) with some more personal comments on his message.
Description from Amazon:
The Story of B combines Daniel Quinn's provocative and visionary ideas with a masterfully plotted story of adventure and suspense in this stunning, resonant novel that is sure to stay with readers long after they have finished the last page.
Father Jared Osborne - bound by a centuries-old mandate held by his order to know before all others that the Antichrist is among us - is sent to Europe on a mission to find a peripatetic preacher whose radical message is attracting a growing circle of followers. The target of Osborne's investigation is an American known only as B. He isn't teaching New Age platitudes or building a fanatical following; instead, he is quietly uncovering the hidden history of our planet, redefining the fall of man, and retracing a path of human spirituality that extends millions of years into the past. From the beginning, Fr. Osborne is stunned, outraged, and awed by the simplicity and profundity of B's teachings. Is B merely a heretic - or is he the Antichrist sent to seduce humanity not with wickedness, but with ideas more alluring than those of traditional religion?
With surprising twists and fascinating characters, The Story of B answers this question as it sends readers on an intellectual journey that will forever change the way they view spirituality, human history, and, indeed, the state of our present world.
"Daniel Quinn has written two of the most unnerving and transformative books in recent memory. The first was Ishmael; The Story of B is the other, a compelling "humantale" that will unglue, stun, shock, and rearrange everything you've learned and assume about Western civilization and our future."- Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce
- Review by Marianne Knuth
News from Pioneers of Change - SEPTEMBER 2007
LJ on Democracy - Mexico and Cuba - Dec 2008
