Hardalee Press published Joel Thurtell’s debut novel today: CROSS PURPOSES, OR, IF NEWSPAPERS HAD COVERED THE CRUCIFIXION.
The significance?
It’s Good Friday, and most of the action in CROSS PURPOSES happens on a Good Friday. In fact, the novel pretends that the first Good Friday takes place in our modern era in order to answer its own what-if question.
So, do newspapers manage to get the story?
Sorry — don’t want to spoil the tale.
But here is one reader’s take on this unconventional work of fiction:
Amazon review by Fiona Lowther
5.0 out of 5 stars
Newspaper death and no resurrection, April 2, 2011
By Fiona Lowther “book lover” (Detroit, Michigan USA)
This review is from: Cross Purposes, Or, If Newspapers Had Covered the Crucifixion (Paperback)
This book is so different that it’s difficult to describe. It is, however, bitingly witty — to the point where I laughed aloud several times while reading it.
It’s a novel — a roman à clef? — about what would happen if one of today’s big-city dailies were to cover the Crucifixion. Now, I know that doesn’t sound very funny — and in one way, it isn’t: But just as the death of Jesus was a tragedy that became a triumph with His Resurrection, Cross Purposes delineates the tragedy of today’s mainstream Journalism — and it’s only with an understanding of what’s going on that readers may be able to turn the tragedy of today’s newspapers into a triumph by recognizing the situation and seeking alternative publications and online blogs that will take us back to the days of hard-core investigative Journalism and crusading publishers and editors — and reporters who were willing to dig deep to get the facts and give them to the public.
Aside of that, read this book for its entertainment value: It would make one heck of a good movie; I couldn’t help casting the characters as I read it — and I’ll bet many readers will do the same.
Don’t miss this one; I have a feeling that it will be one of the most talked-about books of the year.
