The World Is a Narrow Bridge

September 3, 2018
Thier (Mr. Eternity) again tackles fundamental human questions in this latter-day allegory of biblical prophecy. Murphy and Eva ponder the question of whether to conceive a child in a country plagued by toxic politics and a world threatened with environmental disaster—and on their tenuous freelance salaries, to boot. Devoted secular humanists, the young couple are more than a little bemused when Yahweh appears to Eva and demands that she testify about his existence. Yahweh’s insistence, however, may be just the kick in the pants they need, and soon they shake off their Miami torpor, quit their jobs, and travel the country. Eva’s initial hesitation gives way to full-on religious ecstasy—prompted in no small part by the $100 million Yahweh deposits in their checking account. The novel’s more pointedly comic first half, filled with winking commentaries on contemporary foibles (the couple grows collards in the back seat rather than stoop to eating road food), gives way to a broader canvas that is both more cynical and, in its final pages, resignedly hopeful. Though attempts to elevate the novel above the satirical don’t always hit the mark, Thier gives readers plenty to ponder, from the petulance and cruelty of the Old Testament God to the wisdom or futility of accepting—and even loving—a permanently imperfect world.

July 1, 2018
At the dawn of the Trumpocalypse, a young couple embarks on a divine cross-country mission.Eva and Murphy, who live in Miami and subsist on the gig economy, receive orders from Yahweh to hit the road and let America know who is Lord. Eva is chosen as the prophet just as she and Murphy are pondering whether to have a baby. After a stop at Eva's ancestral fixer-upper, where her Uncle Orson imparts folksy wisdom and racing tips, they pick up a pet, "Fluffy 2," who is either a cat, a dog, or a small goat, no one is sure which. A homeless woman inspires them with a brilliant scheme to develop "Mount Trashmore" resorts (since landfill mounds will, in much of the country, become shorefront property after sea levels rise). The postmodern picaresque continues as Eva evangelizes at lectures, billionaire retreats, and other venues representing the venality of American mores and the kitschiness of its culture. Her negotiated fee from Yahweh is $100 million to fund operation Mount Trashmore. The only hitch is that she and Murphy must also build a temple to the exact specifications of Solomon's. As the couple and their ambiguous pet journey on, Thier avails himself of all opportunities to preach his own gospel of What Went Wrong through history, citing myriad not-so-fun facts such as that "there were strict gun control laws in the Wild West" and that one of the reasons Haiti is perennially impoverished is that after the island's slaves freed themselves they owed reparations to their former slave owners that they never paid. As Eva proclaims the Lord, it is Murphy who launches jeremiads against the circumstances that made America not so great. "How can we accept that the world is the way it is?" is the novel's overriding inquiry. Thier's prodigious facility with language and penchant for stinging irony are evident. However, even metafiction has one basic requirement--to evoke pity and fear for the human predicament--and this is where the "narrow bridge" collapses.Successful as neobiblical allegory; as a novel, not so much.

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Starred review from June 1, 2018
In previous novels, Thier (Mr. Eternity, 2016) proved himself to be an imaginative and deeply funny satirist capable of bringing the past, present, and future to life. His latest is rooted in age-old concerns and contemporary issues alike: free will, race, politics, and environmentalism. While these subjects may sound heavy handed, Thier tackles each with sly humor and fully realized, progressive protagonists. Eva, a poet, and Murphy, a freelance critic, are stubbornly obsessed with rising sea levels, organic diets, and liberal politics. Neither feels settled in life, but they've decided to have a baby, despite their insistence that the cruel and chaotic world is an unfair place to raise a child. When the biblical God Yahweh suddenly shows up, giving Eva cryptic instructions to tell the world about him, the atheistic couple flees their Miami home with no destination in mind. What begins as an impromptu vacation soon becomes a freewheeling road trip across the U.S. The more they witness the peculiarities of small-town America, periodically running into Yahweh along the way, the more they question the very nature of the universe, finding themselves unwilling, if not unlikely, prophets for God. As always, Thier is hilarious and provocative, his worldly insights sagely and frighteningly on the mark.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)