BLAUGUSTINE / GOD INTERVIEWS

REVIEWS - PAGE 2 : Posted on The God Interviews page at Lulu.com

The God Interviews by Natalie d'Arbeloff 28 Mar 2007 by Edward Gelles This latter day Augustine is a creative artist with a free spirit and considerable wit. Her encounters with the "Great Creative Artist" are presented in a most entertaining and thought-provoking way. It might shock some old-fashioned religious folk, but I note that her brown-skinned ecumenical god figure has for her both fatherly and brotherly attributes and at times speaks to her in Yiddish -exchanges which remind me of some saintly rabbis who according to Hasidic tales engaged Almighty God in continual conversations, addressing Him as "tatele" (daddy) in the certainty of His all-embracing love. This book is a perfect present. It should make you laugh while getting in touch with your spiritual side. The God Interviews by Natalie d'Arbeloff  19 Mar 2007 by Penelope Farmer Atheist? - agnostic? -believer?- who cares what I am; what anyone is. It doesn't matter. Augustine asks her black - male - God - who otherwise looks just like her - of course - all the questions I or you do or don't. Or have or haven't. Doesn't everyone ask them? Not least the philosophers - but who cares about them? Their versions go and come as gobbledygook more often than not. These don't. This God's answers may say - brilliantly - everything and nothing. But that's just as it should be. And the range of Augustine's facial reactions - expressed in a few lines - even more than her verbal ones get the frustration of absolutely everyone from the day the questions started to be asked. Eternitree. Indeed. PS I want to add a five star rating. I tried to add a five star rating. Getting answers as to how is like asking questions of God. Now you have it in a nutshell. FIVE STARS. (0R IS IT TEN?) Funny, Insightful, Original  6 Mar 2007 by Richard Cohen Through her alter ego Blaugstine, renowned blogger Natalie d'Arbeloff interviews the Person we would all most like to hear from: God. Blaugustine's God turns out to be a delightful companion, full of wry wisdom if occasionally curmudgeonly. His answers to Blaugustine's incisive, sometimes deliberately naive questions poke holes in our received ideas and in the contradictions of human life, and show all of it to be beautiful. A most entertaining book-length comic strip that will leave you thankful to the author -- and the Author. Philosophy 101  3 Mar 2007 by Greg Winterflood I think Natalie's book should be required reading for first year Philosophy students. What a greaat way to introduce students to the BIG philosophical problems. When my copy arrived here in Alice Springs I raced home from the Post Office and spent a good half hour belly laughing. Humorous and enchanting; along with being deep Beautiful, funny, moving 11 Feb 2007 by Hopscotch I have been following the development of Natalie d'Arbeloff's work on this theme for a few years and have waited for the day that this brilliant series could be gathered together in print for all of us to enjoy and pass on. It's a lovely book and will make a great present for many people you know. It's obviously for the irreverent (religious or not), those who want to have an intelligent and humorous conversation with ourselves about the myths we have grown up with. Natalie is a talented artist who works in many media. In this book she combines her playful line drawing and engaging colours with witty and moving conversation. Easy to read, pleasurable, funny and provocative. Now I need another copy!  9 Feb 2007 by Apalila I ordered this book for my aunt who is transdenominational with an artistic sensibility. I thought she would appreciate the whimsy and find the book comforting, like a cup of tea, a fire, and a blanket. I'm excited to give it to her, I think she will really love it. I had the book sent directly to me just so I could look at it first! The quality is very nice. The only problem is, I love some of the illustrations so much, I want to past them to my walls! Now I need another copy. Being a non-god oriented person [a- theist has come to sound so harsh], I like the book because it speaks so well to the human condition- our longings and our hopes. I reccomend this book if you like whimsical, cheerful art and insightful "lyrics." When the world's messed up... 6 Feb 2007 by Alison Kent You know the reasoning. It goes like this: how can there be a God who is omnipotent and benevolent? Just look around you! Pah! Why bother! The God Interviews provide not only a brilliant answer to this but one that is full of compassion and, yes, love. Refreshing in this cynical age. Bravo, Augustine, and bravo, Natalie d'Arbeloff! (and Bravo to the kindly chap with the white hair, too.) 5 Feb 2007 by Patry Francis Poignant, profound, and delightfully humorous. I've been waiting for the release of The God Interviews for a long time! A work of art - the God Interviews   5 Feb 2007 by Marja-Leena Rathje My copy arrived this morning - how beautiful it is to hold in the hand and admire the glossy cover and the colourful drawings by this multi-talented artist! I meant to read it later but was drawn in and read it all the way through immediately. These conversations between the Deity and Natalie's alter ego are humourous, compelling, philosophical, thought-provoking, heart-warming and gorgeously presented - for believers and non-believers. I'm a pleased and proud owner of this unique graphic novel by well-known artist, writer and blogger, Natalie d'Arbeloff. Get Lost, Neale Donald Walsch   31 Jan 2007 by A-Twelve (Annie Gottlieb) Natalie d'Arbeloff has an exclusive. I'm convinced she is portraying and channeling God as He wishes, enigmatic, mischievous, infinitely tender, right up to his choice of self-portrayal as an unplaceable blend of all races, who could only be played by Sir Ben Kingsley. This is my dream of the Sunday funnies; I want to live in a world with a newspaper that would syndicate this strip. Reading it would be better than going to church. - amba (Why can't I figure out how to add a rating? This website is NOT user friendly. Ten stars!!) Great for all ages and religious persuasions!  31 Jan 2007 by Danny Miller This is one of the most brilliant, deceptively simple books I've ever read. We received our copy in the mail yesterday and it's already been devoured by me, my wife, and my 12-year-old daughter who refused to leave for school this morning until she finished it. Each chapter functions almost like a koan and can be used as a basis for long discussion or private meditation. Or the book could just be savored for the pure pleasure of it, with the bigger ideas seeping into the crevices of our brain over time. I can't wait for the next set of adventures! The God Interviews - Natalie d'Arbeloff  30 Jan 2007 by Ka Ruhdorfer An unsuspectingly brown package arrived this morning, by registered mail for my husband, who was out teaching, and had i known that Natalie d'Arbeloff's book "The God Interviews" was in it, i would have ripped the package open right away and started reading the book. but, alas. nathan (my husband) opened it, so all i could do was snatch it from him and send him on an important errand to win some time. the book is the funniest thing i have read in a long time, with great dialogues and wonderful pictures, soothing the eyes, and an absolute page-turner. nathan is trying to lure me away from it again - he's confiscated my tea. no chance, buddy. i'm not trading tea for book. 30 Jan 2007 by Toanke This is a beautiful, wise and very funny book. This atheist loved it too!  30 Jan 2007 by Jean Morris I loved this hilarious, piercing, beautiful book. I'm an atheist myself, but Natalie d'Arbeloff's cartoon alter-ego Augustine, in her dialogue with God, speaks no less for me, for all of us. The full-colour artwork is gorgeous. I know nothing like it. Wonderful. The God Thing   29 Jan 2007 by Zhoen Winslow I intend to send this to my friends with children who are not religious. Because Augustine is profound and simple, in a way that will comfort children, and inspire parents. God Sits Down for a Chat   29 Jan 2007 by DefSufi I rarely come across any graphic novel with content that intrigues and charms me. Being allergic to preachiness, I also have a rather jaundiced view of any work that tries to tell the reader what might be in the Mind of God. This book broke through all obstacles. Natalie D'Arbeloff has published a little tome that delights the eye, warms the heart, and gives the brain a few whirls round the dance floor. With artwork that feels like a perfect marriage of Thurber's doodles to Blake's painstaking lines and brilliant colours, matched with a fabulous "God-outside-the-Box" approach to the interviews, this is a book NOT to be missed. God gets a grilling 29 Jan 2007 by Dick Jones How we waited impatiently between each episode of the God interviews as they appeared bit by bit on Natalie's blog. And how brilliant they look now, all tucked together between two covers. For all the graphic glories that appear regularly on Blaugustine, demonstrating the depth & range of the well-constituted blog, somehow there's nothing quite like a book. And what a book The God Interviews has made! Warm and witty, with a lot of heart   29 Jan 2007 by Rachel Barenblat Natalie's God is nondenominational, or maybe transdenominational. I love that He appears as a Black man -- balding, with wispy white hair. I eschew representational language for God most of the time, but if I'm reading someone else's gendered depiction of God, I tend to imagine whiteness, probably because I am white and I project my own appearance into my imagining of God. So seeing Him with beautiful cocoa skin startled me at first, in the best possible way. This is a theological comic book with both heart and whimsy. One of my favorite pages comes at the very end of chapter six (previewed here) -- the Eternitree, where God is having a simultaneous one-on-one chat with just about everyone. Putting it in plain words makes it sound corny, but Natalie's illustration is warm and bright and real. She doesn't shy away from the tough questions. In chapter four, a teary Augustine says, "I'm sorry, but I have to ask about evil." God explains that free will enables us to choose badly, if we want to, but that God's plan presumes we will ultimately choose love. Augustine is exasperated -- "You mean you're leaving it all to us while you sit and wait for love to rule the world?" No, God replies patiently. "I don't sit and wait. I give interviews. And I look for collaborators." His reply made me smile. Or take chapter ten, in which Augustine and God -- walking on the beach, swimming, and ultimately surfing on cosmic waves -- talk about death. (I'm reminded of that story I love so much, about the little wave and the big wave in the middle of the ocean, and how the little wave soothes the big wave's fear of dying.) Augustine asks God for a straight answer, but God points out that a wavy one is more His style. I like the way the movement of the waves on the page illustrates not only what He's saying, but how He says it...and there's something endlessly charming to me about the sight of God in swim trunks. Most of the time Augustine is drawn as an adult, and she and God are about the same size -- making conversation easier, I guess. Sometimes God dwarfs her; sometimes she dwarfs God. At one point she curls up, overwhelmed, in God's arms. Natalie manages to draw her characters in such a way that they feel consistent, despite the cartoony changes in perspective. I never doubt that this is a real and true conversation, even though it's clear that it's not exactly happening in the world as I know it. Natalie's God is capable of profound sadness. When He reflects on the ways we misunderstand, act hatefully, and generally fail to get the point, His eyes fill with tears in a way that draws me up short. Then again, God as He appears in this book is also capable of humor and joy, and above all, hope. I guess He'd have to be. Like it says in chapter four, God isn't just sitting back and letting us muck things up; He's looking for collaborators. Surely Natalie is one of those collaborators, engaged what my tradition calls tikkun olam, the work of repairing the broken world. For my money, this is one of the sweetest and smartest graphic novels I've seen in a long time. Review originally published on the blog Velveteen Rabbi Me, myself and God  29 Jan 2007 by Sarah Darbeloff Ever thought what it would be like to have proper face to face chat with God? What would he look like? Sound like? Would he be funny, elusive, enigmatic? What would you ask him? Well if you have, look no further than this fantastic book for some answers! Having had the privilege of following the comic strips via the blog for the last few years, the whimsical questions, endearing and amusing answers as well as the stunning cartoons that accompany them have made Natalie's book a must for me to own now. Thoroughly recommended! Are you there, God? It's me, Augustine   23 Jan 2007 by Ivy Alvarez So wistful and full of longing to connect and understand, love and be loved. And the colours, too! So shiny and jewel-like! When I hold pages up to the light, the black lines gleam. May Volume Two not be too far away. PERMALINK BACK / NEXT