The Eschatology of Bluegrass

In case you can't read the full (inspired) title of this book from the picture, it's

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Or (the eschatology of bluegrass).

Brilliant! What a brilliant title for a book. AND THERE"S A BANJO ON THE COVER! Oh joy, and delight!
Maybe this book was written just for me.

But of course, there was no way the content of the book could fully match up to the promise contained in those title words.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy reading it very much. And there were lots of interesting literary devices, such as three quirky short stories interspersed in the main narrative, which all tied in together gradually. Also some instant messenger conversations between the authors. But I couldn't help feel that the book was trying to be a bit too clever with all these gimmicks, when really I just wanted to hear about the eschatology of bluegrass! I love bluegrass, and I've listened to a fair bit of it, (when Mothy's out of the house of course), but I hadn't really thought about the central premise being that we all want to go to heaven, but we don't want to die. What a profound truth!
So really, I wanted to hear about end-times theology as expounded by bluegrass artists through the decades, in their music. That's truly all I wanted the book to be about, but there wasn't so much of it here.
It was about the human soul, and grief, and death, and some history of bluegrass - all worthy subjects, and the authors were sensitive and also humourous in the way they dealt with the big topics...
... but someone still needs to write a book about the eschatology of bluegrass. And when they do, I will read it. Lots.


I think I'm now going to have to take care that my blogs don't all turn into book reviews, because, (and unless you have known me very well for some time, you may have missed this about me), I really enjoy reading, and talking about books. I'll have to try and have some original thoughts to blog soon...