Eh. I was hoping to proclaim this Frey’s best work. It sure starts off that way, and I think that says a lot coming from me ‘cause I sort of think he's a li’l punk. Definitely an interesting read, though, and the writing style is pure Frey (you either love him or hate him). He certainly tries to shock and awe, and even though I agree almost wholeheartedly with Frey’s views in this novel (the one area where I don’t is that I’m sort of pro-monogamy), and the idea of getting institutions like the C More...

I hate to agree with the masses, but most of the reviews are right on. The beginning of the book was awesome. Ghetto-drug-addict-hooker-baby-mama is totally transformed by the love of a free-wheeling hippie who makes her feel like she IS somebody. Loved it. But as the story progresses and each character relates his or her own version of a relationship with Ben, a pattern emerges, and then repetition ensues.

Okay, I get it. I get it. Religion bad. Love good. No heaven or hell. Just this life. And More...

I never really got the ranting angry bitter Goodreads reviews until now. Seriously, this is a terrible book. I'm not offended by the content or the characterization because I'm a grown up and can understand the concept of fiction. But holy shit you've got to be kidding me James Frey. You've got to be kidding me.

First off, let's address the thing about all of Frey's work. His writing sucks. His prose is atrocious. You know that rule that all beginning writers learn "show don't tell." And then yo More...

Two words:
1. Blasphemous
2. Brilliant

First of all, the writing style in this book is SO James Frey. If I hadn’t known who the author was, I would have figured it out in a page or two.

I also loved the marketing/packaging. In a bible box, with silver edged pages, and all Ben's words in red. All that was missing (and I was surprised it was) was the attached ribbon book mark.

Being a relentless Christian, this book was a like a car wreck. It made me totally sick, but I couldn’t put it down. It didn More...

All you need to know about this book to save to the time and energy to read something that tries SOOOO darned hard to be controversial and edgy:

Quote page 152: "Love and laughter and f@*king make one's life better. Worship is just the passing of time."

and surprise surprise-- the "Jesus" figure, Ben, is persecuted for spreading this new dogma. not offended at all b/c a lot of the concepts i agree with-- just so darned BORING to read versions of this same concept over and over again. i get it-- f@ More...

I know Frey in controversial. I don't care. He's a great storyteller. I've liked all his work and I think the first chapter of A Million Little Pages is one of the best first-person hooks ever. This book is pretty special. With the title he just courts controversy and the first edition I have looks like a bible: small format, tissue pages with silver edges, a (faux?) leather cover. So the actual edition sets the tone perfectly. The book itself is a really interesting story which effectively asks More...

Se dovessi credere in qualcuno inventato, in un personaggio di un romanzo che non si sa se è veramente esistito, in un essere miracoloso le cue gesta sono narrate in un libro letto da migliaia di persone, io crederei in Ben Zion, il Messia reincarnato presentato dal sempre irriverente scrittore James Frey.
Questo libro è un messaggio d'amore, è un inno alla gioia della vita, è una preghiera di liberazione dalle catene - religione, politica, apparenze, commercio - che ci tengono schiavizzati, impo More...

"There was one person. One person who understood. Who could see. Who knew. And that person would share what they had, and it'd just spread 'cause everybody touched by that person would be sharing it." - Mariaangeles

As Mother Theresa said, "Do not wait for leaders, do it alone, person to person"

This book is an interesting fiction of how a man changes all. This man, however, is white, presumably just to emphasize that he needs to be Jew to fulfil his requirement as the messiah.

The book moved from More...

James Frey is my favourite writer by quite a margin. I wanted this book to be great. Better than great - I wanted it to fill the hole that an absence of Frey novels in recent years has created.

It started so promisingly, the premise was fantastic and the method of telling the story of a modern day Messiah through the eyes of those who came into contact with him gave the narrative texture and colour. Particularly wonderfully Frey-like were the accents and individual voices that jumped out of the More...

I wanted to read this book for 2 reasons. 1, James Frey, wonderful author. No matter what Oprah says, he is gifted and writes amazing books. 2, questions religion, which more people need to do.

This book had me from the beginning. I read it in 3 days and would stay up most of the night reading. It was that good. What I liked about it was the main character, Ben Zion. He is the an unexpected Messiah, who doesn't preach brimstone and fire. He talks about LOVE. That is the main focus of the book; L More...

After reading Quo Vadis and its glowing fictional story centered on the beginning of Christianity, it seemed only appropriate to read James Frey's "The Final Testament Of The Holy Bible." In this, Frey's latest novel, the Messiah comes to one of the boroughs of NY, and it's as messy as you'd expect. The plot unfolds as a series of witness narratives, testaments as it were, although we sometimes refer to accounts like this as social histories in the style of a Studs Terkel, or even that of Max Br More...

This is the most hippy book I have read; more hippy than a beat has ever written, with the clear message that “love and laughter and fucking make one’s life better” (pag 259)
Hearing that James Frey has been sued by his readers, I couldn’t wait to read “The Final Testament of the Holy Bible”. But I had to wait three months until the only copy from the Danish Public Library became available. And, of course, I had great expectations, which only partially were fulfilled. The subject is challenging: More...

James Frey is a controversial writer, and The Last Testament of the Holy Bible is likely to be a controversial book. The premise it adopts is not a novel one – the return of the Messiah to contemporary New York – but the approach taken by Frey is characteristically provocative, and guaranteed to cause considerable offence to most sincere Christians, and to a lesser extent followers of other religions. Frey’s Messiah figure (Ben Zion) is charismatic, other worldly and identifies strongly with the More...

I bought this book from Amazon, after reading a short synopsis of it in the back pages of Grazia magazine.

I'm halfway through and I refuse to finish it.

I know how the story ends and oddly enough, this book moves me more than the actual bible. It makes me sad. It makes me think about life. And most of all, it makes me question religion. Most of the things Ben says are true- and because they're so true, it hit me so hard.

I loved the character of Mariangeles, a modern day version of Mary Magdalene More...

What a difficult book to rate!

The first 100 pages were brilliant and I couldn't put it down. I was totally sucked in from the beginning and couldn't wait to find out what happened. I loved having the story unfold through the eyes of the different characters. I found it interesting how we never once got to hear the story from the protagonist's point of view. Although it would have been nice to see things through Ben's eyes I felt that this kept the story a bit more intriguing.

By the middle of th More...

This had the potential to be an amazing book. The first half had me hooked, I couldn't put it down. I found it fast paced and gripping as it followed the story of Ben Zion who was believed to be the Messiah, and was told from the viewpoint of the different characters whose lives were touched by Ben. It was full of some really good ideas and it was clear that Frey had done a huge amount of reasearch into religions and had a good understanding of them.

However after a gripping start it quickly went More...

Yes, this did begin just as I hoped it would . It was James Frey at his very best. I couldn't put it down and I couldn't stop thinking about what was going to eventuate. Frey is the only author I've ever read who has perfected the art of turning his reader into an addict. As a reader you are instantly addicted to the waves of shock, suspense and brutal honesty. The first third of this novel was exactly that - shocking, amazingly honest and downright addictive. And then, I became furious with Fre More...

I don't usually write reviews. I am two chapters into this book because we are trying to make a decision about adding it to the library collection. The writing is good, I like the concept, and we are adding it. However, I have to say that the whole slipcase packaging and artsy price tag ($50) are irritatingly gratuitous. James Frey, please get over yourself and just publish good fiction. We don't need the gimmicks to appreciate a good story.

I'm disappointed.

I should first explain that I am a Frey fan-girl. I read A Million Little Pieces when I was a teenager and I've been hooked on his work ever since. I thought Bright Shiny Morning was amazing despite what a lot of the critics were saying, some of the characters in that novel are unforgettable. So when The Final Testament came out I ran to the bookshops and hugged and cradled my hardback copy.

My main issue with the book is its core message: the idea that religion causes division b More...

Frey is a great storyteller, and this book is no exception.

I couldn't wait for this book to come out, considering that Frey's "Bright Shiny Morning (P.S.)" is one of my very few all-time favorite books. I ordered both the $50 leather-bound book and the $10 Kindle edition because I wanted to have the story with me wherever I went; to read it whenever I wanted; to savor it whenever I needed.

Well, it didn't quite pan out that way.

My anticipation was met with a colossal disappointment at the third-rate writing (absolutely uncharacteristic of Frey's, by th More...

I'm totally torn on how to review this book. Was it interesting? Oh yes, incredibly so. There were times I wanted to give it a 3 because, frankly, all the orgy stuff was just a little too extreme to me in the context of the book itself. I wanted to wait a few days before I reviewed it to think on it and it is my perception that Mr. Frey chose extreme as his theme throughout the book on purpose. To be the extreme opposite of the religious right. Mr. Frey hits on many huge points that are cracks i More...

This book was written to be controversial and it certainly was. Basically, the book was about a man named Ben Zion Avrohom being born in the 20th century and he is Jesus Christ reborn. The story is written in different chapters each told from the viewpoint of a friend or family member of Ben, much like the New Testament. Even though Ben is the Messiah, he is not like anything people have been preaching about or expecting for 2000 years. He does drugs, he sleeps around with both men and women, he More...

I didn’t know anything about A Million Little Pieces before I read it. I didn’t know it had been marketed as a memoir rather than fiction so I totally missed the whole hype and scandal because I never thought it was anything other than fiction…fiction that I fell in love with it instantly. There’s something about his streamofconsciousness style that I just can’t get enough of, so simple, fierce yet beautiful in some way. When Bright Shiny Morning came out I was really disappointed so I didn’t k More...

Frey's latest novel is set out like biblical passages - each chapter written from the perspective of someone who has come into contact with the 21st Century second (or first) coming - Ben Zion. The rabbi's have seen the signs, but the Christians also want to claim him. He, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with organised religion, instead living with the poor and disadvantaged. The core message (love one another) hasn't changed, but the setting has.

This novel re imagines the coming of the M More...

If you are at all intruiged by the idea that another Messiah could come in 2010 ( basically present day) and how that could look - who would be his followers and how he would explain God and show love- abnd how he would come to meet his demise- this is an intersting look at Frey's fictional ideaology.

I wont get into detail except to say that if you are curious and just want to see what someone else thinks- than this is worth your time.

It will evoke emotions - perhaps only anger. You may think Fr More...

I admit to reading this with more than a bit of trepidation. I loved A Million Little Pieces , even after it was shown to be largely fiction. After the two "memoirs," I wasn't impressed with Frey's "first" novel. Add this to the fact The Final Testament of the Holy Bible is about the Messiah returning to modern New York City and you can see why I, like many others, was leery. Not only did I like it, it may well end up on my best of the year list.

When we meet Frey's central character, his name More...

James Frey is adamant on his website that his is not “a retelling of the story of Christ”. Maybe not. However, from the multi-perspectival story told from different viewpoints which mimic the three 'eyewitness' gospels to the adoptionist christology that mimics the Jesus' baptism and to a Jesus who is opposed by the religious institutions of the day.

Understandably this book is controversial to some Christians and on a couple of occasions I was uneasy but it also seems clear this is precisely wha More...

Awesome! I loved every bit of this book. Ben's "sermon" towards the end of the book about religion being the longest running fraud in history was just brilliant, it actually felt quite naughty to be reading something so blatantly blasphemous!
I have read that some people found the end a bit repetitive and yes there was a few pages where certain phrases were repeated but that's just Frey's style and I think it added to the novel. You either love his writing or you don't, and I'm certainly firmly More...