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God Knows

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 1,617 ratings · 101 reviews

Joseph Heller's powerful, wonderfully funny, deeply moving novel is the story of David -- yes, King David -- but as you've never seen him before. You already know David as the legendary warrior king of Israel, husband of Bathsheba, and father of Solomon; now meet David as he really was: the cocky Jewish kid, the plagiarized poet, and the Jewish father. Listen as David tell...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published November 12th 1997 by Simon & Schuster (first published 1984)

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Feb 14, 2013 Smcleish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in May 2004.

Even for the most dedicated Heller fan, and the impact of Catch-22 created vast numbers of them, his second and third novels are frequently heavy going. But then eventually (over twenty years into his career, for he was never a particularly prolific novelist) came God Knows - immediately accessible, hilariously funny and wickedly subversive.

The idea behind God Knows is simple. David, King of Israel, author of the psalms, recounts his life while on...more Originally published on my blog here in May 2004.

Even for the most dedicated Heller fan, and the impact of Catch-22 created vast numbers of them, his second and third novels are frequently heavy going. But then eventually (over twenty years into his career, for he was never a particularly prolific novelist) came God Knows - immediately accessible, hilariously funny and wickedly subversive.

The idea behind God Knows is simple. David, King of Israel, author of the psalms, recounts his life while on his deathbed, in the voice of a twentieth century American Jewish patriarch. To work, this has to be done extremely well, as is it no easy thing to write a narration that convincingly comes across as being from the mind of a man recognised as one of the greatest poets in history.

Apart from the difficulty in matching up to his literary merit, David is an excellent choice for this type of novel. He has quite a lot of space devoted to him in the Bible, which records many fascinating events in his life but which also leaves room for Heller to expand on the characterisation of him and those around him (Heller's portrayal of Solomon is particularly amusing). The picture painted of him is neither black nor white in 2 Samuel in particular is neither black nor white morally, making him a more interesting subject for a novel than (say) the prophet Daniel. And there is his importance as an influence on history and an icon for Jewish culture - it is no accident that the star of David was made the symbol of the Zionist movement and now appears on the flag of the state of Israel. (As he asks out at one point, "Does Moses have a star?".)

A lot of the humour in God Knows stems from the use of anachronism in a way that reminds me of Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon. An example of the type of joke used is when David tells his generals to "send a wire", only to be reminded that telegrams haven't been invented yet (the joke being not only that they don't exist, but also that every one knows what they are). This kind of humour is one which quickly becomes wearing, so it's good that Heller doesn't use it to excess; it would have been easy to put jokes along these lines into every paragraph, and that would have killed the novel stone dead. He also makes most of its uses more subtle than the example I've given. Much more pervasive is the use of anachronism in a more indirect form, as Heller gives characters stereotypical Jewish roles from twentieth century America; this also introduces an element of satire.

David's life inclded a fair amount of personal unhappiness, so God Knows is not a sunny novel, even if the humour in it is not as bleak as that in Heller's earlier novels. It is part of the Jewish father stereotype to complain about his children, but David really had a lot of grief from his - the death of Bathsheba's first child, slain by God as punishment for David's sin in sleeping with another man's wife and sending her husband to his death; the rape of his daughter Tamar by his son Amnon; the rebellion of his son Absalom. (And Heller adds the stupidity and humourlessness of his son Solomon - "Schlomo, that schmuck".) However, to Heller, David's relationship with God was the most significant in his life, and though he makes David make light of it, it is clear that the character regrets the withdrawal of God's voice of guidance more than anything else (this was another consequence of his adultery with Bathsheba).

From a literary point of view, God Knows is one of the least significant of Heller's novels. On the other hand, it is among his most accessible and enjoyable - and it will make you laugh out loud.(less)

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Apr 05, 2010 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sort of a madcap version of King David's story, told in the first person, of course including more vivid descriptions of some of the bawdier details than the Bible does. Heller doesn't sacrifice the real account at the expense of entertainment though, so I came away really being amazed by David's story told again, and reminded of many details I had forgotten. I was impressed by his steadfastness in the face of serious hardship and adversity and his faithfulness to God, even though there is plent...more

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Mar 11, 2010 Ben Richmond rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is my second draft of my review of this book. In my first, I began by comparing God Knows to Heller's masterpiece Catch 22. This I realize is unfair, of course, and not really taking God Knows on its own terms, so consider that review stricken from the record. It isn't Catch 22. There enough said.

Here's the gist, one of King David's laments:

"I know if I were God and possessed His powers, I would sooner obliterate the world I created than allow any child of mine to be killed in it, for any

...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Scott Rhee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Joseph Heller's novel "God Knows", the Jewish protagonist is an old man named David, looking back with bittersweet fondness but mostly regret at his turbulent life: numerous marriages, ungrateful children, constant battling with in-laws and relatives, and a God that seems to have either forgotten or forsaken him. It may help to know that the David in the novel is King David, of the biblical account, kvetching on his death bed about what a mess his life has become but mostly because he can't g...more

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Jul 02, 2010 Logan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, god-is-god, not-owned

Having been a huge fan of Catch-22, I had been curious to read more of Heller's work for a long time. Something Happened, his follow-up to Catch-22, is the book that I had heard the most about- mainly that it was a challenging read that left many of his fans reeling and wondering whether he had lost his knack for finely honed satire. I had never even heard of God Knows until it was placed in my hands last week with the recommendation that it was "like Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's ...more Having been a huge fan of Catch-22, I had been curious to read more of Heller's work for a long time. Something Happened, his follow-up to Catch-22, is the book that I had heard the most about- mainly that it was a challenging read that left many of his fans reeling and wondering whether he had lost his knack for finely honed satire. I had never even heard of God Knows until it was placed in my hands last week with the recommendation that it was "like Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal for the Old Testament set."

I guess that is an apt description as far as the content is concerned. The tale consists of the late life reminiscences of King David, the mighty slayer of Goliath, as he reflects upon his successes and (far more) failures and tries to decide which of his two remaining sons, Solomon or Adonijah, to pass the throne of Israel to upon his death. Where it differs from Moore's classic biblical farce, however, is that it's just not funny. Period. There are moments where I admit that I tittered, but for the most part it was just an old man grousing about all the fine tail he used to get back in the day, ruing his impotence, and trying to take credit for writing Hamlet and inventing microwave ovens (anachronisms run rife throughout the pages of this book). If you like your curmudgeons with little-to-no redeeming qualities, then you may enjoy God Knows far more than I ended up doing.

Still, I actually finished this book, which is a mark of accomplishment when considering just how little patience I've had for trying books this year. For all of its faults, and trust me when I say there are many, I was still drawn into the story. It's been a long time since I have read the Bible and I've made no secret of the fact that I just don't care about religion, but I enjoyed the refresher course. I didn't realize that Aldous Huxley's book Eyeless in Gaza was a reference to Samson's death, or that Tommie Lee Jones Iraq War film, In The Valley of Elah, was a reference to the valley in which David fought Goliath. Regardless, when the only good thing I can say about a book is that it helped me flesh out my understanding of cultural referents, chances are the book wasn't worth the time I spent on it.(less)

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Sep 21, 2010 Marvin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

A curious novel, cast as a rambling memoir by a dying King David. Bawdy & violent, as, indeed, David's story is, it's remarkably faithful to the biblical text (except for the casting of Solomon as a fool), with much of the dialogue actually quoted directly from the King James Bible but juxtaposed with invented dialogue & narrative worthy of a Tom Robbins novel and with intentionally ridiculous anachronisms. For example, after trying to seduce Bathsheba with language from the Song of Solo...more

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Jan 29, 2008 julie rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who have semi-knowledge/interest of the old testament and can overlook the blasphemy as humor

Shelves: back-on-the-shelf

I am naturally interested in the Old Testament and especially King David (I think he's one of the most screwed up yet passionate figures in the Bible)... but his angst-driven hoopla and paranoia annoyed me after the first 300 pages or so.

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Oct 26, 2011 1.1 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another fine novel from Joseph Heller, which was all I wanted or expected from this title. For the first fifty pages or so I was getting intense Something Happened vibes, but that faded and I enjoyed the work thoroughly in its own right.

It has many of the themes you'd expect, the type of wild and sometimes maudlin humor that seems so right and that Heller exceeds at executing. While I didn't enjoy this as much as, say, Catch 22, this book left me with no critical points. It was well written and...more

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Jul 26, 2011 John Harder added it · review of another edition

Joseph Heller has caused me grave disappointment. This novel in no way measures up to he other works such as Catch-22 or Something Happened. King David speaks in the first person throughout the novel, narrating his troubled relationship with God, Bathsheba, Samuel, Saul and his children (Absalom and Solomon).

The novel starts off in a very interesting manner. Heller provides his irony and satire in heaps as he gives an irreverent wink to the debauches and dissembling of King David.

The bad part is...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Ensiform rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

The story of King David, portrayed as a wunderkind whose time has passed, who has lost his God; Solomon is a moron, Bathsheba a schemer. It was funny and touching. It mixed Biblical speech with modern slang to humorous effect. David's references to many things modern, although "now" in the book is when he is seventy and this it's still Biblical era, did throw me a bit. What I liked best was how human the characters were, how Heller took apparent discrepancies in Scripture and made them into symb...more

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Mar 22, 2010 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is really quite sad. It's an "autobiography" of King David, "written" during his last days when he was essentially confined to a bed.

The basic plot is Bathsheba is trying to convince David to name Solomon his heir. David doesn't want to do this because he thinks Solomon is a dunce. Interwoven in these conversations are David's remembrances of his life.

David's pretty depressed. He misses Absalom. He misses Bathsheba's love. He thinks Solomon is a fool. And he is really mad at God and w...more

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Oct 24, 2007 Chad rated it 5 of 5 stars

Best laugh ever. King David's autobiography. Must read about one-quarter of the Old Testament first to truly appreciate Heller's genuis.

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May 30, 2009 Greg Diamond rated it 3 of 5 stars

Having created two classic Jewish male characters who weren't -- Catch-22's Armenian/Assyrian John Yossarian and Something Happened's uncircumcized-because-that-will-throw-you-off Robert Slocum -- and a much less classic Jewish male character in Good as Gold Bruce Gold, Heller decides to take on the biggest Jewish Enchilada of them all (so to speak): King David. He reduces the King to a lesser figure than any previous protagonist: a whiny old Jewish man, part-Catskills comic and part-Catskills v...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Pat Anderson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Reading this book is like trying to walk through a lake of treacle. Readers of Heller's other books will notice that the density of his prose gets worse with each novel, reaching its nadir in this work. The story of King David has a few chuckles in it but nothing really rib-cracking. I got bored half-way through and put it aside, only coming back to it a week later since I felt duty-bound to give it a chance and it was due back at the library in a few days. The rest of the book was no better. I...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Gary Patella rated it 3 of 5 stars

I laughed at the humor, but suffered through the tedious parts. It has the type of tedious descriptions that serve only to cause suffering, without adding any actual enhancement to the work.

The story is of King David, from the Old Testament, who is old and laying in his deathbed. There is a lot of poking fun at religion, and the humor is quite unique. But there are other moments when the story just drags on and gets extremely boring (not unlike the Bible).

If you like Heller, then you probably sh...more

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Mar 14, 2012 MajinFox rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: wstawione

OPINIA Z 25 KWIETNIA 2008

Starotestamentowy Dawid, pogromca Goliata, odlicza godziny do zakończenia swego żywota, podczas trwającego w państwie chaosu: samowolną koronację na króla Adoniasza. Mając wiele czasu do namysłu, może wybrać czy poprzeć hulakę Adoniasza, czy niedołężnego Salomona, przy okazji wspominając całe swe dzieje,... dzieje opisane w hellerowski sposób. Czyli nie zabraknie świnskich tekstów w stylu "ciągniecie druta" przez Batszewę, narzekania na nadmierną ilość napletka na rzeźbi...more OPINIA Z 25 KWIETNIA 2008

Starotestamentowy Dawid, pogromca Goliata, odlicza godziny do zakończenia swego żywota, podczas trwającego w państwie chaosu: samowolną koronację na króla Adoniasza. Mając wiele czasu do namysłu, może wybrać czy poprzeć hulakę Adoniasza, czy niedołężnego Salomona, przy okazji wspominając całe swe dzieje,... dzieje opisane w hellerowski sposób. Czyli nie zabraknie świnskich tekstów w stylu "ciągniecie druta" przez Batszewę, narzekania na nadmierną ilość napletka na rzeźbie Dawida oraz opowieści w stylu: "gdy zobaczyłem gołą Batszewę chciałem wykonywać do niej świnskie telefony'.

Świetnie wyszło nawiązywanie starotestamentowej opowieści do dzisiejszych czasów, gdzie narratorem jest Dawid i pomimo jego zbliżającej się śmierci, wie ile miejsca w Biblii poświęcono Jezusowi. Który zamierza podbić Francję i Polskę (no chyba że jeszcze ich tam nie ma). Sprośne teksty, wyśmiewanie się z biblijnych postaci, obrażanie się na Boga za śmierć dziecka. Dawid każdy temat potrafi pociągnąć i spojrzeć na wszystko sędziwym wzrokiem, wyciągnąć wnioski, które być może uratują naród Izraela.

Jeżeli komuś podobał się humor w "Paragrafie 22", tutaj też powinien być zadowolony. Osobiście uważam, że powinno się wcześniej zaznajomić z historią Dawida z Biblii, by wyłapać wszystkie dowcipy. Chociaż przydaloby się wiedzieć nieco więcej niż walkę z Goliatem, to nie jest to konieczne. Po tej książce stwierdzam, że Heller ma bardzo dziwne poczucie humoru, które mi bardzo odpowiada.

Przy okazji, mój znajomy, jak się dowiedział o czym jest ta książka, tak sie zbulwersował, że zaczął czytać Biblię tylko po to, by przeciwstawiać się moim opowieściom. Niestety, niektórzy wolą tekturowego Dawida ze Starego Testamentu, ja pozostanę przy Dawidzie - Hellera, bliższemu nam, ludziom.

OPINIA Z 11 LISTOPADA 2010

Moja miłośc do Hellera spowodowana jest jedną książką - "Paragrafem 22". I wszystkie moje pozytywne opinie pozostałych jego dzieł, są wynikiem uwielbienia jego debiutu. Zdaję sobie również sprawę z tego, że być może za dużo Hellera było w 2008 roku. I to jeden po drugim! Po tym błędzie nauczyłem się inaczej podchodzić do serii jednego autora. Między jednym, a drugim tytułem robię sobie średnio dwie książki tak zwanej "przerwy". Właśnie z tego powodu od dwóch lat czytam 14 tomów Fleminga w takim tempie.

Przesyt to jedno, ale druga sprawa to sam Heller. Na swoje nieszczęście "Paragraf 22", nie dość, że jest arcydziełem, to jest również jego pierwszą książką. I żadna inna nie mogła się już równać z mistrzem. I to wcale nie oznacza, że "Bóg wie" jest złym tytułem. Ci co polubili hellerowski sposób pisania odnajdą się w tej powieści. Mi się bardzo podobała, ale czułem pewien niedosyt po "Paragrafie 22".

http://majinfox.blogspot.com/(less)

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Oct 09, 2010 Jamie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: probably someone who already knows Abiathar from Abishag and Adonijah

Shelves: favorites

I was the kid in Sunday school the poor teachers must’ve hated: peeking behind the curtain, pulling the strings on our tidy little Bible lessons to go wide-eyed and watch the real, wild Bible go up in flames. Well, I guess it’s a habit I never outgrew. So there you have me, ever the rebel kid still, relishing the secret that behind all those prettily bow-tied morals are wild kings and bloodbaths and blasphemous sacrilege that no one’s paying any mind.

And here you have Joseph Heller. Since Catch...more I was the kid in Sunday school the poor teachers must’ve hated: peeking behind the curtain, pulling the strings on our tidy little Bible lessons to go wide-eyed and watch the real, wild Bible go up in flames. Well, I guess it’s a habit I never outgrew. So there you have me, ever the rebel kid still, relishing the secret that behind all those prettily bow-tied morals are wild kings and bloodbaths and blasphemous sacrilege that no one’s paying any mind.

And here you have Joseph Heller. Since Catch-22 I’ve never wanted to read another of his novels, as one of the two highest compliments possible. I definitely didn’t want to read the sequel to Yossarian in Closing Time (how could I, when the first is so perfect?), and wouldn’t the others just be shadows of that beloved one too? Like that favorite song on an album where the rest can never live up. All because I had no idea Heller took on King David. As soon as I saw this book on the library shelf I jumped on the premise as ecstatic as Joab on that fifth rib.

Ohh-h, did I love this book. Through and through, wrestling Catch-22 like Samson with a hand tied behind his back. The old Sunday-school feeling of getting deep over my head in trouble, of “Oh-h I am gonna get it for this,” only made the pleasure that much sweeter. I don’t think there’s much middle ground for it, either. I think you have to love it or you have to hate it with a fiery, book-burning passion.

Which should be just as much fun.

Leave it to Heller to read the same Bible I have. The Bible that isn’t tidy, that doesn’t make sense, that isn’t abstract saints in stained glass. It’s full of people who are complex and tainted and do belligerent and insensible things. They royally screw up and get royally screwed. And I can’t help but think, this is the David those old stories are trying to tell. Not the serene shepherd, the psalmist, the stalwart king. No: the scrappy, stubborn, cocky, off his rocker, wild, maddening, bitter, beloved kid, utterly sincere and utterly full of shit, heels over head for Bathsheba, burning the kingdom down in flames. The chosen king of this nonsensical God, a god of cryptic riddles, burning bushes and incomprehensible demands. We’re the ones that tried to tame it into sainthood, doing the story in all of its human absurdity the injustice.

Heller’s just someone putting a little flesh and blood back onto the bones: deftly, hilariously, reverently irreverent, with that turn of the knife in your heart all along.

I’m just the one over here, loving every word of it.
(less)

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Jan 05, 2008 Ravi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those who can see humor in the absurd.

I really enjoyed this book, laughed my way through it, and also learned a bit about King David's life that I never knew. Of course, I know this is fiction, seeing King David's life through his own eyes, but if you're like me and was only familiar with the David vs. Goliath story, then you might enjoy at least his own take on the great event.

This was my first Joseph Heller book (I know - gasp!), and it is because of this book that I went on to Catch-22. Heller's ability to take somewhat familiar...more

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Jul 09, 2007 Itai Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who is interested in Religion, from any aspect of it.

I've resisted reading Catch-22 for years. To be honest, I still haven't read it. I even eschewed using the term. Probably because the book sat on my mother's dresser for nearly 10 years and I kept trying to read it between the ages of 10 and 14 and never got past the 1st paragraph.

A friend of mine gave me "God Knows" saying, "I'm giving you this because I hated it and I know you'll love it." And I do, not only because it features my name (I haven't reached that part yet, but was shown it by my f...more

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Jul 04, 2009 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Laugh-out-loud at times, this irreverent take on the life of David is thought-provoking, distinctive, and, unfortunately, fairly tedious. Heller employs the same storytelling technique he used in Catch-22, introducing stories and referencing them several times before actually laying them out in full. I thought this approach was quite effective in Catch-22, a good example of technique enforcing theme. Here, however, the repetition as you get closer and closer to the whole story is tiresome. I thi...more

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Mar 27, 2009 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007

At first this book really seemed offensive, but by the end, I believe that it just paints King David as a human being. O fcourse Heller deliberately makes things sounds as offensive as possible, but if you can make it through the whole thing, you can see that David wrestles with feelings about himself, his family and his relationshoip with God that everyone probably wrestles with. It still isn't that great of a book. It pales in comparison to Catch-22.

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Jan 09, 2010 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book is pretty much the sum of its parts: it’s the story of David, told in Joseph Heller’s style. You have to be willing to put up with a dense text that takes a long time to say very little, but it definitely has its moments. Heller does a really good job of humanizing such a famous character, essentially making him a genuinely sympathetic figure by highlighting how unsympathetic he is. After all his cantankerousness, caprice, and unjustifiable meanness, his last line manages to frame the...more

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May 31, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am so relieved to be done with this book. I didn't enjoy it very much - there were a few funny snippets here and there but for the most part I felt like I was force-feeding myself monotonous Heller prose. The book is the story of King David, slayer of Goliath, King of Israel, father of Solomon, husband of Bathsheba, etc. Heller attempts to modernize the story by adding some fiction into David's story. It just didn't really gel very well for me. This was one of those books that I found myself n...more

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May 18, 2009 Rena Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this when it first came out and loved it. It's full of his usual, crazy mixed up characters and situations that seem impossibly real. Every time something goes wrong and the ending is unbelievable, the main character says,"Go figure."

It's kind of become an anthem I've used to cope with paradoxes, especially the ones that are hopelessly irreversible.

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Dec 03, 2012 Philip rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, religious-inspirational

Very, very funny book as I remember it -- but no one else seems to have ever heard of it, and it's pretty difficult to find anywhere. Was it really that politically incorrect that it's more or less disappeared? This really should have gotten a wider readership than it apparently did, as I don't recall it being religiously offensive at all.

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Jun 07, 2012 John L Evans rated it 2 of 5 stars

From a rare five stars for Catch-22 to a two for this book and I am being generous. I liked Catch-22 so much and was delighted to see another book by Heller that I splurged on a hard bound. There are a few spots where Heller's special form of wit shine through an otherwise boring story. I don't think I even finished the book.

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Feb 11, 2012 Fred Gorrell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-adult

This book was a must-read of the year. Anyone wanting a crash course in wit, irony, sarcasm, and satire can find it here. At the time, it was racy to make light in fiction of Biblical personages. We were not yet on today's 24/7 cable news cycle, so I'm not sure if there were press releases from Virginia condemning the book.

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Dec 01, 2012 Peter King rated it 5 of 5 stars

Making the Bible fall-off-your-chair funny takes imagination, timing and a gift for the absurd in refrains not immediately suggested by the source material. Making Solomon "schlo-mo" is a brilliant, and Bathsheba's cheerful sexual manipulation is masterful. Heller demonstrates a deep understanding of the story which he updates to modern concerns (sometimes quite literally) with a healthy dose of foul-mouthed real politick. It's a triumph.

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Oct 01, 2010 Eric Moreno rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 27, 2012 Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: snark

I like it a lot better than Catch-22, but I have a soft spot for underdogs. Catch-22 deserves its renown, to be sure, but God Knows is underappreciated brilliance

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About Joseph Heller

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Joseph Heller was the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia. Even as a child, he loved to write; at the age of eleven, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland. He sent it to New York Daily News, which rejected it. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next ye...more

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Quotes from God Knows

“But how can one be warm alone?” — 16 people liked it

“That's another thing that pisses me off about that Michelangelo statue of me in Florence. He's got me standing there uncircumcised! Who the fuck did he think I was?” — 9 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10711.God_Knows?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347503518l/10711.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10711.God_Knows?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]God Knows by Joseph Heller[/url]

God Knows

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