Nazareth, North Dakota

I suspected an allegorical tale, but instead got the actual tale of Jesus, as if he had been born in the 1980's. Sure, his name is Sam, but in reality, his could be the Messiah. So why did I like this book so much, given the obviousness of the plot: The writing is beautiful, and the story of Jesus is only the scaffolding that holds this tale up (granted, the scaffolding is showing, and that bothered me a bit). These are fully realized characters who just happen to be based on(or incarnations of) Biblical characters from the Gospels. Given the elephant is an eastern symbol, I suspect there's some play here on rebirth. I guess I'll have to wait for the sequel to find out.