Has the Book of Mormon joined the literary canon?

[_Trevor]

Trev, if you're not aware, the Penguin edition has 152 reviews at Amazon.

Rumor has it that all of the positive ones were written by LOaP.

By the way, thanks Ray!

[Guest]

Here is a classic review, worthy of a classic of frontier American literature:

1. And it came to pass that I, TANSTAAFL, having been born of Mormon parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; which included the Book of Mormon, and having seen many afflictions and cognitive dissonance in the course of my days because of the fact that I was raised in the Mormon religion and having read the Book of Mormon nigh unto twenty times, nevertheless, yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mischievousness of Loki, therefore I make a book review of the Book of Moron.

2. Yea, I make a record of my review in the language of English, and not Reformed Egyptian - the language of the Book of Mormon, because everyone knoweth that no one speaks Reformed Egyptian anyway. Behold, I make an abridgment of the review upon computer which I have made with mine own hands; (the review, not the computer) wherefore, after I have abridged the review then will I make an account of mine own review and if thou findest this sentence difficult for your understandings to comprehend then thou wilt not enjoy reading the Book of Mormon, for I make the record of my review in the idiom of the Book of Mormon author. Yea, verily, it came to pass that exceedingly more confusing than Yoda-speak it is.

3. And it came to pass that thus were written the first two paragraphs of my review. And I know that the review which I write true; and I make it with mine own computer; and I make it according to my knowledge. And thus passeth away even the third paragraph also.

4. And it came to pass that my review having been limited to 1000 words by the amazon.com web-site, I realized that my choice of writing style, that being the style inflicted upon the reader by Joseph Smith Jr., Author and Proprietor of the Book of Mormon, was not a good choice for one limited to a small number of words, or for that matter an odd choice for the inhabitants of the ancient Americas who supposedly had to inscribe the lengthy and frequently rambling and meaningless prose on gold plates where space was at a premium.

5. And it came to pass that this part of the review, yea even the middlest part, I shall shew unto you the parts of the review that review the book of which I revieweth. And it came to pass that I chose not to detail in this review the thousands of revisions which the Mormons made to the book after Joseph Smith wrote it, which was supposedly perfectly "translated" by a gift from god, or the many anachronisms which the author included, yea not even the horses that the ancient Americans supposedly had despite the fact that the horse arrived with Columbus nor the steel weapons. Nor even shall I comment upon 54 chapters dealing with wars that bear no resemblance to the actual wars that took place in the ancient Americas, yea and I especially shall not comment upon the accounts of wars with nonsensical accounts of million man armies fighting to the last man and their bones and steel weapons disappearing from the face of the earth. Yea, and it followeth that I also chose not to comment on the many plagiarisms and yea, even plagiarisms of mistranslations, which were included in the book. Yea, verily I chose not to comment on the writing or the story of the book, which Mark Twain called "chloroform in print," especially since I find that remark exceedingly disparaging to chloroform. For it came to pass in the commencement of my preparation for the writing of the review, I realized that a review of the book which pointed out its flaws would be so long, yea, so long as to be longer than the book itself. Yea, and thus passeth away even the middlest part of the review, the exceedingly longest paragraph, even though it merely toucheth upon the thousands of give-aways as to the fraudulent nature of the book. For yea, this review cannot contain even a millionth part of what was so exceedingly poorly written in the Book of Mormon.

6. And it came to pass that I decided that my review of the book should mention, before concluding, a list of some of the main themes of the Book of Mormon, and yea I verily mention them thusly: (1) Killing is good, if thou art a teenager and thou hearest voices in thine head telling thee to kill someone, preferably someone drunk so they cannot fight back. 1 Nephi 4 (2) If thou disobeyest God, he will curse thee with a dark skin, 3 Nephi 5:21, Jacob 3:5, Alma 3:6, but (3) If thou art a personage of dark skin, God will make thee white and delightsome, if thou wilt consent to join his church. 3 Nephi 3:15 (4) After Jesus, yea even Christ Our Lord, was killed, he camest to the Americas and killed millions of Native Americans, 3 Nephi 8-9, and (5) Women art completely insignificant except occasionally as breeding stock, passim.

7. And there are many things more which transpired in the Book of Mormon which, in the eyes of some, would be considered great and marvelous, but despite having read the book upwards of twenty times, I cannot remember even one. For there are some who say "it stinketh not," but as for me it doth stink, exceedingly.

8. Thus, I make an end to my abridgement of my review, yea, and now I bid unto all, adieu. I soon go to rest in the paradise of mine abode, until my spirit and body shall again recover from the taxing effort of writing in such an exceedingly nauseating style. Amen.

Is this you, Scratch?

[_Ray A]

Rumor has it that all of the positive ones were written by LOaP.

I confirm the rumour. With only 11,813 posts on MAD since January 2007, he has lots of time to kill.

[_Brackite]

I Voted Yes Here.

[_Trevor]

This one has a certain bcspace or Droopy feel to it:

This book has nothing to do with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints...known to the unindoctrinated as "the Mormon Church", but rather this book comes from the Re-organised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an offshoot of the the true Church of Jesus Christ. This edition has many things which were not translated by Joseph Smith, and are not in accordance with the teachings of the LDS church, and are therefore false doctrines meant to confuse those who don't know any better. One further note...the real Book of Mormon is free to all for the asking, as are all of the truths of our Heavenly Father.

[_Trevor]

I confirm the rumour. With only 11,813 posts on MAD since January 2007, he has lots of time to kill.

And here Mike Ash has come out with his second book! You would think LOaP, having ideas far superior to those of MAsh, would put down the Amazon reviews and write a new American classic already!

[_Trevor]

I Voted Yes Here.

And your reasons....?

[_harmony]

Women art completely insignificant except occasionally as breeding stock, passim.

Holy Sheep Shorts, Batman! Joseph has been reborn.

[_cinepro]

One further note...the real Book of Mormon is free to all for the asking, as are all of the truths of our Heavenly Father.

I hope no one ever tells the reviewer that the Church sold the Book of Mormon to potential converts until relatively recently.

[_Ray A]

And here Mike Ash has come out with his second book! You would think LOaP, having ideas far superior to those of MAsh, would put down the Amazon reviews and write a new American classic already!

Mike Ash will have the same effect that lifeboats did on the Titanic.