On the Road with the Archangel
Buechner's novelization of the Apocrypha's story of Tobit and the Archangel Raphael maintains the biblical and folkloric elements of his source material. Staying close to the original tale of the blind Jew in eighth-century B.C. Nineveh, Buechner covers the struggles of a particular family in the Diaspora: Tobit (whose good deeds include burying those killed by the Assyrian king); his wife, Anna; their son, Tobias; and his wife-to-be, Sarah, whose first seven grooms were murdered on their wedding night by a demon. The Archangel Raphael intervenes on their behalf in the guise of a relative, Azarias, after both Tobit and Sarah pray for death to relieve them of their suffering. Biblical fiction is not an easy genre, but this work succeeds within its narrow scope. It should be appreciated by those who enjoyed Buechner's similar earlier efforts, including The Son of Laughter (LJ 4/15/93).?Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.