Review of Killing Abel

[Ishita Pal 1]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Killing Abel" by Michael Tieman.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Killing Abel by M. Tieman is a historical religious fiction through which the author tried to connect the dots in the time of the creation of mankind. The background of the novel was taken from the first few episodes of Genesis in the Holy Bible. The story starts with the creation of the human race with Adam and Eve by their beloved father, ‘God’, and ends with the well-known story of Noah and the ark. In between these, readers are taken through the struggles and achievements of Adam and Eve’s life, how they cope to raise their offspring and how they grow up as parents. Moreover, we see the emotional turmoil of each and every character in this story, and changes in their interpersonal bonding, especially between the two brothers, Cain and Abel, both of them represent quite a contrasting nature of human personality. One has to read this slow-paced novel to the end to know how Crain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve, is drifting away from his familial values and consciences, ultimately bringing misfortune upon mankind and overturning all that was destined to be noble and contained with love from the God. We get many imaginary although logical answers to many unanswered questions when traveling in this time machine created by M. Tieman.

It is true that people, having a religious background can enjoy this book fully, although, one who has not, still can appreciate this novel as it has an overwhelming charisma concealed under mystery and fiction. This is indeed a fascinating work, rich in art and history where the author devours his imagination of what may have happened in the timeline gaps during our creation and how did all the events transpire. Quite interestingly, the author has precisely mentioned the references to the Bible and to the Jewish scripture which reflects his well-thought research on these things. Beyond its historical religious part, this novel delivers the vital message of taking responsibility and supporting the family in each step. The text uniquely reveals humans' unfortunate tendency to pass responsibility to other men which has been happening from the beginning of creation. But we are sensible species and we have to be responsible for the post-effects of our actions.

The language is pretty simple, and effortless and the story flow is rational. Through such an innovative writing, the author highlights all of our basic emotions, their formation and growth, and every little detail of the human mindset and feelings. What I adore most is the prayer that the author delivers at the end of the book as a 'postscript' and he was open to any kind of modifications. I would give a 4 out of 4 stars rating because I enjoyed reading this book thoroughly and it has almost no flaws in editing.

Though the book title is enigmatic, on the contrary, this book conveys more than just the murder of Abel. On the negative side, this book contains some content about incestry, violence, and fratricide. Also, in a few places, I think the language told by the characters is quite modern and this is sometimes confusing with respect to the time period.

I would recommend this novel majorly to the Christian community and also to those who love reading about religious history and history-based fiction.

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Killing Abel
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