(3 / 5) – It’s Okay
A title will often speak to me and particularly titles recommended by a friend and nothing will speak to this preacher’s heart more quickly than a title with biblical language. So, when my colleague suggested I read, “Let There Be Light: The Real Story of Her Creation” by Liana Finck, it was an inevitable read.
Finck takes much of Genesis and offers the stories of creation, family dramas, intrigue and heartbreak through a new form and perspective. She breaks the stories from creation through Joseph and divides them into three sections: Past, Present and Future. Each section offers the reader a fresh perspective on these well known (mostly) stories from the Pentateuch which three of the major world religions share.
I loved Finck’s characterization of God and her work to create and be in relationship with that creation. It felt honest and authentic to the original texts, drawing out God’s shifts, changes and extreme emotions in some cases as well. Finck doesn’t shy away from, but leans into the more bizarre and perplexing stories from Genesis, such as Cain and Abel, Noah’s sons, Nimrod and others. I appreciate Finck’s courage to take on these stories and share them in a unique form.
I did not enjoy the form as much as I thought I would. Finck’s illustrations in this graphic novel, though beautiful, are simply not to my taste and her interpretation for the stories in the Present and Future sections left me perplexed. Though this form was not something I fully enjoyed, I am glad to have read this graphic novel and seen such care in the characterization of feminization of God. I am a firm believer that to have a fuller understanding of God, we have to allow her/him/they to present in a variety of forms. For this reason I recommend the book to both the faithful and those who do not ascribe to any faith.
Happy Reading!
Hannah
