The Origin of the Brunists

Robert Coover

The illusion of having solved the Great Mystery, simply because the parts seemed to fit.

I do not recommend this book, especially if you are Christian. I have read no more condemning, no more insidious criticism of faith than this book. Perhaps I have taken it wrong, perhaps I am too personally interested, but Coover's The Origin of The Brunists seemed to scream mockery of Christianity at almost every turn.
It is the story of the founding of a small cult and its various lunacies as it destroys the village it was based in. There is little in The Origin of the Brunists that will make you smile, particularly because Coover is a good writer. He depicts perversion and insanity with such guile, you will see yourself in some of the most revolting characters.
The Origin of the Brunists is a great ode to circumstance, a triumph of coincidence and the determinism of a life doomed by spinning atoms ten billion years ago. Humans are little more than mindless units of matter spinning about without much reason at all, driven by what most would consider vile or animal lusts and going just about nowhere.
I read The Origin of the Brunists because Coover plays havoc with traditional form and narrative structure. He does wonderful things along this line, producing fresh forms without being confusing.