The Book of Sorrows

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.Read Dun Cow and then no more. Forget this book exists. It will spoil all the good you read in the Dun Cow. It will taint everything, it will make everything ugly. This is what it did to me.People are not wicked. People are good. People are kind. People are gentle and loving. Goodness is what makes us human. The inborn will to be good and kind to each other, to protect, to defend, to help, to support, to comfort, to love each other, this is what has made human species so successful. Anyone, anything, any thing, that tells differently, is wrong. Wicked. Twisted and tainted. Remember that authors write books. Even when we like to say things like “the story tells itself”, “the characters will do what they do, even if you wanted them to do differently”. No. The author tells the story. The author creates the characters. The author is 100% responsible for what happens in the books. The author is the god of his creation and his story. Walter Wangerin jr. chose to make Chauntecleer question himself and feel guilt. Chauntecleer from the first book wouldn't have done that. The singlemindedness and security was what made Chauntecleer Chauntecleer. Walter Wangerin jr. made Chauntecleer refuse the Cow.Walter Wangerin jr. chose to make John Wesley do what he did and bring Wyrm to the world. Walter Wangerin jr. killed everyone who died in this book. He put all the misery and suffering on the animals. He is alone responsible for that. And I don't condone animal abuse, even when the animals are fictional and the abuse is imaginary and the suffering and misery doesn't “really” exist. That this is an allegory doesn't make it any better. No.This is a wicked, wicked book, and shouldn't exist.I read it because I loved the first book. I was so excited and happy to find a sequel. I thought it was about how they rescued Mundo Cani the Dog, and how all the things that went wrong would be corrected and everything would end happily and gloriously. Love and life would conquer and the rooster would be stronger than ever.I borrowed it to my sister who also loved the first book, before I had had time to read it, and she read it. Her experience was so horrid that I forced myself to read this. And I cried. It was so cruel, cruel and wicked and didn't offer me any comfort. I am not Christian. I don't find any solace in the Christian “ora et labora”, “suffer, suffer, the crown will be brighter” and the “oh, he was so cruel but she just loved him and forgave and so saved his soul” crap I have met in so many Christian books. The only book where that message is delivered in a meaningful way I have read is [b:Wonderful Fool 25206 Wonderful Fool Shūsaku Endō https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1167621695l/25206.SX50.jpg 25954]