Reviews

The Book of Genesis by Anonymous

rachelmcg2004's review against another edition

5.0

And so, we've come to the end of the beginning of the Bible! :)

5 stars (of course ;D) for an engaging and educational read, and an even deeper insight into the book of the Beginning of it All.

kindlereads's review against another edition

3.0

All in all it wasn't too bad. It was crazy, unintentionally funny, and nice to hear the original story that I sort of knew. Sometimes there was information that seemed pointless that was detailed in the extreme and other times little information about an important point in the plot.

Parts that were good: The Joseph's story in Egypt (best story has the most detail and plot), Abraham and Sarah (they were half siblings and married, LOL), God decides all the boys needing to be circumcised (so like 13 year-olds and 90 year-olds get to be circumcised), Sarah/Hagar/Abraham (jealously, betrayal, and Hagar and her kid get kicked out of the family)

Parts that weren't so good: Adam in Eden (not enough detail), Cain kills Able (he didn't know what would happen also I blame god), Sodom and Gomorrah (woof! sending his two virgin daughters to the mob like woah!!!) God demanding Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac (woah?!)

Copy cat stories: Isaac's wife Rebecca gives birth to the twins Esau and Jacob. That felt like a copy cat kind of story with Cain and Abel.

denpa_pope's review

challenging hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

nicoleipi's review

This is the second time I cracked open my Bible since my Sunday school dayz. Both times have been for lit

udita_g's review against another edition

Being a non christian and reading the bible for educational reasons I felt a lot of emotions through the various stories of the descandants of Adam and Eve. Some stories were excruciating ---- the story of Lot's daughters raping Lot in his sleep. Excluding the graphic content, I enjoyed the short stories, Jacob's love for Rachel and his sons from Rachel, Joseph interpreting the Pharoah's dream and other stories displaying love and affections.

skersh68's review

5.0

Genesis is the first book of both the Old Testament of the Bible and the Jewish Torah and contains a number of stories about how God created Earth and the Garden of Eden. In the Book of Genesis you learn about Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood, the reason for languages, and the stories of Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob and Esau. It is believed that Moses wrote Genesis for the people of Israel, whom he led out of slavery in Egypt. The first eleven chapters of Genesis paint the early history of the human race. Genesis covers the most extensive period of time in all of Scripture, longer than the other books in the Bible. Genesis offers a thorough background to the rest of the Bible. Here we learn ancient history and geography and are introduced to significant people and events found later in the Bible. God also reveals many facets of His nature through His dealings with people. We learn of the origin of sin, of its destructive effect on humanity, and of God’s plan to atone for that sin through a future Son of the people of Israel.

booksandbark's review

Not the right edition, but I couldn't find mine.

szymborskasyeti's review

I didn't read this for religious reasons, but because it was assigned at school. Really informative read for me, because I didn't grow up in a Christian household, and so I didn't always get the biblical referenced made in the literature I read, both for school and for pleasure. So much of our lexicon and our culture is influenced by this text. The verse, though observable old, is easy to read (key facts are often repeated more than once). I hope this analysis doesn't offend anyone, but one thing that seemed to be a theme in Genesis was female fertility/male sexuality: from God's covenant with Abraham (his 'seed' is mentioned more than once) to the inclusion of handmaids, not once but twice for women who are unable to conceive. Conceiving seems to be a sign of God's favor. Growing up in a country that is steeped in Christian values, I can't help but connect this text with the vitriol around abortion and female sexuality. After all, the original sin is not catalyzed by Adam, but by Eve. It would be interesting to study the systemic misogyny of American society in connection to Genesis.

nicole6559's review

5.0

Great book to explain the Christian Creation story.

elizabet_p's review

5.0

One of my favorite books of scripture. So much story is packed into this one book. The stories of Adam & Eve, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca, Jacob & Rachel, Joseph the dreamer. I love how it's focused not just on the origins of humanity but also on the origins of the nation of Israel. And I love Joseph's words near the end of the book which summarize the core theme of the Bible: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." - Genesis 50:20. Time and time again many men and women of the Bible fail or make mistakes or act out of malice. But the Lord brings out goodness and holiness out of these acts, and out of something disastrous bring forth salvation.