Love Feast and Treasure Hunt are the last two books Frederick Buechner wrote about Leo Bebb, the founder of The Church of Holy Love, Incorporated. The Bebb books are hard to categorize. I always find myself describing them as hilarious and then go on to recount a plot that inevitably sounds terribly sad. So let me just avoid the whole thing this time and say that these are wonderful books and you'll live a much happier and richer life if you read them!
Love Feast finds our characters very much out of place, speaking both geographically and emotionally. Antonio has to deal with his separation with Sharon and Bebb is adrift after the failure of his latest church venture in the northeast. That is until he becomes the Pepsi Generation's next big thing on campus through a strange series of circumstances. The book contains the best description of the gospel that I've ever read and manages to use the word "shit" over a dozen times in the process.
Treasure Hunt is a true original: A Bebb book without Bebb. The evangelist has passed on to his heavenly reward and it is up to his family and friends to deal with the mess -- er, legacy -- he left behind. Bebb's final secrets are laid bare in the immensely satisfying end to the series.
Said it before, I'll say it again: Frederick Buechner is a genius. Quick -- go to Amazon right now and buy these books!
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I was scanning the internet to see who else knows THE BOOK OF BEBB. I'm preparing to write a personal appreciation of the book for my own web site, www.smootpage.com, where Bebb will have a special place in my "reading blog" section.
I hope you won't mind if I cite your comments in mine.
I first read the four books in 1986, and, sorry to reach the end, immediately flipped back 530 pages to start again. Have re-read the quartet a few times since then, keeping ever - closer -watch on recurring themes, pearls of wisdom (the sermon on "shit" being double starred in my margins, too), funniest moments, and wonders of Buechner's style.
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