Scamming God

by Morgan Ibarra

In 1851 only ten percent of the people of the North wanted to abolish slavery. A year later, all that changed. Uncle Tom's Cabin had become a worldwide bestseller. The reason for its popularity was... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1425774636
• ISBN13: 9781425774639
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Xlibris
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

wonderful prose, contemporaneous subject matter...

I live in Albuquerque. I met Morgan at a coffee shop across the street from the University (UNM) about 4 months ago. Morgan was explaining, in detail, the structure of book writing. His eyes-wide-open-audience was a 55 yr. old roofer friend of mine who never graduated high school, and was in his 1st semester at our local junior college... 1st time in school in 40+ years. Was an interesting conversation, I pulled up a chair and listened for 15 minutes or so until my buddy (Scotty) had to leave. I took up where Scotty left off... Morgan & I bumped gums for a good hour, his constant-companion old ROYAL portable typewriter on top of the table. We talked about the "financial crisis" and it's orgins/causes, what's going on in the world. Very, very interesting chat, and I liked Morgan a lot. At our parting time, he mentioned in passing he was a published author. Next thing I knew I had a paid copy of "Scamming God" in hand... determined to read it based on very interesting encounter with a very interesting man. Great book!!! As others here have said, themes are good vs. evil and such... but said themes much more relevant to what's going on in our world these recent years than most of what I've read in novel form. Morgan's characters (especially Sarah): flawed, warts & all... very engaging, very well developed. And they were people I've known. The themes, as it were, are themes on my radar... stuff that matters. Thus, all the more riveting for me. Great story, superbly crafted and thoroughly researched to depict the real-life events that was Morgan's intent. Most of all, however, I enjoyed his word-smything... there is an eloquence to Morgan's writing and a very satisfying, artful use of words. This I enjoy from anyone (language mastery) as much as great themes, and soak it up on rare occasions it comes my way. Great writing. Very satisfying read, a real page turner. Highly recommended.

A stunning, original, "Parallel Lives"

Morgan Ibarra's Scamming God makes the "war on Christmas" seem like a stroll in the park. It ignores the old, conventional attacks on Jesus to embark on a new, nuclear-level analysis. It's a novel that could have been written by the anti-Christ, but its deconstruction of gospel rhetoric clearly shows that there is and will be no such epitome of evil. The novel's development begins so gently (the story of a lonely New Jersey girl) and powerfully that it seems it will never reach the above conclusions, then closes with a flash--a rush that that leaves the reader bewildered, doubting and sure to go back over the incredible experience--based on a true story--of this novel. In merely three hundred six pages, this is an experience-based understanding of a very human Jesus and one that overturns nearly two thousand years of thoroughly confused dogma. Although its author clearly disagrees with Frederick Nietzsche, this novel is an illustration of the German thinker's law of eternal return, wherein a petty check-kiting con man becomes the prism through which Jesus can be deconstructed, understood through his rhetoric and, once the con man becomes a celebrated financier, Max Weber's classic analysis of charisma. This is a straightforward account of a young, vulnerable woman's involvement with this older man, her coming-of-age story. She looks for intelligence in men--but needs experience, much of it heart-rending--to make her a whole woman. It is the novel that answers why Da Vinci and Dostoyevsky kept pointing to the Gospel of John as the key to understanding Jesus. Ibarra believes in change; his story is a celebration of what people can become. It's more than just a story that shows how behind the market meltdown there's a distinct mentality; it is an intellectually revolutionary work--a cultural game-changer.

Superb and Timely Allegory

This is a riveting story about the nature of Evil and Good. Almost too strange until the reader realizes that this must be based on true events. The book evokes the most basic emotions and thoughts of fear, anger, desire, empathy, and horror. The events in the book appear, at first, to be quite alien to the average reader, providing them with what appears to be a safe and vicarious window into nether worlds of the psyche. Yet the reader is unwittingly forced into deep reflection about their own morality and the blind eye which society has for both individual and institutional sociopathic behavior. This book is so very timely in the context of a world in which personal and corporate greed has evolved into something which we not only tolerate but encourage. Even the heroine of the story give us pause. She is no Mother Theresa!! A "Must Read".

SCAMMING GOD DELIVERS

SCAMMING GOD delivers on its promise. A young, vulnerable woman gets knocked up by a con man, a charismatic criminal, then gets even, pulling the mask off his Enron-like swindle, conservatism and religion. Based on a true story, this novel has an unbelievable climax and a surprise ending that you'll never see coming, yet will leave you questioning authority, reality and everything you believe in. The plot follows a scarring war between two people with chemistry, between "balls" and "heart," and spirals into the ideological battles of the last 30 years. It's actually a very simple love-story, in which every time the heroine gets knocked down--emotionally or physically--she scrapes herself off the floor and comes back twice as strong. It's a coming-of-age, bittersweet tale in which Sara develops into strong, well-rounded woman.