The Son of Laughter (1993)
Winner of the Critics’ Choice Book Award for Fiction, 1994
Book Description
Encouraged by his scheming mother, Rebekah, young Jacob carries out a series of scandalous robberies.
First, he robs his brother Esau’s birthright, and then he tricks their blind father into handing over the blessing reserved for the eldest son. Fearing for his life, the disgraced scoundrel flees the family home, finding shelter in the house of his uncle, Laban.
Caught up in the throes of adolescent passion, Jacob falls wildly in love with Rachael, his cousin. Laban’s promise to sanction the marriage after seven years of labour turns out to be a scam, as the wily livestock owner tricks his nephew into marrying Leah, Rachel’s less desirable older sister. When Laban finally gives Jacob the hand of his youngest daughter, however, chaos ensues, as she struggles to conceive, while Leah continues to bear him many children. Jacob’s coldness toward her offspring plants the seeds of tragedy and salvation, as jealousy erupts into attempted murder when Rachel does give birth, and her son, Joseph, becomes the apple of his eye.
Behind the domestic drama lies Jacob’s quest to understand the nature of God: the God of his father, Isaac, and of his great grandfather, Abraham. Forsaking the household gods of Laban and the Canaanites, Jacob throws his lot in with “The Fear”, whose mysterious promises to his ancestors are tempered by his unnerving commandments and terrifying displays of power. In the midst of the suffering and ecstasy of life, Jacob tries to discern the meaning of the promise made by The Fear to his grandfather, Abraham – that he would “breed a lucky people who would someday bring luck to the whole world”.
Reviews
“Buechner has taken the grand story of Jacob—breathed life into it and set its vivid people in motion...writing that sounds as though the writer is holding onto a lightning bolt.”
— Annie Dillard, author
“The Bible’s account of Jacob is a pungent seed found in a tomb. Frederick Buechner has planted it and the result is this beautiful swaying tree of a book.”
— James Merrill, poet
“This is an extraordinary novel that demonstrates both the truth of fiction and Buechner’s superb ability to offer it.”
— Christian Century
“A masterpiece.”
— National Catholic Reporter
“In The Sacred Journey, Buechner tells us that we must learn to hear in our lives the sound of the holy. ‘It is the function of all great preaching,’ he writes, ‘and of all great art, to sharpen our hearing to precisely that end.’ The Son of Laughter will not only help one hear that sound; it is that sound."
— Brooke Horvath, Review of Contemporary Fiction
“Beautifully presented. The novel is rich with sensory description.”
— Library Journal
“Buechner’s career as a novelist has been a string of surprises.”
— George Garrett
“A masterpiece.”
— Douglas Auchincloss, Parabola
“[Buechner] has a way of telling us what we already know, so that we are glad we know it […]. [He makes the] predictable intriguing.”
— Calvin Miller, Southwest Journal of Theology
“The Son of Laughter represented Buechner’s most conscious use of psychological dynamics to reveal and explain spiritual truths.”
— Victoria Allen, Listening to Life
