Up Jumps The Devil Book Review: What If The Devil Isn’t That Bad After All?

Book number 28: Up Jumps the Devil by M. Poore. Thank you, Babe. The book is excellent! 😀

What it is: Here is a very big problem that we all have to face in case Up Jumps the Devil is right: What if the devil is not so bad after all? John Scratch is the devil on Earth and he decides to give humanity a workout so Earth can be the envy of Heaven… so he can win his angel girlfriend who left him for God. The book is part history, part human exposition that focuses on “Devil. Angel. There’s not really a difference, you know?” The insight it delivers on what it is like to be human is spot on, as well as its thoughts on creation, eternal life, war, love, desire, what it is like to be God and how natural things happen naturally. I loved every bit of it and devoured like Pringles. I tell you, Up Jumps the Devil is a good one, the kind where you feel you’ve been hit in the stomach right after you finish reading it. It hardly resembles a romance fiction but this is the best love story I have ever read. Who knew the Devil was the world’s first love story and broken heart?

What I liked about it: Witty, hilarious, contemplative, and charming as hell, Up Jumps the Devil has become a quick favorite. I just finished it and I want to read it all over again (But I won’t because Fifty Shades Freed has been sitting on my desk for more than a month already). John Scratch is so enigmatic, believable, and as fresh as only the Devil can be. It’s amazing how the oldest villain man has ever known turns hero so easily in this book. What a rock star he is!

The way the narration of Up Jumps the Devil falls into place and even the way it is scattered in history that changes year in every chapter, it makes sense. How it shuffles back and forth is refreshing too and makes it an easier read. The insights offered by the book makes you think about things that you already know and see things that you have already seen but has not paid enough attention to. You might think good and evil makes for a very generic, boring, and mechanical read but Up Jumps the Devil simply breaks barriers. I won’t go into details so you will check it out for yourself, but really, Michael Poore might have a fallen angel descendant somewhere. I must also mention how the cover rocks. The Devil making smores rocks. The texture is also great. Have I mentioned how I smell and touch new books? Up Jumps the Devil is a real treat!

What I did not like about it: There are some bits in Up Jumps the Devil that I feel were too long that I almost wanted to skip read but as you go deeper and see the bigger picture, the book comes to life in a very enjoyable way. I don’t have much complaints about the characterization this time because they were typical humans and being typical in the context of the book is okay if only to highlight how atypical the Devil is. Believe me when I say John Scratch is very, very surprising.

Recommended for: I think anybody who wants a witty, funny, and enjoyable read should catch Up Jumps the Devil. Don’t worry – it doesn’t have the religious bit nobody wants to read. I’d accuse this book of many things but preachy and cheesy isn’t one of them. 😉

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Photo taken from here and here. I was trying to upload my photos of the book but WP takes eternity to load them, WTF.