Move Over, Charlton Heston; Card's Moses is John Wayne

Everyone who's read Exodus knows that Moses was slow of speech. That detail was completely ignored in Cecil B. DeMille's classic Ten Commandments, because when you've got the magnificent Charlton Heston to work with, who wants to leave all that speaking to Aaron?

But Orson Scott Card in his book Stone Tables didn't ignore that detail at all. His Moses was . . . slow in . . . speech to a . . . fault. Card serves up an excellent justification for Moses' speech impediment: he was bilingual (Hebrew and Egyptian), but speaking Hebrew would brand him as a slave. So Moses had to constantly be on guard to speak the politically correct language. Speech impediment, here we come.

The only problem is, Card continually depicts the slow speech of Moses. A constant barrage of ellipses interrupt his dialog, as if the Duke himself were playing the role. "Now don't be . . . beating that Hebrew slave, Pilgrim." The reader is constantly feeling a need to catch his breath.

Fortunately Moses develops enough confidence in his post-Egyptian life to lose the speech impediment for the most part, and it's irritating literary representation disappears for the rest of the book. The reader can breathe easy again, and once more picture Charlton Heston in the role.

I had to say that because it was too clever to resist, but the truth is there is nothing Hestonesque about Card's Moses. Rather he comes across as another Orson Scott Card character, right along with the adult Ender Wiggin and Alvin Maker. This book has the feel of Card all over it. Considering the novel is not only historical fiction, but scriptural historical fiction, that might not be such a good thing. Where's the majesty, the reverence, the epic feel of the saga?

It's not there, because these are the writings of Card. Instead you are given a down-to-earth, realistic, sometimes even casual representation of Moses, with Card using all the historical information and educated guessing he can get his hands on. This is not a book to read if you want to feel the majesty of a prophet of God, this is a book to read if you want to see a prophet in common, day-to-day activity as a human being as much as a prophet. Nope, no Charlton Heston grandeur in this book.

But that's what makes it enjoyable to read. You get Card's guess of what the life of Moses was really like, and whether you agree with his interpretation or not, it's fun to see what he has to say. In particular, Card serves up a fresh interpretation of why Aaron fashioned the golden calf, that perplexing mystery that has every scripture reader baffled. But he doesn't stop there. He presents a series of conjectures that help make plausible all the major events in Moses' life. And if the likelihood of any of them being true is small, it doesn't matter, because the fun is in seeing what another person thinks and comparing it to your own ideas. Card gives the reader lots of ideas to digest, and does so in an engrossing story that is fun to read. But would you have expected anything less from him?

-- 
D. Michael Martindale
dmichael@wwno.com