Chocolate Jesus - Softcover

Stephan Jaramillo is a chef and a writer living in Berkeley, California. He is the author of the novels, Going Postal and Chocolate Jesus.

Jaramillo (Going Postal ) lampoons such modern follies as tabloid faith and Internet sex. Sydney Corbet, a lame (literally and figuratively), antisocial, angry-letter writer, recently discharged from a "home for the mildly neurotic," sells his idea for a chocolate Jesus to Mrs. Beals' candy company, which she is defending from takeover by her son. Meanwhile, Reverend Willy, a cable-TV evangelist preaching vegetarianism and fitness ("The prince of peace will kick butt upon returning"), rallies his flock against the chocolate Jesus, ending in an apocalyptic showdown. Sydney's slightly elevated education and loathing for mainstream culture allow commentary on the cultural victims and worshipers who surround him. These include his drunken, gambling brother Marty, who grudgingly houses Sydney but warms when Sydney's idea lands them well-paying jobs at Mrs. Beals; a fanatical German chocolate expert; a Jewish bookie insisting he is a rabbi; two drugged-out, channel-surfing "hit men"; and a power-mad, hamburger franchise manager. Jaramillo's satire makes one laugh, then think. Kevin Grandfield