A Monster at the End of the Book...

Okay, I finally finished reading TOSCA LEE's book, Demon: A Memoir. Yes. I am an exceedingly slow reader.

I must admit that my initial assumptions were really wrong. (Well, you know what they say about assumptions? Yea. 'Nuff said.)

When I first started reading Demon: A Memoir, I was dubious. I had envisioned someone trying to remake the Screwtape Letters. I wondered how a memoir of a demon could be enlightening. I also was sure that it would be Biblically unsound, because she was making it seem that the demon was omniscient...but she made it clear in the middle of the book that demons are NOT omniscient...that's when I started giving more credit to the book.

Let me tell you, this was nothing like the Screwtape Letters...but in a good way.

***Warning! I won't give away major plot, but if you don't want to know too much of the book, aka: spoilers, don't read on!!!****

I found myself on the same path as the main character, thinking that the book was about the demon's memoirs. But, it was really a story about mankind, clay men, mud men, who are loved by the Creator.

Tosca told her story from the other side of the mirror. How would a demon, a fallen angel, a once beloved creation of the Creator, feel about his own plight? Would he regret what happened? (Although this wasn't brought up in the book, I wonder what would have happened if the fallen angel had asked forgiveness of God?) After the initial regret, would he become angry? Would he become jealous of the new creation, man? How would a once beautiful being, now turned ugly with greed, look at a creation made of mud?

Even though I disagreed with some minor points of the story...like demons being able to read minds or being able to know when someone is about to die, (I have also had a few strange demonic experiences and they aren't as pretty as what is described here) I think Tosca did a great job in her research. She told the story of creation from a fallen angel's viewpoint...the account of Job...the fulfillment of prophecy with the Messiah, the ability of angels (fallen angels included) to appear as humans, the ability of demons to mess with believers, the ability of demons to distract people with riches, and distract Christians from their purpose in life: to share the Gospel, and the complete hatred that fallen angels have of mankind.

The truths were like ice down my back. How much God loves us--the great lengths He has gone to for us! How much we take for granted! How much we are distracted from what is really important! When we dwell on money, beauty, fame, glory...we are looking towards ourselves...just what the Legion of demons wants...to take our eyes from Jesus.

I wanted to slap the main character! He made me SO mad...not seeing the Truth. The demon only laughed at him...he had spelled it out for Clay, the main character, yet Clay still was blind. The demon just rubbed Clay's disbelief in his face, to show this mud man how stupid he was. But what really gave me shivers was the triumph that the demon had over Clay's disbelief...how he crowed at the fact that Clay would have to answer for it, after being told the Truth. How Clay is more damned than he, a demon, since he knew the Truth, but did not accept it.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tosca's analogy of the Monster at the End of the Book...it has always been one of my favorite childhood books. She used it with Clay remembering how he was obsessed with that book as a child. And she reiterated it with Clay needing to finish hearing the demon's story. Tosca worked it so the main character, along with me, the reader, had to want to know what happened next. We were gonna keep turning those pages...keep listening...even though we knew there was a monster at the end of the book.

But the main things about demons that Tosca spoke true of:


Never think you can have an innocent chat with a demon.


Never feel sorry for a demon.


And...


Never. Ever. Trust. A. Demon.

You can visit Tosca at her website and her blog.