Jerusalem is a new novel by Alan Moore that is some 600,000 words long and 1200 pages of very long paragraphs and small type, at least in the galley version that was given away at BEA this year.

It’s daunting. By design.

I reviewed it for Publishers Weekly in a signature review. You’ll have to click on the link to find out what I thought. Spoiler: at first I started dog-earing pages with particularly memorable turns of phrase that I thought I might quote in my review but then I realized just about every sentence was a memorable turn of phrase.

Despite the daunting nature of the book, it’s also eagerly awaited. But, very few people have read the whole thing, despite galleys of it circulating since mid-May at least. I think the entire Jerusalem experience will remain an epic level achievement yay well require hours of play to unlock.

In order to review the book I had to set aside weekend afternoons to go to the park where there were few distractions. After a few hundred pages, I got into it, however. Really.

Maybe making it a little easier: Knockabout, the UK publisher of the novel, is releasing it as a trilogy of books in this handsome slipcased edition. The narrative is divided into three distinct books and this makes for a sensible trilogy, although, warning, it’s not a feelgood, breezy adventure type thing.



Seriously I can’t wait to see what people think of Jerusalem, if they can either lift it or read it.