Job, Old Testament

Philosophers and scholars have written on the Book of Job for centuries. Part of why this attention continues is that so many questions remain unanswered: Who wrote this book, and why was most of it put into Hebrew verse? Just who was this man Job, whose story seems to read as much like a fable as a factual account? If he was an Israelite, why is his heritage it not mentioned? And just where was this place, Uz ("ooze"), where Job was a prominent citizen?
And there are theological questions as well. Do God and Satan meet from time to time, talking "smack" to one another and throwing out sporting propositions in which people are both the "things" wagered on and the stakes? What are we to make of Job's wife and his friends who can't quite resist the temptation to drag a confession from Job as he lay in cruel pain? And, of course, there's the question "What does this mean to me?"
It's hard to know just where fact and fiction diverge in this book, so unlike the rest of the Bible. Clearly, there is a great deal of poetic license taking place here.
Without going into detail about the misfortunes Job suffered almost simultaneously, he shows himself as a person worthy of respect. He knows somehow that God is involved in his pain, which he accepts without much complaint. What he seems to really want is the answer to the question everyone asks some time in life: "Why me?" Neither his wife, who advises "Curse God and die" nor his empathy-lacking friends are able to offer any help. Almost as puzzling is the final answer implicit in the voice of the Lord: "Don't ask." Finally, Job's blessings are restored. We are not told how the informal wager with Satan is settled.
Not all Bible students would be aware that the Latter Day Saints have something to say on the veracity of this whole matter, though it is somewhat indirect. A book of scripture made up of revelations given to Joseph Smith contains a short passage linking him to the ancient Job. Brother Joseph is counseled during a particularly difficult time in his life. He is imprisoned under dubious charges over several months in a decrepit jail in Liberty, MO. The Lord offers encouragement, then mentions that his situation is better than Job's because his loyal friends still stood with him.
It's possible, of course, to compare real people to fictional ones like Captain Ahab or Romeo and Juliet. But comparing the pain experienced by a person to that of a character would lose all meaning. This alone causes LDS members who think about such things to conclude that Job must have been a real person, whatever the details of his actual life.