Archive for the ‘The bible’ Tag
Sue Monk Kidd’s The Book of Longings is the kind of creative and well-researched novel that’s hard to put down. The premise is based on the idea of what if Jesus had married?
It’s addressed with the fictional portrayal of the life of Ana, Jesus’s wife. As the daughter in a wealthy family in Galilee, Ana is expected to bide her time until she is suitably married. However, this is not what she sees as her life’s objective. Instead, she surreptitiously studies and writes about women whose lives are ignored or silenced. This is her personal rebellion in a patriarchal society.
Ana first briefly meets Jesus in a Galilean markets. She’s drawn to him but can’t explain why. Through some not-so-chance subsequent meetings, they become further acquainted.
The author draws from the Bible and fills in the blanks with Ana’s life, from her near-arranged marriage with a much older man, to her ultimate union with Jesus, and later her escape from Galilee to Alexandria with her intrepid aunt.
Interestingly, Jesus is a minor character, as are his mother and his brothers. The focus is on Ana. Once married, although she has Jesus’s support and appreciation of her talents as a writer, she is too busy on the family compound near Nazareth to pursue such aspirations.
Tension builds as Ana and Jesus independently evade authorities for different transgressions. Jesus’s fate is known, Ana’s isn’t. However, her intelligence, passion and understanding of Jesus’s purpose, in Kidd’s hands, make her the ideal partner.
The Book of Longings
Four Bookmarks
Viking, 2020
418 pages
You‘d be forgiven for thinking A History of the World in 10-1/2 Chapters is massive with each section retelling what’s already been shared in the Bible, scientific journals and cultural studies. Instead, Julian Barnes evokes humor and pathos as he draws from those chronicles while creating a narrative about survival.
The half chapter, between 9 and 10, entitled “Parenthesis” is about love.
An unlikely narrator in the first chapter shares its experience as a stowaway aboard Noah’s ark. In a vastly differing account from what’s taught in Sunday schools, Noah is portrayed as unintelligent and a drunk. Although references to the stowaway occur in a few subsequent chapters, its role as narrator ends once the ark reaches shore much, much longer than the 40 days told in popular versions.
Ships, passengers and violent seas – well, in some cases, just violence at sea – set the scene throughout the narrative, as does a trial, space travel and contemporary searches for the ark. Each section (chapter) can stand alone, but it’s important to remember the book’s theme, which is what the title implies.
Just as some history books often get bogged down in too much detail, Barnes falls in line with the genre. For example, the chapter appropriately entitled “The Wars on Religion,” about the trial of woodworm accused of blasphemy, while initially amusing, gets old fast.
Even the final chapter, “The Dream,” which provides an idea of heaven is too long, especially since even the narrator grows tired of it.
A History of the World in 10-1/2 Chapters
Three-and-a-half bookmarks
Vintage International, 1989
307 pages
The Blue Page Special 