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The Liars' Gospel (2013)

by Naomi Alderman(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0316232785 (ISBN13: 9780316232784)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: Naomi alderman has written an intriguing account of events and people surrounding Jesus. In so doing she has made biblical figures that are sometimes perceived as one dimensional characters and turned them into ones we can relate to, with depth and conflict and imperfection. Although at times it felt sacrilegious reading some points of view such as the Iehuda from Qeriot, it made you see how Jesus could have been perceived, at the time, in a negative but credible way; a rock star that started to believe the hype surrounding him and got carried away. Of course most believe this to be false as he indeed turned out to be the real deal, but at the time there must have been doubt and Jesus could have come across as a smug, arrogant heretical madman. i thought it was interesting... more to portray Judas as an over zealous man of God that became disillusioned and rebelled, throwing himself instead at the mighty feet of Rome. I enjoyed reading the part of Yehoshuah's mother, Miryam as you can see how she could have felt resentful and rejected by her son. It simply offered a more human account of an almost mythical character and brought life and reality to her. The characters that surround Yehoshuah are painted in fine detail through Alderman's alternative view point, but Yehoshuah himself is still presented, in my opinion, as a mysterious being that we are never able to get near. We see him through other's eyes. Yet by doing so we are constantly made aware that this is an individual's opinion which allows room for us as the reader to form our own. This is where the genius of this book lays; in the doubt, in the many eyes that reflect Jesus. This is all set against a backdrop of brutal Roman occupation, that often gets ignored surrounding the life of Jesus. I found this book fascinating, poetic, historically insightful and extremely provocative. I also appreciated the biblical motif that naomi incorporated into her style of writing, 'And it is Friday morning, and it is Friday evening. The Sabbath day.'
review 2: This is a really good book. It puts Jesus into the political and historical context of an occupied city and offers a new perspective on the biblical tales via the stories of Barrabas, Caiaphas, Judas & Mary. Each of these characters is given a decent backstory that puts their actions into context and makes them come alive as characters. It also puts it all firmly in its Jewish context; from the stories that are told to the call for a messiah. I really liked the writing style - like the best historical fiction it put you firmly in the time and each voice seems authentic. Interestingly this book seems to manage to appeal to both believers and unbelievers and its a compliment to Alderman's writing that she can pull this off. A book that I would suggest has slipped through the net because Ms Alderman is relatively unknown but it should be up there with Wolf Hall and the other big historical / mainstream crossovers less

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