Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago, Giovanni Pontiero

3 reviews

katreads2022's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I find it extremely difficult to rate this book. While I personally do not enjoy Saramago’s dense writing, I appreciate its intelligence. Even though I trudged and, admittedly skipped—there is a whole section detailing medieval tortures allotted to alphabetically listed victims—through its intimidating blocks of text I recognize that the whole experience was marginally worth the time. It’s indeed a challenge to get through this deceivingly mid-sized novel. Chunks of texts drag on for pages upon pages, sentences rarely allowing one to take a breath. And quotation-less quotations. Unforgiving? Definitely.

Obviously, a non-canonical “Gospel” is blasphemous. The inversions presented in this novel are compelling because they offer a different chronology of a story so familiar. The narrator, an omnipresent yet strangely reminiscent figure, guides the reader through a retelling of Jesus Christ’s life that will surely scandalize some. At times vaguely satirical, Saramago captures a Biblical setting fairly well despite some clumsy modern flourishes. EGREGIOUS sexist commentary further drags down the writing.

“Gospel” is interesting, with a few interesting insights in to Christian theology because of its creative reversals. Both the content and prose are heavy, making this novel inaccessible and perhaps not worthwhile for most.
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rzh's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this was a SLOG and a half to say the least: the lack of punctuation, namely quote marks and full stops (seriously, i think i could count on one hand the amount of full stops in this book) made the writing pretty inpenetrable. that being said, when it got going, it really got going. the parts where you get an insight into saramago's jesus' introspection and inner thoughts really shone and gave a new angle to the stories in the gospels, surely the very raison d'etre of a gospel according to jesus. on the other hand, this wasn't the case all the way through. parts of the novel just felt like a slightly lumpier version of the gospel stories, with no added nuance, knowledge, or insight. it was particularly disappointing when this happened at KEY points in the novel, like
when Jesus meets with God and Satan on the lake, and immediately after: here we should REALLY be getting an insight into Jesus' thoughts, of which I am sure there were MANY) but Saramago simply... leaves us with none.
. again, i really cannot stress enough just now DENSE the prose is, and how difficult it is to read. though i am starting to see the real joy in savouring slow reads, rather than seeing value in books simply for their ease, this was perhaps a bit on the dense side for my liking. don't bother unless you're ready for a real stickler, because this has the potential to kick you into a real reading slump. 3.5 stars
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seanml's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

How does someone gain an immense following, gain the powers of God, and be told they’re the main character without becoming even a little bit of an egomaniac? Easy, they don’t. And José Saramago thankfully realizes this. Despite being a skeptic’s look at the New Testament (Which I haven’t read, by the way), Saramago still treats most of what is written as if it had happened (Healing the sick, the perpetual virginity, directly speaking with God). The first half of the book follows Mary and Joseph and is immaculately quiet and reflective. The presence of a maybe-angel-maybe-not-an-angel is the source of a very unsettling feeling through the book’s first half. The Jesus-centric second half is interesting in that in the meetings with God, we learn that He is more or less the same wrathful, hypocritical, and egocentric God of the Torah. The tragedy is that everything is pre-ordained, and though Jesus realizes this, he can do nothing to change it. My Guy Yahweh saw the future with Morbius starring Jared Leto, and did nothing about it, smh. 7.5/10.
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