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El misterio de la Navidad by Jostein Gaarder, Jesús Gabán, Asunción Gabán, Kirsti Baggelthun
tentatividiauro's review against another edition
"se ci fosse stato un solo pesce nel mare, gli uomini si sarebbero resi conto di quanto esso fosse perfetto e si sarebbero chiesti chi mai lo avesse creato"
superstine's review against another edition
4.0
Ser at jeg var lunken forrige gang jeg leste denne (2018?) nå er jeg helt ombord igjen. Perfekt blanding av bibelhistorie, magi og detektivarbeid. Gleder meg til å lese den sammen med Amalie om noen år.
PS: syns neste det funker bedre å lese den i tre jafser enn 24 biter
PS: syns neste det funker bedre å lese den i tre jafser enn 24 biter
saya85's review against another edition
2.0
L'anno scorso lessi questo romanzo durante il periodo dell'avvento. Letto su consiglio della Sily che ne aveva conservato un buon ricordo. Un libro da leggere nel periodo natalizio infatti conta 24 capitoli, uno al giorno fino a Natale. Di Gaarder ho letto solo La ragazza delle arance che ho adorato.
https://www.vivereinunlibro.it/2021/12/recensione-il-viaggio-di-elisabet-di.html
https://www.vivereinunlibro.it/2021/12/recensione-il-viaggio-di-elisabet-di.html
gateway_to_wonderoand's review against another edition
3.0
En ihan kerinnyt jouluaattoon mennessä lukemaan tätä kirjaa, mutta ainaki tapaninpäiväksi
the_book_badger's review against another edition
1.0
Originally posted at ragdollreads.co.uk
What!?
TL;DR - A sort of backwards look at the history of Christianity...also a kidnapping...
RAGDOLL RATING: 1/5 BUTTONS
What I thought:
As far as I'm concerned I am being exceedingly generous in giving this book a 2 Button rating. In fact the only reason I'm giving it a rating AT ALL is because it kept me interested enough to read it all in one sitting. It was that kind of a book. I don't even know where to begin.
A boy finds an old advent calendar in a book shop and decides he wants it. He takes it home, opens the door and out falls a sheet of paper. On it is the first chapter of a story about a girl called Elisabet, who chases a lamb (formerly a toy lamb) out of a toy shop, runs back in time somehow and bumps into an angel, who conveniently enough is also going back in time to visit Jesus on the occasion of his birth.
Each chapter of this book is a single day of advent, and each day a door is opened and a further chapter of this bizarre story is told. As the days move on, the group of pilgrims increases inside until they have a bunch of sheep, shepherds, angels, kings (who the book made a point of describing as 'black like an African') and so on and they all go back in time to visit Jesus.
Thing is, as they travel across the world from Norway where the tale begins, to Bethlehem were it's supposed to end (or begin if you prefer) they ALMOST touch upon some really interesting theological, philosophical and historical points of interest. Only every time any character got more than 2 sentences into one of these potentially interesting moments, the shepherd turns around, bangs his crook on something and screams "To Bethlehem! To Bethlehem!" as if somehow they were going to miss the big event...as a consequence it turned what could have been an interesting theological history into a frustrating and pointless walk from nowhere in particular to nowhere special.
To make matters worse, the 'mystery' which the books title alludes to comes in the form of a real world kidnapping. Which - I know it's supposed to give the readers a sort of "what really happened" vibe but it just makes no sense to include. It feels WRONG. This poor old woman who loses her child in the 40's and has to wait another 45 years to hear from her and we're supposed to believe that all went down smoothly. I don't know. Oh and she may or may not have been kidnapped by the people of Palestine to prove a point or leverage a journalist.
Basically what I'm trying to say is, if for any reason you STILL feel like reading this book then do yourself a favour and stop when you finish chapter 23. Or better yet, just pick up the bible and read it the right way round without the haphazardly included kidnapping.
I'm now going to leave you with some alternate entries for the quote box at the start of this review:
"From now on I'm ending every conversation I don't like by screaming 'To Bethlehem' and whacking something with a stick"
"This could have been a really interesting story - then it wasn't..."
"I have to hope something was lost in translation..."
"I have to assume I'm not the target audience for this book."
"I finished it in the hopes that the end would pull it all together and be amazing. It wasn't."
What!?
TL;DR - A sort of backwards look at the history of Christianity...also a kidnapping...
RAGDOLL RATING: 1/5 BUTTONS
What I thought:
As far as I'm concerned I am being exceedingly generous in giving this book a 2 Button rating. In fact the only reason I'm giving it a rating AT ALL is because it kept me interested enough to read it all in one sitting. It was that kind of a book. I don't even know where to begin.
A boy finds an old advent calendar in a book shop and decides he wants it. He takes it home, opens the door and out falls a sheet of paper. On it is the first chapter of a story about a girl called Elisabet, who chases a lamb (formerly a toy lamb) out of a toy shop, runs back in time somehow and bumps into an angel, who conveniently enough is also going back in time to visit Jesus on the occasion of his birth.
Each chapter of this book is a single day of advent, and each day a door is opened and a further chapter of this bizarre story is told. As the days move on, the group of pilgrims increases inside until they have a bunch of sheep, shepherds, angels, kings (who the book made a point of describing as 'black like an African') and so on and they all go back in time to visit Jesus.
Thing is, as they travel across the world from Norway where the tale begins, to Bethlehem were it's supposed to end (or begin if you prefer) they ALMOST touch upon some really interesting theological, philosophical and historical points of interest. Only every time any character got more than 2 sentences into one of these potentially interesting moments, the shepherd turns around, bangs his crook on something and screams "To Bethlehem! To Bethlehem!" as if somehow they were going to miss the big event...as a consequence it turned what could have been an interesting theological history into a frustrating and pointless walk from nowhere in particular to nowhere special.
To make matters worse, the 'mystery' which the books title alludes to comes in the form of a real world kidnapping. Which - I know it's supposed to give the readers a sort of "what really happened" vibe but it just makes no sense to include. It feels WRONG. This poor old woman who loses her child in the 40's and has to wait another 45 years to hear from her and we're supposed to believe that all went down smoothly. I don't know. Oh and she may or may not have been kidnapped by the people of Palestine to prove a point or leverage a journalist.
Basically what I'm trying to say is, if for any reason you STILL feel like reading this book then do yourself a favour and stop when you finish chapter 23. Or better yet, just pick up the bible and read it the right way round without the haphazardly included kidnapping.
I'm now going to leave you with some alternate entries for the quote box at the start of this review:
"From now on I'm ending every conversation I don't like by screaming 'To Bethlehem' and whacking something with a stick"
"This could have been a really interesting story - then it wasn't..."
"I have to hope something was lost in translation..."
"I have to assume I'm not the target audience for this book."
"I finished it in the hopes that the end would pull it all together and be amazing. It wasn't."
laurelckriegler's review against another edition
4.0
I borrowed this book from a friend who recommended it to me as a good Christmas story. She was not wrong.
[b:The Christmas Mystery|58301|The Christmas Mystery|Jostein Gaarder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1170505063l/58301._SX50_.jpg|901819] is set out in Advent Calendar format. One could, I guess, read it as one would open the doors of an advent calendar each day of advent. The story is about a little Norwegian boy, Joachim, who goes into a bookshop with his Papa on the hunt for an Advent Calendar. While there, he spots a beautiful, old one which he immediately asks for. The bookshop owner agrees that he may have it, and he takes it home. When he opens it, to his surprise a small folded up piece of paper falls out of the first door, and when he reads it, becomes engrossed in the story of a little girl who went missing from a shop in 1948.
Behind each door is a similar piece of paper, and the mysterious tale unfolds.
This book is simple in structure, but quite complex in content. It simultaneously tells the story of Joachim's advent and the story contained within the advent calendar, as well as delving into the history of Europe through the ages, the Christmas Story as told in the Bible, and interspersed among it all are some discussions on theological questions and truths. It is very detailed, but is a pretty easy read, and very interesting. Definitely not dry and boring. One could, if one wished, dig out some atlases containing ancient maps to use alongside reading the story.
[b:The Christmas Mystery|58301|The Christmas Mystery|Jostein Gaarder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1170505063l/58301._SX50_.jpg|901819] is set out in Advent Calendar format. One could, I guess, read it as one would open the doors of an advent calendar each day of advent. The story is about a little Norwegian boy, Joachim, who goes into a bookshop with his Papa on the hunt for an Advent Calendar. While there, he spots a beautiful, old one which he immediately asks for. The bookshop owner agrees that he may have it, and he takes it home. When he opens it, to his surprise a small folded up piece of paper falls out of the first door, and when he reads it, becomes engrossed in the story of a little girl who went missing from a shop in 1948.
Behind each door is a similar piece of paper, and the mysterious tale unfolds.
This book is simple in structure, but quite complex in content. It simultaneously tells the story of Joachim's advent and the story contained within the advent calendar, as well as delving into the history of Europe through the ages, the Christmas Story as told in the Bible, and interspersed among it all are some discussions on theological questions and truths. It is very detailed, but is a pretty easy read, and very interesting. Definitely not dry and boring. One could, if one wished, dig out some atlases containing ancient maps to use alongside reading the story.
beckoningbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
themaroonwitch's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
ketutar's review against another edition
2.0
Well... second time reading, about 25 years after the first time. Wow, how time flies!
Back in the 90s, Jostein Gaarder was very famous for his [b:Sophie's World|10959|Sophie's World|Jostein Gaarder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343459906l/10959._SY75_.jpg|4432325]. I didn't like that one, but I remember liking this one and the tarot card book. Now I re-read this one, as it's Christmas time and this one is kind of a count-down calendar.
I noticed things I didn't see the previous time.
We have this 5 years old girl who Pro-Palestinians kidnap to force her father, a rather famous journalist, to write about the Palestine-Israel situation. She is taken to Palestine and raised as a Palestinian girl. Her parents never knew what happened to her, so I suppose the kidnapping went awry. That's the frame story, though, and it's not much talked about in the book.
The main story is about this young boy who wants a "Christmas calendar" - a countdown calendar with 24 "doors" you open one each day from December 1st to December 24th - which is when the Norwegians celebrate Christmas. His dad and he go to a bookstore and find a handmade calendar and there are small slips of paper with a story written. It's a story about the 5yo. In this version she starts following a little toy lamb that becomes real, and runs through Europe to Bethlehem and from 1945 to the year 0, to be by the manger at Jesus' birth. She meets several different characters during the journey, angels, shepherds, the three wise kings, etc. about one a day, and the stories are about small things that happen during the journey. It is fascinating that they were supposed to find a road that isn't too inhabited, but they go straight through Europe; Germany, Italy, Turkey - and not through Russia. I suppose that was so that Jostein could write about how Christianity spread over Europe, but backward - starting from the 1940s and ending in the 0000s. Anyway, it's like a frame story around a story around a story around a story... so many layers. But that's Jostein Gaarder for you.
Anyway, this story is too Christian to me, but at the same time not enough.
I don't get a feeling about the ages of the kids. Elisabet behaves like a much older person than 5, and the people treat her as a much older child. I mean, 5yo is a toddler! Joachim - I don't know how old he is, but he's also behaving as... older and younger. Sometimes he's like 5 and sometimes like 10 and sometimes like 15. Really hard to relate. And the parents! So what if the kid invents stories about real places? He could have heard the name on the television or something. How is that in any way alarming? How does that in any way warrant breaking his privacy and looking into his box? It doesn't.
And the story isn't that amazing, either. I don't understand why the parents are so amazed and awed and keep talking about imagination and things. Sounds like Jostein Gaarder is tooting his own horn here. Really stupid and irritating.
Anyway, the idea is great. Makes me want to have a countdown calendar like that, but with small dolls so that I could play the book with my kids from the 1st of December to Christmas and "walk" the characters from the bedroom to the creche. The story itself sucks though, so maybe I'll write something better myself and make us a countdown calendar like that.
Back in the 90s, Jostein Gaarder was very famous for his [b:Sophie's World|10959|Sophie's World|Jostein Gaarder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343459906l/10959._SY75_.jpg|4432325]. I didn't like that one, but I remember liking this one and the tarot card book. Now I re-read this one, as it's Christmas time and this one is kind of a count-down calendar.
I noticed things I didn't see the previous time.
We have this 5 years old girl who Pro-Palestinians kidnap to force her father, a rather famous journalist, to write about the Palestine-Israel situation. She is taken to Palestine and raised as a Palestinian girl. Her parents never knew what happened to her, so I suppose the kidnapping went awry. That's the frame story, though, and it's not much talked about in the book.
The main story is about this young boy who wants a "Christmas calendar" - a countdown calendar with 24 "doors" you open one each day from December 1st to December 24th - which is when the Norwegians celebrate Christmas. His dad and he go to a bookstore and find a handmade calendar and there are small slips of paper with a story written. It's a story about the 5yo. In this version she starts following a little toy lamb that becomes real, and runs through Europe to Bethlehem and from 1945 to the year 0, to be by the manger at Jesus' birth. She meets several different characters during the journey, angels, shepherds, the three wise kings, etc. about one a day, and the stories are about small things that happen during the journey. It is fascinating that they were supposed to find a road that isn't too inhabited, but they go straight through Europe; Germany, Italy, Turkey - and not through Russia. I suppose that was so that Jostein could write about how Christianity spread over Europe, but backward - starting from the 1940s and ending in the 0000s. Anyway, it's like a frame story around a story around a story around a story... so many layers. But that's Jostein Gaarder for you.
Anyway, this story is too Christian to me, but at the same time not enough.
I don't get a feeling about the ages of the kids. Elisabet behaves like a much older person than 5, and the people treat her as a much older child. I mean, 5yo is a toddler! Joachim - I don't know how old he is, but he's also behaving as... older and younger. Sometimes he's like 5 and sometimes like 10 and sometimes like 15. Really hard to relate. And the parents! So what if the kid invents stories about real places? He could have heard the name on the television or something. How is that in any way alarming? How does that in any way warrant breaking his privacy and looking into his box? It doesn't.
And the story isn't that amazing, either. I don't understand why the parents are so amazed and awed and keep talking about imagination and things. Sounds like Jostein Gaarder is tooting his own horn here. Really stupid and irritating.
Anyway, the idea is great. Makes me want to have a countdown calendar like that, but with small dolls so that I could play the book with my kids from the 1st of December to Christmas and "walk" the characters from the bedroom to the creche. The story itself sucks though, so maybe I'll write something better myself and make us a countdown calendar like that.