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A review by andrew_j_r
The Secret Books by Marcel Theroux
4.0
I read this book because I saw the author Marcel (brother of... no never mind, he must hate that) interviewed on BBC News’ Meet The Author. I subsequently ordered it then held off reading it for ages, forgot why I had liked the sound of it and eventually picked it up several months later on the grounds that as I had bought it, I might as well bloody read it.
Plot wise, it’s very hard to describe (starting in a modern day swimming pool then meandering back through history) so I won’t try here. It’s an examination of what could have been but not what necessarily was - many aspects of the book are based on fact, with the author knowingly filling in the gaps whilst letting you know that he is doing precisely that, whilst also incorporating that oddity into the narrative of the main story as well, layers upon layers of maybe. Sounds complicated? Well perhaps a little.
I found the first one hundred and fifty pages hard work, and had to force myself to read, but once you get past the deliberate false start, and into the main drive, it’s becomes really interesting. Of course it’s the tale of the found gospel that elevates the book (based on a real event, a supposed missing gospel found by someone totally unable to prove it). It’s essentially the life story of the person who found the gospel (or says he did!) and ends, tragically, at a certain notorious point in history. I had no idea the book was going there, I kind of assumed the man would be dead by that time so the denouement was genuinely unexpected and tragic.
There are some odd moments. There is a reference to Darth Vader which lead me to check that the story was set in the century that I thought it was (I was right, the 19th) and after that I noticed the book was peppered with deliberate temporal incongruities, which initially irritated me but the further I got I found that I was looking forward to the next one, like an inappropriately placed but nevertheless welcome Easter Egg. They never impinge on the story, they are always background details, and I eventually found myself laughing out loud each time.
Also there’s one beautiful but subtle callback in the last twenty pages of the book, which is not an important plot point but underlines and illustrates what the book is about perfectly.
So a genuinely entertaining and thought provoking read that examines truth and the way alternative facts can seep into popular culture become truth - sometimes on a grand scale, sometimes on a tiny one. Very relevant in modern times.
Plot wise, it’s very hard to describe (starting in a modern day swimming pool then meandering back through history) so I won’t try here. It’s an examination of what could have been but not what necessarily was - many aspects of the book are based on fact, with the author knowingly filling in the gaps whilst letting you know that he is doing precisely that, whilst also incorporating that oddity into the narrative of the main story as well, layers upon layers of maybe. Sounds complicated? Well perhaps a little.
I found the first one hundred and fifty pages hard work, and had to force myself to read, but once you get past the deliberate false start, and into the main drive, it’s becomes really interesting. Of course it’s the tale of the found gospel that elevates the book (based on a real event, a supposed missing gospel found by someone totally unable to prove it). It’s essentially the life story of the person who found the gospel (or says he did!) and ends, tragically, at a certain notorious point in history. I had no idea the book was going there, I kind of assumed the man would be dead by that time so the denouement was genuinely unexpected and tragic.
There are some odd moments. There is a reference to Darth Vader which lead me to check that the story was set in the century that I thought it was (I was right, the 19th) and after that I noticed the book was peppered with deliberate temporal incongruities, which initially irritated me but the further I got I found that I was looking forward to the next one, like an inappropriately placed but nevertheless welcome Easter Egg. They never impinge on the story, they are always background details, and I eventually found myself laughing out loud each time.
Also there’s one beautiful but subtle callback in the last twenty pages of the book, which is not an important plot point but underlines and illustrates what the book is about perfectly.
So a genuinely entertaining and thought provoking read that examines truth and the way alternative facts can seep into popular culture become truth - sometimes on a grand scale, sometimes on a tiny one. Very relevant in modern times.