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A review by nghia
Quarantine by Jim Crace
3.0
Though I knew it didn't actually have anything to do with pandemics, I started reading this solely based on its title. It felt appropriate in these corona-virus times.
Quarantine is a strange little book. It was a finalist for the Booker Prize and won some other awards. And I found it unimpressive, only marginally redeemed by two fantastic chapters early on and a handful of well-written scenes scattered throughout. I wonder if it is that, because, I am so unreligious that story lacks resonance? I literally had no idea what biblical story this is a retelling of. I had to look it up on Wikipedia.
Apparently after Jesus was baptised he spent 40 days fasting in the Judean wilderness and being tempted by the devil. This was the Temptation of Jesus Christ. Jim Crace takes a (kinda, sorta, for the most party) atheistic/scientific approach in his retelling. Jesus is a devout man, to be sure. But it is also (kinda, sorta) clear that he's not the Jesus of the Bible, practicing miracles left and right. He is tempted, not by the literal Devil, but by Musa, a greedy, selfish, violent merchant.
Some of the things that left me underwhelmed: Jesus and Musa (the Devil) don't actually interact at all. That might be okay as a metaphor (Jesus was unsullied by the devil, they inhabit separate spheres) or part of the atheist storytelling schtick (obviously the Devil didn't show up in the Judean wilderness for 40 days running...) ... but it also kind of neutered the book.
The book primarily focuses on the six other nearby people. But, stripped of Jesus as a prime character, it ends up feeling like a (kind of pointless) historical fiction camping story more than anything else.
If the book had really leaned in hard on showing the suffering of the 40 days of quarantine (in, say, the way [b:Life of Pi|4214|Life of Pi|Yann Martel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320562005l/4214._SY75_.jpg|1392700] did something similar about being stranded at sea) that could have been an interesting take. Instead the first half of the book is devoted to their first day. Then there's a time skip to day 14 or so. Then another time skip to day 33 or so. The end. There is a long chapter of Jesus failing mentally & physically but it was a point in time snapshot rather than a process.
As an aside: what the hell was the point of Musa's really long and boring story about the monkeys? It felt like the single longest passage in the entire book. And Musa himself admitted it was pointless.
Another aside: I didn't appreciate all the little "biblical easter eggs" like the above scattered throughout the book. Or here's another one:
I didn't quite understand what they were supposed to be for. Are they foreshadowing suggesting that, despite the atheist/scientific veneer this is actually a mystical story about the literal son of God who is just about to embark on a career of dispensing miracles? The weird stuff in the last chapter certainly opens it to that interpretation. But all that weird stuff kind of came out of nowhere, too. (And the burning bush comes from Exodus and had nothing to do with Jesus.)
Given all the above, I was sorely tempted to give this 2-stars. But it had a few sections that I thought were really great writing, especially when Musa first starts bartering with newly arrived religious quaratinees. Maybe if I were more steeped in a culture of Bible stories, it would have had more resonance and meaning for me.
Quarantine is a strange little book. It was a finalist for the Booker Prize and won some other awards. And I found it unimpressive, only marginally redeemed by two fantastic chapters early on and a handful of well-written scenes scattered throughout. I wonder if it is that, because, I am so unreligious that story lacks resonance? I literally had no idea what biblical story this is a retelling of. I had to look it up on Wikipedia.
Apparently after Jesus was baptised he spent 40 days fasting in the Judean wilderness and being tempted by the devil. This was the Temptation of Jesus Christ. Jim Crace takes a (kinda, sorta, for the most party) atheistic/scientific approach in his retelling. Jesus is a devout man, to be sure. But it is also (kinda, sorta) clear that he's not the Jesus of the Bible, practicing miracles left and right. He is tempted, not by the literal Devil, but by Musa, a greedy, selfish, violent merchant.
He was shoeless, homeless, without food. He'd slept on naked ground. But he wat last without fear or sorrow. "Am I not free?" he asked himself.
Some of the things that left me underwhelmed: Jesus and Musa (the Devil) don't actually interact at all. That might be okay as a metaphor (Jesus was unsullied by the devil, they inhabit separate spheres) or part of the atheist storytelling schtick (obviously the Devil didn't show up in the Judean wilderness for 40 days running...) ... but it also kind of neutered the book.
The book primarily focuses on the six other nearby people. But, stripped of Jesus as a prime character, it ends up feeling like a (kind of pointless) historical fiction camping story more than anything else.
If anything could happen, then it would. The good, not just the bad.
If the book had really leaned in hard on showing the suffering of the 40 days of quarantine (in, say, the way [b:Life of Pi|4214|Life of Pi|Yann Martel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320562005l/4214._SY75_.jpg|1392700] did something similar about being stranded at sea) that could have been an interesting take. Instead the first half of the book is devoted to their first day. Then there's a time skip to day 14 or so. Then another time skip to day 33 or so. The end. There is a long chapter of Jesus failing mentally & physically but it was a point in time snapshot rather than a process.
He had no end for it, not yet. There was no point to it, except to charm.
As an aside: what the hell was the point of Musa's really long and boring story about the monkeys? It felt like the single longest passage in the entire book. And Musa himself admitted it was pointless.
The bushes were the first to flare. Blue flames, and then grey smoke as what little sap there was inside the stems bubbled out of the wood.
Another aside: I didn't appreciate all the little "biblical easter eggs" like the above scattered throughout the book. Or here's another one:
Musa shouted to his new companions. "Look there," he said. "That's the one I mentioned to you. The healer. Risen from the grave."
I didn't quite understand what they were supposed to be for. Are they foreshadowing suggesting that, despite the atheist/scientific veneer this is actually a mystical story about the literal son of God who is just about to embark on a career of dispensing miracles? The weird stuff in the last chapter certainly opens it to that interpretation. But all that weird stuff kind of came out of nowhere, too. (And the burning bush comes from Exodus and had nothing to do with Jesus.)
Given all the above, I was sorely tempted to give this 2-stars. But it had a few sections that I thought were really great writing, especially when Musa first starts bartering with newly arrived religious quaratinees. Maybe if I were more steeped in a culture of Bible stories, it would have had more resonance and meaning for me.