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A review by _sarahco
Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas
4.0
Despite the fact that I am a historian (and of this era, specifically), I /love/ historical fiction. It brings people and events to life in a way that academic history books by their nature don't allow. There is truth in trying to find fact, but there is also truth in using imagination to recreate how a person must have felt, and imagine what their life might have been like, what troubles, joys, and emotions they may have felt.
In Damascus, Christos Tsiolkas recreates the world of the first few decades of the early Christian movement. From Saul the persecuter, to Lydia the convert - and many others - he creates a narrative where the harsh elements of every day life - the reality of which are usually left out of the scant ancient record - are given the emotional weight they might have had in reality. We know that childbirth would have been horrific in the ancient world, or that being a woman was drastically unfair, but in fictional form we really feel it. The same can be said for the radical elements of Christianity, which are often taken for granted now - We are all equal? The slave is my sister? Turn the other cheek to your enemies?
I also really sympathise with Tsiolkas' theological world view, and appreciate that he has here tried to tell the story of earliest Christianity in a way that fits in with this perspective. I can also tell that he has done his academic and historical research, and so basic historical inaccuracies weren't something I had to overcome.
All in all, I really enjoyed this.
In Damascus, Christos Tsiolkas recreates the world of the first few decades of the early Christian movement. From Saul the persecuter, to Lydia the convert - and many others - he creates a narrative where the harsh elements of every day life - the reality of which are usually left out of the scant ancient record - are given the emotional weight they might have had in reality. We know that childbirth would have been horrific in the ancient world, or that being a woman was drastically unfair, but in fictional form we really feel it. The same can be said for the radical elements of Christianity, which are often taken for granted now - We are all equal? The slave is my sister? Turn the other cheek to your enemies?
I also really sympathise with Tsiolkas' theological world view, and appreciate that he has here tried to tell the story of earliest Christianity in a way that fits in with this perspective. I can also tell that he has done his academic and historical research, and so basic historical inaccuracies weren't something I had to overcome.
All in all, I really enjoyed this.