THE BROTHEL

by Chayym Zeldis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 1978

Zeldis' twin obsessions--parading human evil and demythologizing Christianity--resurface in this lurid tale of Judea capta, which, like Brothers (1976), gives Jesus Christ enough down-to-earth blood relations to satisfy any non-believer. Using the infamous, grand-scale brothel of Nazareth (two sections, one for Romans, one for Jews) as the symbolic nexus for the degradation of the times, Zeldis calls Mary ""Mara"" and makes her the daughter of a murdered whore and sister of the brothel's leading attraction. Mara, however, is quite pure, though a bit crazy--she hears God talking to her--and is tenderly in love with her protector, Yosef the Rabbi's son. But when Yosef is castrated by the vicious Romans (he and his father have been bravely hiding Jewish freedom-fighters), Mara eagerly embraces and raises the bastard babe of her wild-man brother and the noble, Roman virgin (but would-be ""Jewess"") he abducted and raped. Meanwhile, there are the ineffectual ravings of Herod, tortured affairs between Roman soldiers and vari-colored whores, and sadistic doings at the home of proconsul Vespasian--for instance, he rapes, burns, and then passes on one virgin to his servant (""The Deputy smiled. The girl was being deflowered again. Death was entering her""). Great quantities of blood, semen, nipples, navels, buttocks, and loins--confusingly folded in with some theological queries that never come into focus.

Pub Date: Feb. 26, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION