The first of a two-volume set intended to provide a comprehensive commentary on the Bible’s account of the life of Jesus.
Christians often argue that the distinctiveness of their religion derives from the fact that their savior Jesus descends from heaven to enter history. As the New Testament argues, when God breaks into the world in the figure of Christ, he also breaks into the personal life of the believer. In this book, Clemmer tries to capture these parallel breakthroughs by providing a gargantuan spiritual commentary on the Bible’s account of the life of Jesus. Equal parts historical analysis, textual interpretation and spiritual reflection, Clemmer’s project is both academic and deeply personal. He weaves objective commentary on the Gospel text with subjective accounts of the ways in which Jesus’ message affects the lives of the devout—and, indeed, his own life. The great strength of Clemmer’s project is its synthetic power. Out of four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—he creates one. In the process, he delivers a single chronology, a unified, footnoted narrative of the life of Jesus that brings together the multiple strands of the biblical account into a four-part braid. The project’s first volume opens with scenes from Jesus’ youth and early ministry—his birth, his encounters with John the Baptist, his temptation by the Devil—and ushers readers forward through Christ’s preaching in Bethany. As such, the book focuses heavily on Jesus’ teaching message and on the parables he uses to get that message across. (A separate, second volume provides more analysis of his death and resurrection.) In analyzing Jesus’ teachings, Clemmer provides piles of footnotes that point the reader not only to relevant Gospel texts, but also to pertinent passages in the Old Testament and the Pauline letters. These references give helpful context that aids the reader in connecting Christ’s words to other Gospel quotes as well as pieces of an older spiritual tradition. Clemmer’s hugely ambitious project is capacious and thorough.
Pub Date: March 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1456774295
Page Count: 610
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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