Persuasive evidence that a writer as gifted as Ricci can tackle almost any subject and succeed with it. Better than Mailer,...
The life of Jesus, most recently fictionalized by Norman Mailer and Jim Crace, now imagined by the Italian-born Canadian author of a highly praised autobiographical trilogy (Where She Has Gone, 1998, etc.).
Ricci tells the familiar story in four separate narratives that echo (even as they depart from) the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The first is that of Yihuda of Qiryat (a.k.a. Judas Iscariot), a member of an underground political movement dedicated to liberating Palestine from Roman occupation—and a self-appointed gadfly who challenges the Nazarene (here named “Yeshua”) frequently and vigorously. Miryam of Migdal (Mary Magdalene) next testifies to Yeshua’s charisma as teacher and leader, and as her lover. Yeshua’s mother Miryam, whose quiet testimony evokes her unconventional son’s meditative and abstracted temperament, also reveals that he is the child of her rape by a Roman military officer. Finally, the shepherd Simon of Gergesa (who has no counterpart in the traditional gospels) offers commentary on the aforementioned conflicting versions, while offering his own skeptical eyewitness account of Yeshua’s crucifixion and resurrection. This complex portrayal of an only-too-human Jesus will undoubtedly offend many, both for its occasional anachronisms (the use of the word “solidarity” in a political context, for instance, seems jarringly contemporary) and for its reductive treatment of what are for many unquestionable miracles. This Jeshua is strictly a healer (for example, he sets bones). Ricci’s Lazarus was not dead, only unconscious. And Yeshua’s “rise” from his tomb was accomplished by followers who bribed the soldiers guarding it. On the other hand, Ricci’s spare, eloquent prose renders Yeshua’s simple determination to deliver his people from foreign oppression, and especially his embattled and agonizing final days, with impressive clarity and power.
Persuasive evidence that a writer as gifted as Ricci can tackle almost any subject and succeed with it. Better than Mailer, not as good as Crace.Pub Date: May 14, 2003
ISBN: 0-618-27353-0
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.
Pub Date: April 28, 1967
ISBN: 0449911543
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967
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