Science-fiction specialist Park (Celestis, 1995, etc.) turns from distant planets to the distant past, here using an apocryphal conceit to retell the story of Jesus as a bearish ex-zealot who, exiled from Palestine for murder and treason, gradually discovers his true identity during a perilous trek to the Far East. The story begins in Rome with the flight of a slave, Corax, who watched his master kill himself rather than be killed in an Imperial power struggle. Finding his way to Palestine by sea, Corax makes use of his considerable skills as a healer to make money but runs afoul of Pilate's soldiers and is imprisoned. He becomes an informer to regain his freedom, then sets out on a pilgrimage through the former realms of Alexander the Great, intending to honor his father's memory by going to the headwaters of the Ganges. His medical training hindering his progress as much as helping, Corax eventually teams up with Jeshua of Nazareth, the Jewish bear- man he first saw in a cave of zealots in Palestine but who now seems to be popping up wherever Corax goes. Jeshua has both the Romans and his former comrades against him; he wanders in exile from one painful situation to another until Corax rescues him from a pigsty and the two flee eastward together. Along the way, they encounter gracious Persians, Jewish bandits, African slaves, and deadly but fair-minded Huns, and, finally, in the remotest outpost of Greek civilization, they witness the slaughter of the last inbred remnants of Hellenic culture. The two intrepid voyagers part company at the bloody scene, each to meet a separate destiny. A comfortable cruise for the armchair traveler through the Ancient World but not much as a novel: The characters serve mostly as points of reference in an ever-changing historical pageant without ever making the story their own.
Pub Date: June 12, 1996
ISBN: 1-56947-061-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1996
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
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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