A philosophically searching but overly moralistic tale.
In this fourth installment of a fictional series based on a true story, a teenage Egyptian experiencing a crisis of faith undertakes a meditative pilgrimage.
In 2015, nearly two dozen Coptic Christians were taken hostage by the Islamic State group in Egypt and summarily executed. There was only one survivor, Mekhaeil Zacharias, a 16-year-old whose life was spared in order to become a living testament to the band’s unmerciful intent. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Mekhaeil’s life continued to be a tumultuous one—he traveled to India, was hunted by IS assassins, became an international celebrity, and finally landed in New York City. In this volume, he now experiences profound spiritual confusion about who he is—removed from his native land, he’s unsure if he’s still a Coptic Christian or any kind of Christian at all. Father Bishoy, a kind of mentor to Mekhaeil, encourages him to replicate the pilgrimage once taken by St. James, El Camino de Santiago, which begins in France and concludes in northwestern Spain. During his journey, Mekhaeil meets and converses with many travelers and receives a series of lessons about the history of various world faiths, a litany that begins to feel like a textbook course on comparative religion. At one point, he tells a journalist: “I have learned about the Muslims and the Jews, the Buddhists and the Hindus, the Methodists and other Christian denominations, but I’m just not sure I believe everything I have been taught by my parents and the Coptic priests.” Kelley (Hiding in America, 2018, etc.) has based his series on the IS beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya in 2015; there were no survivors. In this installment, the author thoughtfully details Mekhaeil’s philosophical odyssey and his prayerful shift from thinking about God to addressing his concerns to him. While the narration in these pages frequently references the book’s predecessors, it’s understandable on its own. The author writes in lucid and affecting prose and powerfully limns Mekhaeil’s “beaten soul,” the consequence of his theological doubts as well as his survivor’s guilt. But Kelley tries too hard—laboriously and earnestly—to impart a lesson, which makes the novel feel didactic. For example, preceding the story are two introductory notes in which Kelley feels compelled to explain the work’s meaning in advance.
A philosophically searching but overly moralistic tale.Pub Date: June 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5320-5357-3
Page Count: 332
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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