historical fiction
Ana lives in Galilee shortly after the birth of Christ and
is a victim of the patriarchal circumstances of the times despite her wishes to
have control over her own life. Her father arranges a marriage with an old
widower, but a young Jesus of Nazareth catches her eye.
This novel never gained much momentum for me. It’s another
example of the plight of women that’s been told many times from different time
periods, different geographic locations, different backgrounds, and different
circumstances. It’s a common theme for a novel--the suppressed young woman,
betrothed against her will and publicly ridiculed for things that aren’t true
or are beyond her control, whose own desires and skills are ignored and unvalued. The books that are creative and exciting
enough to rise above the hoard of similar stories are few. This was not one of
those extraordinary novels. I’m sure many people appreciated the angle that Ana
ends up marrying Jesus which provides an alternate version of Christ’s life,
but I’m not one who particularly enjoys reading about religious figures or
religion in general. I do, however, give Sue Monk Kidd credit for her creative,
researched take on Jesus’ history.
The book was about Ana—not Jesus—and I did appreciate the
aspects of female solidarity and feminism in the novel. Ana was ambitious and
determined despite the challenges of her time and place. But The Book of Longings just never pulled me in. I would not have finished if it weren't for
book club. I’m sure most of the book club discussion will be a religious
discussion which, frankly, I don’t relish.
The audiobook narrator was Mozhan Marno. While her voice
acting was great, I wasn’t impressed with her vocal repertoire in this one
(compared to what I know she can do from another audiobook of hers I’ve heard)
and she mispronounced many of the Hebrew names which bugged me. I give her a B+ for this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment