A review by snoakes7001
The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman
5.0
The Liars' Gospel is an interesting and thoughtful retelling of the traditional Jesus story. Instead of the usual Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we have three alternate gospels: Miriam, Iehuda, Caiaphas and Bar-Avo. We know them as Mary, Judas, Caiaphas and Barabbas.
It's an account of how a devout man, a teacher with new and controversial ideas about how the Judeans should live under the Roman occupation, could have lost his head and his humility, listened too closely to the more extreme zealots amongst his followers and started to believe that maybe he was more than a mere man.
Each of the narrators has a different take on events. Mary is grieving for her first-born, but also angry at his rejection of his family. When one of his followers seeks sanctuary in her village she embellishes the story of his birth to make them both feel better. Judas spins the story to his own ends as amusing anecdotes to entertain the friends of a well-to-do Roman citizen and thereby retain his place in the household. As the Jewish High Priest, Caiaphas has an uneasy role trying to appease his Roman masters and keep the peace in Jerusalem. Jesus to him is a scapegoat - someone in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was rounding up the rabble-rousers and his narrative contains a good deal of self-justification. Finally the story of Barabbas shows how the story of two men, one a holy teacher, the other a militant freedom fighter could have become conflated over time into the legend of a single man.
I think from the title alone it's obvious that if you view the Bible as an accurate historical document then this one won't be for you. If however you are interested in a fresh perspective on an old story that gives insights into how a minor cult may have flourished into a world religion, then it's an excellent read.
It's an account of how a devout man, a teacher with new and controversial ideas about how the Judeans should live under the Roman occupation, could have lost his head and his humility, listened too closely to the more extreme zealots amongst his followers and started to believe that maybe he was more than a mere man.
Each of the narrators has a different take on events. Mary is grieving for her first-born, but also angry at his rejection of his family. When one of his followers seeks sanctuary in her village she embellishes the story of his birth to make them both feel better. Judas spins the story to his own ends as amusing anecdotes to entertain the friends of a well-to-do Roman citizen and thereby retain his place in the household. As the Jewish High Priest, Caiaphas has an uneasy role trying to appease his Roman masters and keep the peace in Jerusalem. Jesus to him is a scapegoat - someone in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was rounding up the rabble-rousers and his narrative contains a good deal of self-justification. Finally the story of Barabbas shows how the story of two men, one a holy teacher, the other a militant freedom fighter could have become conflated over time into the legend of a single man.
I think from the title alone it's obvious that if you view the Bible as an accurate historical document then this one won't be for you. If however you are interested in a fresh perspective on an old story that gives insights into how a minor cult may have flourished into a world religion, then it's an excellent read.