book data
216 ratings, 3.15 average rating, 26 reviews
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published
1998
by Abacus
binding
Paperback, 242 pages
isbn
034911014X
(isbn13: 9780349110141)
description
In the two millennia since Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote their separate biographies of Jesus, only a handful of other authors have attempted ren...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 280)
I came upon my copy of Norman Mailer's The Gospel According to the Son much like I came upon my copy of the Bible. The Bible I found on a heap of trash in an alley in my youth. I took it home with me. Mailer's account of the events I found on a nighttime walk i had through the streets of Wicker Park, and it happened to be on top a heap of other books, like someone had moved out of this apartment earlier today, and had decided that there was no more room for these books now in his life, but he di...more
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Read in December, 2007
This is the first I have read of Norman Mailer so how it fills in his library I cannot say. Taken from what it seems the gospel story of Mark Mr. Mailer writes as Jesus telling his account of what really happened, what he thought and what miracles really happened. This has been such an age old question- why didn't Jesus write anything down? This book works off that question along with the notion presented in Mark- which was when Jesus was baptized Jesus heard a voice telling Him who He really wa...more
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Read in January, 2003
While I must first admit that it is the height of pretention to write a fictional autobiography of Jesus Christ, but this is Norman Mailer we're talking about. And in this case, it's Mailer at his creative and witty best. he takes the gospel story and tells it like Christ might tell it over s'mores sitting around a camp fire. He doesn't downplay the supernatural elements of Christ's being, but he does temper it with a great deal of humanity, in thought, in living (after all, Jesus had to pee ...more
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Read in January, 1997
This was just plain stupid. I grabbed a copy at work back at Media Play while on the NYT Paperback Best Sellers, and accidently walked out to my smoke break with it; dicunt ei Caesaris tunc ait illis reddite ergo quae sunt Caesaris Caesari et quae sunt Dei Deo, I thought to myself, and into the Toyota Corolla 'twas it thrown, liberated. Later that evening, having completed it, I regretted ever allowing it into my house. As my buddy Geebs would comment, "tawdry and salacious!"
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Read in September, 1999
Date read is approximate. I'm pretty sure it was 99, though. Read this when I was exploring various religious paths, forget if I read a review of it first or if it was word of mouth. At any rate, it's Mailer trying to write as Jesus, basically copying from the Gospels and reworking them. It was an interesting idea and fairly well written. I think he captures the perspective of a man both human and divine better than most would give him credit for. Not a good book for the strongly religious...more
Read in December, 2007
I hadn't read Mailer before, and I'm not sure if this book is indicative of his style. I really liked it though. It went quickly and I had finished within a day. He wrote it in a way as to infuse the words with a kind of Biblical gravitas, but also very colloquially. I just happened to pick this up and start reading- I was out sick with a flu last week and couldn't really do anything but read. Not sure if it was the feverish state I was in, but Mailer's words gave the temptation in the desert a ...more
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
Christians
Mailer uses the first person voice, and writes with a deliberate and simple style. Not sure where it's going. Am reading as an athiest, so I hope he's not going to go all weird and dippy on me. The devil has the best tunes, natch.
In the end, he doesn't go weird. He doesn't really go anywhere. I guess he's aiming for a humanist portrayal, with a quasi-socialist nod to 'the faces of the poor'. Maybe it would have helped if I was agnostic.
In the end, he doesn't go weird. He doesn't really go anywhere. I guess he's aiming for a humanist portrayal, with a quasi-socialist nod to 'the faces of the poor'. Maybe it would have helped if I was agnostic.
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And to think, that if I had never bought this book in a fit of 16 year old pretentious pique, I'd never have found out that Norman Mailer thinks that the devil smells like a butt. Seriously. He has Jesus say that. Is that a spoiler? Crap.
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All of your religious friends/relatives will think you a heretic for reading this, but to hell with them. The story of the old testament told from Jesus's perspective. Tones down the old testament a lot. Highly recommended
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Few writers are arrogant enough to attempt a book like this. Even fewer would be skillful enough to pull it off. Norman Mailer contributes a solid (albeit controversial) retelling of the legend. And I enjoyed it.
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A fictional memoir, written from the point of view of the carpenter from Nazareth. I've never read a book that makes Jesus a more sympathetic character, although diehard fundamentalists should probably take a pass.
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Read in February, 2008
this crap reads like the fucking bible! i thought i was gonna read some new shit, but...i knew the whole damn story from being forced to sit in a pew in a catholic church for 18 years. no stars!
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Read in December, 2007
Written in the first-person, the life of Jesus Christ is expertly squeezed by the literary god into only 242 pages. It beats reading the St. James version and needing Hebrew lessons.
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Read in June, 1997
Interesting. What was it like to be Jesus? If he was truly a man, then he must have had the same doubts, weaknesses, etc. That's what it's about. It strenghtened my faith.
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Read in April, 2007
A sensitive and compelling first-person account of Jesus of Nazareth. Along with Nikos Kazantzakis's "The Last Temptation of Christ", this should be required reading in Sunday School.
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Read in January, 2008
Jesus speaking in the first person, telling his point of view. I was prepared to be shocked and offended, but I never was. Very thought provoking.
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Better read up on your Jesus before you pick this up; otherwise you're just going to be confused as hell about what's real and what's fiction.
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Read in May, 2007
A few of the quotes were memorable. Inshallah, I'll be adding them to my blog soon.
Otherwise..eh..
Otherwise..eh..
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Great rendition of a classic story. I thought about this book for weeks after finishing it.
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Read in May, 2008
Very interesting book and much easier to comprehend than reading the bible.
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