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Chargement... The Book of Longingspar Sue Monk Kidd
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Sue Monk Kidd is not the first novelist to take a run at Jesus-as-mortal-man (Frank Yerby’s Judas, My Brother from 1968 comes to mind) – nor is she the first to theorize a married Jesus (Mary Magdalene frequently crops up on the candidate shortlist for that honor). But she may be the first to utilize the apocryphal spouse as the main character. And what a character she is – Ana, the daughter of a prominent Jewish household in Galilee, is determined that her voice will be heard and that the stories of the women in her world will be told. This independence of spirit inevitably leads to strife within the family, and sets her on the path that will lead her to marriage with a gentle laborer from Nazareth. Kidd attempts to paint Jesus as utterly human, and does a generally good job of it. There is very little Messianic spirit here, and no claim to divinity – just a bone-deep, ever-growing conviction that God has a specific journey in mind for him, and when it requires that he leave his family to prepare for and eventually preach, Ana is again left largely to her own devices among the company of women. How she survives, how she builds the life she must have within the culture and society of the era, forms the backbone of the book. There are moments in the novel when the Jesus-factor simply feels tacked on as a heck of a good promotional hook, and the most it really does is to give portions of the story an inevitable forward momentum. Kidd does a superb job here of re-creating the sights and sounds and smells of life in a land under Roman rule at the beginning of the Common Era, but frankly, she has written better books. As someone who was raised with no religion, I know little about it. Therefore, I was truly hesitant about reading a book about the wife of Jesus. Thankfully, a friend convinced me to read it and I am so glad that I did. Please don't let the thought of Jesus having a wife influence whether you read this book. Although Ana is married to "the" Jesus in The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd, it is not about Jesus. This is a fictional story of a courageous Ana, who dreams of being more than just a wife or mother. She tells the stories of those who can't and stories of those she shouldn't. Her aspirations to be more in the male-dominated world, to encourage others to be more, makes the marriage to Jesus believable. She is the hero and Jesus doesn't even qualify as her sidekick. I truly loved this story, perhaps I was able to enjoy it more than others because I do not know about Jesus. The author's writing makes the story easy to fall in love with. The characters were developed and their backgrounds evolved in a way to create a bond with each one. We rooted for Ana, hoped for Yaltha, worried for Judas. The author made me feel as though I was a follower of Ana. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a strong female character who is brave, daring, and adventurous. This took some warming up to, starting with the years it took me to even read it. Now that I'm finished I'm actually a little shattered. I absolutely love the portrayal of Jesus as fully man. And the thing about women being excluded so completely from history that it's not even that far fetched to a story is really upsetting. I don't understand people saying that women wouldn't act like that back then, do they really think we used to be perfectly submissive and spiritless? The betrayal coming from her brother was also devastating. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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"In her fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family in Sepphoris with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, a relentless seeker with a brilliant, curious mind and a daring spirit. She yearns for a pursuit worthy of her life, but finds no outlet for her considerable talents. Defying the expectations placed on women, she engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes secret narratives about neglected and silenced women. When she meets the eighteen-year-old Jesus, each is drawn to and enriched by the other's spiritual and philosophical ideas. He becomes a floodgate for her intellect, but also the awakener of her heart. Their marriage unfolds with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, James and Simon, and their mother, Mary. Here, Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to the Roman occupation of Israel, partially led by her charismatic adopted brother, Judas. She is sustained by her indomitable aunt Yaltha, who is searching for her long-lost daughter, as well as by other women, including her friend Tabitha, who is sold into slavery after she was raped, and Phasaelis, the shrewd wife of Herod Antipas. Ana's impetuous streak occasionally invites danger. When one such foray forces her to flee Nazareth for her safety shortly before Jesus's public ministry begins, she makes her way with Yaltha to Alexandria, where she eventually finds refuge and purpose in unexpected surroundings. Grounded in meticulous historical research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place, and culture devised to silence her"-- Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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The story is narrated by Ana, future, present, and widowed wife of Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth. As with all good historical fiction, the story is plausible because embroidered into the details are the familiar events of the New Testament stories, but also because it offers a plausible scenario in which she would not have appeared in the writings of the Apostles. Because of that latter element, I did not have to suspend disbelief to become immersed in Ana’s story, which I sometimes struggle with in a lesser work of historical fiction.
No spoilers here; just my general observations on the fine writing and compelling story. Ana certainly became a voice in my world in Sue Monk Kidd’s well-told tale. ( )