The Testament of Mary
Registered by eponine38 of Winchester, Massachusetts USA on 3/28/2018
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
Amazon:
Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's provocative, haunting, and indelible portrait of Mary presents her as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity.
In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son’s crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel—her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it;” nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples. Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgement of others. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. Tóibín’s tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.
Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's provocative, haunting, and indelible portrait of Mary presents her as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity.
In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son’s crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel—her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it;” nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples. Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgement of others. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. Tóibín’s tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.
Sent to the Bordeaux convention to fulfill a wish. I hope you enjoy it ! No worries if you have received another copy in the meantime or changed your mind. :-)
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Thank you so much, eponine38, for this wishlist book! It was very kind of you to send it to the convention for me. And it meant you were there in spirit if not in person. Thanks for sharing!
I love Tóibín's style of writing - it's beautiful. And this is such an interesting story. A story so well known, but told from a different viewpoint. A quite down-to-earth viewpoint at that. Mary as a mother, as a woman fearing for her own safety too. Telling her story very practically and eloquently. I enjoyed this very much. Thanks for sharing!
Journal Entry 5 by Fifna at Ipswich BC Unconvention 2018 in Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Released 5 yrs ago (10/5/2018 UTC) at Ipswich BC Unconvention 2018 in Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Taking it to the Ipswich Unconvention.