The Book of Longings: Review

I adored this book, lol.

BOOK TITLE: The Book of Longings

AUTHOR: Sue Monk Kidd

DESCRIPTION OF BOOK COVER: Simple dark blue background with what is torn papyrus in the centre (orange yellow in color). The title and the author’s name are overlaid in the centre. The papyrus is surrounded by stars with several in the centerpiece.

GENRE: Historical Fiction

PAGES: 416

BLURB:

“I am Ana. I was the wife of Jesus.”

Raised in a wealthy family in Sepphoris with ties to the ruler of Galilee, Ana 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.

# OF STARS: 5

***

I read this book in one day.

Like, I was resentful when I had to take time away to cook dinner, do dishes, tend to the kids… And very little else got done.

To be fair, this genre is my jam. Aside from fantasy, historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. But there’s really only a few that I’ve read that are historical fiction and I’m not terribly interested in books about famous people or wars or anything like that. I like speculative historic fiction. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is one of my favorite books of all time. The Book of Longings is way up there too.

So, what’s the deal? Well, I enjoyed this book because I loved Ana. You may not love Ana. In fact, many reviewers don’t like her; they call her selfish or unrealistic, claiming that a woman of 1^st century AD ‘wouldn’t act that way’.

As an historian, I was fairly irritated by that actually. Do people honestly think that women who spoke their minds, followed their dreams, slapped lecherous men, and wrote stuff down is somehow new to the last century or two? That’s definitely not true, but what is true is that they were usually written out of the history books that were written by men who ignored women.

Anyway.

I loved this book because of the richness of the language and the emotion. I’m agnostic and I was choked up at the ending. I was angry at one part, saddened in a few parts, and cheering in others. It’s rich and yet cleanly and simply laid out, easy to get absorbed in. It’s atmospheric, but not in a haunting way; more in a water-color tone, pencil drawing way. Rich, but without all the unnecessary detail. The world of 1^st century AD drew me in, the characters were wonderful and there was so much emotion.

Ok, so what might you not like?

If you’re a devout Christian, you may go into this with the idea that either Ana is all wrong (but I’ve already barked about that) and that this book doesn’t focus enough on Jesus’ ministries. (hell, you might go in utterly horrified that Jesus has a wife and she’s the main character!) It’s not supposed to focus on Jesus – this is Ana’s story, and the author didn’t focus on Jesus’ ministries because if she had, Ana would have been regulated to a secondary character in the last half of her own story. Besides, if you want to read about Jesus, there are lots of books. In fact, even the author pointed out that she wanted to show Jesus the Man and the Human, not Jesus the Divine. I found him a lot more endearing as a human to be honest.

Also, trigger warning: rape, death, and mutilation. (The rape is not shown, but the after-effects certainly are).

Pros: Rich without being weighed down, I loved the characters, Jesus the Man was so kind and yet fierce, and Ana spoke to me from two thousand years ago. I loved her. She’s a writer like me! The descriptions of life in 1^st century AD was amazing. I’m rather devastated all over again that parts of Alexandria no longer exist.

Cons: Some of the scenes depicted are harsh and sad. If you’re Christian, you may find some (or even much) of the book offensive to you. It is not perfectly aligned to what historians have pieced together about Jesus’ life (the author admits to this); some of the dates of things are out by a few years to hold the narrative together. It’s not action heavy either so some people may get bogged down.

I absolutely loved this book and I’m so glad I got it on my Kindle. I might get a hard copy to so that it can sit next to my beloved The Historian.

Definitely recommend.