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Biblical

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Margaret
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Biblical

Post by Margaret » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 1:11 am

Margaret George's novel Mary Called Magdalene caught my eye when I was browsing at Powell's a while back. Perhaps I was drawn to it partly because of all the razzmatazz about The Da Vinci Code and partly because I know Margaret George is a competent, serious historical novelist. The Da Vinci Code is really not a historical novel, even though the plot does turn on historical events, and it lost me very early on when the eerie red lighting in the Louvre at night is described and then Sophie comes in and the protagonist describes her down to the color of her eyes. Still, the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children has some real spice to it. Mary Called Magdalene disappointed me, because it's a pretty orthodox retelling of the familiar Gospel story, so it didn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. George leaves out a few miracles and stresses Mary's possession by demons. I've reviewed it at http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Mary-C ... alene.html.

While researching similarly themed novels for companion reading, I came across information about Elizabeth Cunningham's 2006 novel The Passion of Mary Magdalen. That's the one I should have read. It sounds pretty far-fetched - Mary Magdalen is a druid priestess who meets Jesus when he travels to Britain to learn about the religion of the druids. She becomes a slave in Rome before escaping and traveling to Judea to try to find him again. Wow! But if an author's going to reinterpret the Gospel story, seems like it's worthwhile to do enough reinterpretation to keep the reader guessing. Anyone read this one?
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Volgadon
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Post by Volgadon » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 6:04 am

But you can certainly overdo it!!
I prefer to read reinterpretations which are plausible.
Meir Shalev has an interesting book called Bible Now, a collection of essays comparing Old Testament stories to events of the 70s and 80s (the time frame he was writing in). He puts a lot of life into those stories and adds fresh perspective.

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Wed October 22nd, 2008, 1:44 pm

I DNF Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret George. I am afraid that the cookery magazines started coming out about half way through. For whatever reason I just found it dull.
The Elizabeth Cunningham sounds a bit 'Mists of Avalon' doesn't it? If I see it in the library I might pick it up.
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Post by annis » Thu October 23rd, 2008, 1:40 am

I remember reading a rather bizarre thriller about Mary Magdalene way back. It was called "Dark Moon" by J.H. Brennan, pub 1980.
http://www.magdalene.org/review16.php

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Thu October 23rd, 2008, 2:44 am

[quote=""EC2""]I DNF Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret George. I am afraid that the cookery magazines started coming out about half way through. For whatever reason I just found it dull.
The Elizabeth Cunningham sounds a bit 'Mists of Avalon' doesn't it? If I see it in the library I might pick it up.[/quote]


You arent the only one who found it dull. I think I gave up on page 25. It was just so uninteresting.
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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Thu October 23rd, 2008, 6:16 pm

It took some persistence for me to finish it. If I hadn't been planning to review it, I probably would have given up. I'm curious - where did you guys stop reading?

The possession business seemed pretty far-fetched to me, and I probably would have stopped there if it had been a random library book. But it didn't start getting boring to me until later on, when the story became so familiar.
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Ash
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Post by Ash » Fri October 24th, 2008, 2:02 am

One of my favorite takes on the bible include: Lamb by Christopher Moore, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago, Quarrantine by Jim Crace, and Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Interesting how many of these I've read......

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Fri October 24th, 2008, 9:54 am

[quote=""Margaret""]It took some persistence for me to finish it. If I hadn't been planning to review it, I probably would have given up. I'm curious - where did you guys stop reading?

[/quote]

I can't remember, it's not left much of an imprint for me, but in terms of remembering the book as a physical object, it would be just before half way. I have heard quite a few readers say that this one didn't have the spark. Her book on Henry VIII is supposed to be good and they have it in the library so I might borrow that at some point.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Susan
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Post by Susan » Sun April 5th, 2009, 1:09 pm

[quote=""Margaret""]Mary Called Magdalene disappointed me, because it's a pretty orthodox retelling of the familiar Gospel story, so it didn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. George leaves out a few miracles and stresses Mary's possession by demons. [/quote]

I finished (well, not quite) Mary Called Magdalene this past week and I agree with Margaret. I enjoyed the first part of the novel which is Mary's back story as a daughter and wife in a town along the Sea of Galilee. The second part, the familiar Gospel story was pedestrian. I kept thinking about Jesus Christ Superstar and how often lyrics from its songs kept popping up. Something can be said for maintaining the story from the Gospel, but this part of the book lacked something for me. I stopped reading the book during the third part with 42 pages left to go. I don't know exactly why, but the motivation to finish the book wasn't there.
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chuck
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Post by chuck » Sun April 5th, 2009, 3:19 pm

A few years ago I read an odd book about Mary Magdalene written by Kathryn McGowan "The Expected One"....Mixed reviews, should not be compared with the "Da Vinci Code"...I read it....Some interesting theories abound....With that said I honestly don't remember much about the book....Might be a time slip novel...I would check out the reviews before you delve in....Thick book......Cheers

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