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Loading... The Testament of Mary (original 2012; edition 2013)by Colm Tóibín
Work InformationThe Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín (2012)
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In this slim novel, the mother of Jesus reckons with her rage and grief over the death of her son after she flees in fear for her own life. She remembers him as a sweet, dependent child and the passionate, arrogant man he became, proclaiming himself the Son of God, and sealing his death warrant. In Toíbín’s imagination, Mary is transformed from the passive, beatific incidental figure of the Bible to a very human mother confounded by her son’s demagoguery, but nevertheless supporting him during his agonizing hours on the crucifix and dealing with her grief afterward and guilt for having fled for her personal safety. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013. Wonderfully narrated by Meryl Streep in the audio version. ( ) The Testament of Mary is an account of the death of Jesus from the point of view of the one who knew him best, his mother Mary. Toibin's Mary is an aged woman preparing herself for the end of her life and seeking to clarify in her own mind the events surrounding her son's death. She recounts her son's inexorable slide into the clutches of his political enemies and gives us a grim eyewitness account of the crucifixion. Mary's account of the aftermath varies dramatically from the traditional account. Toibin's novella is ridden with heresies that are subtly and gently delivered in a way that is absolutely believable, although the book will no doubt ruffle many feathers. It is however a succinct and beautiful account of a mother's special bonds to her child, and a very human portrayal of a person who tradition has presented as more of a semi-divine figure.
Colm Tóibín's mothers don't always behave as they should; they are often unpredictable, occasionally downright troublesome, prone to gusts of passion or rage or – worse – unnatural indifference. Rarely are they uncomplicated figures of placid, nurturing devotion; but they do make for fantastically involving fiction. In his 2006 short-story collection, Mothers and Sons, Tóibín brought us relationships that were often characterised by the way they inverted traditional roles. An entrepreneurial widow plots to escape to the anonymity of the big city, clashing with her son's determination to hold fast to their small-town life; another man slinks away from a crowded pub rather than be spotted by the celebrated mother who has absented herself from his life; in "A Long Winter", a magnificent extended piece set in rural Spain, a young man is forced to keep house ineptly for his father after his alcoholic mother walks out into a snowstorm rather than be deprived of drink..... Is contained inAwardsDistinctions
A provocative imagining of the later years of the mother of Jesus finds her living a solitary existence in Ephesus years after her son's crucifixion and struggling with guilt, anger, and feelings that her son is not the son of God and that His sacrifice was not for a worthy cause. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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