The Gospel According to the New World
by Maryse Condé
On This Page
Description
One Easter Sunday, Madame Ballandra puts her hands together and exclaims: "A miracle!" Baby Pascal is stikingly beautiful, brown in complexion, with gray-green eyes like the sea. But where does he come from? Is he really the child of God? So goes the rumor, and many signs throughout his life will cause this theory to gain ground. From journey to journey and from one community to another, Pascal sets off in search of his origins, trying to understand the meaning of his mission. Will he show more be able to change the fate of humanity? And what will the New World Gospel reveal?--Back cover. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
The publisher describes this book as having "beauty, vivacity, humor, and power," but I don't think any of those words are really applicable; I would use words like passive, remote, dry, and unoriginal. It really isn't a bad book and I do kind of like it, but I can't help but think my time would have been better spent re-watching Life of Brian.
Received via NetGalley.
Received via NetGalley.
This is meant to be Condé's capstone work, but I liked her previous book Waiting for the Waters to Rise much more. This book is meant to be a retelling of the story of Jesus is the form of Pascal, a man from a fictional place that is a stand-in for Guadaloupe. I found the story to be all over the place, with little context or follow-through by Pascal. He goes here, goes there, chasing after his father and always being unsatisfied. Perhaps I just do not know bible stories well enough to follow the supposed parallels between Pascal's life and Jesus's life between their births and deaths.
Condé also drops names of various Caribbean historical figures, naming sites in her fictitious places after real people. I googled these and recognized show more one or two--maybe the use of those names in the book adds a layer that I can not understand from simple googling and reading. show less
Condé also drops names of various Caribbean historical figures, naming sites in her fictitious places after real people. I googled these and recognized show more one or two--maybe the use of those names in the book adds a layer that I can not understand from simple googling and reading. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
51+ Works 3,894 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Gospel According to the New World
- Original title
- L'Évangile du nouveau monde
- Original publication date
- 2021
- Dedication
- To Pascale, no friend could have become such a perfect secretary
To Serina, Mahily, Fadel and Leina
In homage to José Saramago - First words
- It's a land surrounded by water on all sides, commonly known as an island, not as big as Australia, bu nor small either.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"They have understood that thanks to the love between two individuals, thanks to their hearts beating in unison, an individual can put up with suffering, disillusionment, and humiliation of all sorts and that only this love can transfigure the world and make peace on earth."
- Original language
- French
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Historical Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 843.914 — Literature & rhetoric French & related literatures French fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999
- LCC
- PQ3949.2 .C65 .E9313 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Provincial, local, colonial, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 79
- Popularity
- 399,657
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (2.89)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 3
