Liar’s Gospel by Naomi
Alderman
From Booklist: Storytelling is the lying art; a tale can’t be separated from its teller’s motives. This premise underlies Alderman’s
daring new novel, which follows four individuals who interacted with Jesus (here called Yehoshuah) just before the Crucifixion. His mother, Miryam, mourns him and his abandonment of his birth family; Iehuda can’t accept his
charismatic friend’s intolerance for dissent and growing sense of entitlement
and feels obligated to betray him. For Caiaphas, high priest of Jerusalem’s
temple, subduing one rabble-rousing preacher is of lesser importance than
appeasing Pontius Pilate and questioning his wife’s fidelity, while Bar-Avo
(Barabbas) incites violence against his people’s oppressors. Fabrications about
Yehoshuah are spoken by many, whether to entertain, mislead, or provide comfort
to others. Alderman presents an unabashedly Jewish perspective, and she
re-creates first-century Judea, a land subjugated by tyrannical Rome, in
intense, brutal detail. Religion and politics deeply intertwine in this
profound work, which expresses blunt truths about leadership while exploring the healthy nature of debate about one’s faith.
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