Reviews

The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber

salisbury_hare's review against another edition

4.0

3 stars, bumped up for 4 because of the last lines: "We try our best to tell a story, so that others might be led towards Jesus, but Jesus is not a story. He is the end of all stories."

sanjastajdohar's review against another edition

4.0

I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but all in all the style was easy to go through and provided me with a few laughs and a few shudders.

aleffert's review against another edition

2.0

Interesting premise, a first hand account of Jesus appears, chaos ensues, but the actual book is mostly lazy satire: the author of the account is a bore who gets urinated on by a dying Jesus, the discoverer of and translator of the account, who happens to be a world class Aramaic scholar, is a tedious schlub. The reviewers of the book on amazon largely haven't even read it. The TV people want a soundbite version.

Faber has done much better.

kamckim's review against another edition

1.0

This was a huge disappointment. It's part of the Canongate myth series; however, it was not a retelling of an old myth. It was a new story about a fifth book of the Gospels, written by Malchus, a former servant of the high priest Caiaphus. Malchus is traditionally believed to have had his ear cut of by Peter, a disciple of Jesus. The manuscript of Malchus has been discovered by a scholar who goes through difficult times after he convinces a publisher to read his book. I'm disappointed because this novel is a story about Theo the scholar more than it is a retelling of a myth. For sure, the shock of the book via a translation of the discovered account is its portrayal of a very human death, rather than a divine Son of God. But this has been explored and done better than Faber does it. For a better book from the series regarding Jesus, you should instead read Pullman's, THE GOOD MAN JESUS AND THE SCOUNDREL CHRIST.

tasharobinson's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting premise, about a venal, flawed man who stumbles across a series of perfectly preserved scrolls from Jesus' time, including an eyewitness account of Judas' betrayal and Christ's crucifixion that completely contradict the existing gospels. But the execution is brief and minor, skipping across a lot of key connective material to draw some elaborate but disjointed sketches about the books' reception and its effect on the man who found it. It feels like so much is missing here — any attempt to verify the scrolls, or protect them (the protagonist leaves them unprotected in his fleabag apartment, and the point is made that this is phenomenally insecure, but nothing comes of it), or any attempt for the country where he stole them to reclaim them. The book jumps from the days where the author is a crank doing awkward appearances on local news to the point where he's a mega-bestselling author whose phenomenally gorgeous, capable, accomplished liaison on one of his book-tour appearances sleeps with him apparently just as part of the perks of selling books. (Another character I was sorry to see disappear after one scene—the publisher who first takes on the book back when no one believes in it. What happens to him?) This book feels vaguely satirical, reminiscent of Christopher Moore's Lamb, but while the individual scenes are well-drawn and Faber's writing is terrific, this feels like an aborted novel, a bunch of well-realized but disconnected pieces that don't add up to a whole.

jezzajezza's review against another edition

adventurous funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

kathrinweihs's review against another edition

challenging reflective

3.0

flijn's review against another edition

2.0

Theo Griepenkerl finds an ancient Aramaic text in the ruins of an Iraki museum. As a liguist and specialist in Aramaic, he recognizes that this is een eyewitness accont of Jesus's last days. He smuggles it home, translates it, and publishes it as 'The Fifth Gospel', by the former spy and late convert Malchus. Controverse ensues.

It's a promising plot, but I was disappointed. This book feels rushed and unfinished. This is because Theo is, at best, a humourless and boring man. The main character doesn't have to be likeable, but he should be interesting. Theo is just annoying. Since the other characters are just puppets to spurr the story onward, it is hard to really connect with it.

I also found the controverse caused by this gosel quite unbelievable. Sure, a find like that would be very interesting and provocative. But biblical scholarship tends not to be the deciding factor in people's faith. I don't believe that many people would lose faith because of the Gospel of Malchus like it is presented here. It would be a curiosity and everyone would take from it that which confirms their beliefs.

The gospel itself is another issue I have with this book. It is laughable. Theo describes his translation somewhere as "... a balance between the no-nonsense directness of the original Aramaic and the sort of weird Elizabethan-Hebrew hybrid that people are used to from the King James." (p. 64) He also notes Malchus is a bore. Fine, so were a lot of Biblical authors. But it would have been nice if I could have imagined for a second that this gospel was authentic.

penguinlost's review against another edition

funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

bibliophilelinda's review against another edition

4.0

Great quick read. Very Faber'isk, with all sorts of storyline parallels and an ending that leaves much to the imagination. I love this author.