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A review by theaurochs
Quarantine by Jim Crace
4.0
An enthralling and poetic examination of isolation and self-deprivation. Oh and some bloke called Jesus is in it.
Crace's prose has a strong lyrical element to it- it feels like the sort of story you might hear told around a campfire, like it wants to be read aloud. It is captivating and really draws you in. This is aided somewhat by the simplicity of the setting- we're in the year approximately 15AD and in the middle of inhospitable desert. There is precious little in the way of distractions, whether that's landscape, technology, other people, wildlife, whatever. As such the power of the writing and the narrative is forced to turn inwards towards the 7 characters we find taking shelter amongst the scrub and the caves, each seeking enlightenment or deliverance in their own way. Every aspect of the book is used in this way to further the ideas of self-imposed isolation. This sensory deprivation, in the tradition of the oldest mystics, will surely bring those who suffer it closer to divinity.
We follow these seekers of enlightenment as they struggle with the lack of worldly possessions, but also as they struggle with the temptations provided by a grotesque merchant who is stuck in the wilderness due to a fever. A truly abhorrent man, he uses his power, most of which is invented and propagated only by his way with words, to manipulate and corrupt the pilgrims- providing them with food and drink to ease their fasts but as he does so tainting them with his worldviews; ruining their peace and peace of mind. Enlightenment, this says, is an unstable equilibrium. It must be fought for strongly in the face of temptation; even small disturbances can knock you away from balance in ways you may not even recognise at first.
One of the pilgrims, however, is not swayed at all. He is a young man from Galilee, a carpenter's son. It is an interesting take on Jesus's 40 days in the wilderness- given that I'm not super up on my biblical studies so may not be the best commentator on this aspect, but I like it. Crace is not afraid to paint Jesus in a negative light; he comes across as more than a little crazy! Disparaged by his peers for his extreme devotion to God, he retreats to the wilderness to explore how every aspect of life could be turned to prayer, and for true enlightenment that he could then return to teach. His inner thoughts seem more desperate than devoted; any occurrence he is swift to attribute to God's workings, or the intentional lack thereof. He seeks meaning and metaphor in every small detail. And he goes above and beyond with the fasting- refusing any food or water, leaving behind all his possession, even his clothes. He refuses contact with the other pilgrims; imagining them to be devils sent to test him and break him. And is he entirely wrong in this aspect?
The book here shows that there must be some form of balance. Too much asceticism leaves you unable to function in the world, too little leaves you open to temptation and damnation.
What's really great about this book is that Jesus dies. It is left mostly ambiguous at the end whether or not another climbing figure actually is him; but as it stands he spends all this effort and mediation, and ultimately just dies. Closer to god at last? But funnily enough, that's what happens when you don't eat for 40 days.
Finally, we are left with the merchant- having been abandoned and rightly so by his heavily abused wife and the woman he raped, he manages to hobble to the trade route and prey on the pity of passing travellers. To do so, he trades stories of the mystical hermit who healed him, one Jesus; Crace showing quite happily that the cult of Jesus has been run by fat, manipulative, grotesque rapist cunts since the very beginning.
Crace's prose has a strong lyrical element to it- it feels like the sort of story you might hear told around a campfire, like it wants to be read aloud. It is captivating and really draws you in. This is aided somewhat by the simplicity of the setting- we're in the year approximately 15AD and in the middle of inhospitable desert. There is precious little in the way of distractions, whether that's landscape, technology, other people, wildlife, whatever. As such the power of the writing and the narrative is forced to turn inwards towards the 7 characters we find taking shelter amongst the scrub and the caves, each seeking enlightenment or deliverance in their own way. Every aspect of the book is used in this way to further the ideas of self-imposed isolation. This sensory deprivation, in the tradition of the oldest mystics, will surely bring those who suffer it closer to divinity.
We follow these seekers of enlightenment as they struggle with the lack of worldly possessions, but also as they struggle with the temptations provided by a grotesque merchant who is stuck in the wilderness due to a fever. A truly abhorrent man, he uses his power, most of which is invented and propagated only by his way with words, to manipulate and corrupt the pilgrims- providing them with food and drink to ease their fasts but as he does so tainting them with his worldviews; ruining their peace and peace of mind. Enlightenment, this says, is an unstable equilibrium. It must be fought for strongly in the face of temptation; even small disturbances can knock you away from balance in ways you may not even recognise at first.
One of the pilgrims, however, is not swayed at all. He is a young man from Galilee, a carpenter's son. It is an interesting take on Jesus's 40 days in the wilderness- given that I'm not super up on my biblical studies so may not be the best commentator on this aspect, but I like it. Crace is not afraid to paint Jesus in a negative light; he comes across as more than a little crazy! Disparaged by his peers for his extreme devotion to God, he retreats to the wilderness to explore how every aspect of life could be turned to prayer, and for true enlightenment that he could then return to teach. His inner thoughts seem more desperate than devoted; any occurrence he is swift to attribute to God's workings, or the intentional lack thereof. He seeks meaning and metaphor in every small detail. And he goes above and beyond with the fasting- refusing any food or water, leaving behind all his possession, even his clothes. He refuses contact with the other pilgrims; imagining them to be devils sent to test him and break him. And is he entirely wrong in this aspect?
The book here shows that there must be some form of balance. Too much asceticism leaves you unable to function in the world, too little leaves you open to temptation and damnation.
What's really great about this book is that Jesus dies. It is left mostly ambiguous at the end whether or not another climbing figure actually is him; but as it stands he spends all this effort and mediation, and ultimately just dies. Closer to god at last? But funnily enough, that's what happens when you don't eat for 40 days.
Finally, we are left with the merchant- having been abandoned and rightly so by his heavily abused wife and the woman he raped, he manages to hobble to the trade route and prey on the pity of passing travellers. To do so, he trades stories of the mystical hermit who healed him, one Jesus; Crace showing quite happily that the cult of Jesus has been run by fat, manipulative, grotesque rapist cunts since the very beginning.