Requiem

by Graham Joyce

SACRED MYSTERIES

Following the death of his wife, Tom Webster travels to Jerusalem in search of a friend from his college days. But the haunted city, divided by warring religious groups, offers him no refuge from guilt and grief.

As he wanders through the streets and the archaeological sites, a mysterious old woman appears to him, delivering messages that seem beyond comprehension. Then a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, kept hidden by an elderly innkeeper, appears to offer the key to understanding the woman's pronouncements.

Perhaps the spirit of Mary Magdelene is trying to reveal to Tom the hidden history of the Resurrection. And perhaps the truth is even stranger…

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Magical Realism, Religion, Paranormal, Thriller

308 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Graham Joyce (22 October 1954 – 9 September 2014) was an English writer of speculative fiction and the recipient of numerous awards for both his novels and short stories.

After receiving a B.Ed. from Bishop Lonsdale College in 1977 and a M.A. from the University of Leicester in 1980. Joyce worked as a youth officer for the National Association of Youth Clubs until 1988. He subsequently quit his position and moved to the Greek islands of Lesbos and Crete to write his first novel, Dreamside. After selling Dreamside to Pan Books in 1991, Joyce moved back to England to pursue a career as a full-time writer.

Graham Joyce resided in Leicester with his wife, Suzanne Johnsen, and their two children, Joseph and Ella. He taught Creative Writing to graduate students at Nottingham Trent University from 1996 until his death, and was made a Reader in Creative Writing.

Joyce died on 9 September 2014. He had been diagnosed with lymphoma in 2013.

Reviews

[°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το «Ρέκβιεμ» είναι ένα ισχυρό μυθιστόρημα με τεταμένες αναγνωστικές αναφορές και περιελίξεις ιστορικού και θεολογικού χαρακτήρα.
Ανατροπές σε φαινομενικά ισχύουσες καταστάσεις χιλιάδων ετών πριν, και υπερφυσικά γεγονότα που τείνουν να γίνουν πιστευτά και απο τις πιο ορθολογιστικά επιστημονικές κοινότητες.

Η πλοκή και οι ενέργειες δεν είναι σε πλήρη εξέλιξη. Υπάρχει μια διαδικασία συνεχούς κίνησης μα ειναι περισσότερο σε ψυχολογικό και συναισθηματικό πλαίσιο.

Ίσως να πρόκειται για ενα βιβλιο που διερευνά το εσωτερικό τοπίο του νου και της καρδιάς.

Ο αναγνώστης μπαίνει συχνά σε θέση διερεύνησης. Αναρωτώμενος τί είναι πραγματικό και τί δεν ειναι, όπως επίσης αν υπάρχει διαφορά ανάμεσα στο αληθινό και το φανταστικό.

Διεξάγεται μια εξερεύνηση κατά τη διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης και παρουσιάζονται εύστοχα τα αποτελέσματα απο την παρουσία και τη ζωή σε άλλα ενεργειακά επίπεδα που δεν έχουν εξεταστεί.

Τί θα συνέβαινε άραγε αν όλα τα ανεπίλυτα της ύπαρξης μας έπαιρναν μορφή και μας στοιχειωθετούσαν.

Η ιστορία που πραγματεύεται το βιβλίο αυτό αποτελεί μία δέσμευση.
Οι χαρακτήρες πλήρως αναπτυγμένων διαστάσεων και μέσα σε ρεαλιστικά πορτραίτα αποτελουν τη βάση που ισχυροποιεί ακόμη περισσότερο το μυθιστόρημα.

Δεδομένων των στοιχείων που φανερώνει ο συγγραφέας μέσα απο το έργο του δεν θα ήταν δύσκολο να πιστέψουμε πως τα περισσότερα γεγονότα που διαδραματίζονται είναι αληθινά, συνολικά ή επιλεκτικά.

Ίσως οι αποκαλύψεις που είναι γεννήματα των
περγαμηνών στην νεκρά θάλασσα να ισχύουν.
Ποιος μπορεί να πει με σιγουριά πως η ιστορία του Ιησού όπως γράφτηκε απο τη Μαρία την Μαγδαληνή και ακυρώνει τα ιερά ψεύδη της Βίβλου δεν ειναι αληθινή;

Εδώ ο πρωταγωνιστής της ιστορίας μας βιώνει ανεπίλυτα συναισθήματα και ψυχολογική μανία καθώς προσπαθεί να συνειδητοποιήσει τον θάνατο της αγαπημένης του.
Πηγαίνει στην Ιερουσαλήμ για να αισθανθεί τον μυστήριο τρόμο των αντιθέσεων που μαστίζουν αυτή την πόλη αυταπάτη.
Μαστίζεται απο οράματα και αμφισβητεί την συνοχή των σκέψεων του αφού ο θυμός και η ενοχή υπερχειλίζουν την αρρωστημένη του ψυχολογία.

Μήπως έχουμε όλοι τον προσωπικό μας δαίμονα, μήπως οι άγγελοι που φανερώνονται στα όνειρα μας έχουν δόντια και ο πανικός μας χέρια για να χαϊδεύει τις ενοχές και να ταΐζει τους εφιάλτες. Μήπως...;



Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.

[Μπάμπης M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

8,5/10. Ο Τομ Γουέμπστερ μετά από μια μεγάλη απώλεια εγκαταλείπει την δουλειά του ως καθηγητής και φεύγει ταξίδι στην Ιερουσαλήμ. Εκεί βρίσκεται μπλεγμένος σε πολύ μυστήριες καταστάσεις που στην αρχή μοιάζουν να αφοράν την πνευματική και ψυχολογική υγεία του. Όσο περνάν οι σελίδες η ιστορία αποκτά ένα σκοτεινό-αποκρυφιστικό χαρακτήρα (δαιμονικά τζίνι, χειρόγραφα της Νεκρής Θάλασσας κ.α.) Πέρα από το ευφάνταστο και καταπληκτικό μεταφυσικό υπόβαθρο, ο αναγνώστης θα συναντήσει και άλλες ενδιαφέρουσες λογοτεχνικές ιδέες - ιστορικού(σταύρωση Ιησού), θεολογικού και σεξουαλικού χαρακτήρα. Θα τού έβαζα μεγαλήτερο βαθμό αλλα το τέλος δεν μου άρεσε τόσο όσο περίμενα. Γενικά μου θύμισε αρκετά ένα άλλο αγαπημένο μου βιβλίο: «το τραγούδι της θεάς Κάλι» του Dan Simmons.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oct 23, 1150pm ~~ Review asap.

Oct 24. 215pm ~~ Graham Joyce was my Literary Birthday selection for October. I usually read just one title per author for this challenge but I have outdone myself this month by reading three! The first two simply were not enough, I wanted more.

But Joyce has a leaning towards spookiness and I could not find another title that sounded like I would be comfortable reading with my active and visual imagination. Until I read the review of this book by my GR friend Jennifer. Her review convinced me this would be a worthy book and she was certainly correct. Thanks, Jennifer!

What intrigued me about this story was the depths we as humans are capable of diving into in order to avoid the truth about.....well, everything. Our fears, our lusts, our spirituality. We tend to lie about those things and so many others. We lie to ourselves, to our family, to Joe Blow down the street. Anything to keep from facing facts which scare us.

Tom thought he was approaching life correctly, but a flashpoint for him was the bizarre accident which caused the death of his wife at a time when they could both tell that something was changing in their relationship. What this something was is eventually revealed but Joyce never tells you everything all at once. He builds and builds, reveals a bit here and a bit there, until you think you know.....but do you really? I never quite guessed it all.

Tom wants very much to find his friend Sharon, a woman he has known for years. They had maintained their friendship even after his marriage, and now with his world in pieces he needs the comfort of her steadiness. So he flies to Jerusalem to find her.

But in this amazing city he finds much more than the friend he desperately needs. He finds the Truth of his life, and it is not always pretty. If this was a movie, there would be many places I would close my eyes and plug up my ears. There were quite a few places where my Creepiness Meter went off and I skipped ahead a few lines, but mostly I was okay with the supernatural events going on.

And of course there was always the question: are they truly supernatural events or do they occur only in the minds of our various characters? I get the feeling that in Jerusalem, just like in Mexico, a person has to eventually come to believe that anything could happen.

There is one tiny comment to make about certain theories that are brought up during the story. If a reader has been spoon-fed on organized religion (of any variety) to the point of living inside the confines of a rigid belief system, that reader might be offended by parts of this book. An open mind and the ability to think for yourself will definitely help here. Not to mention a simple look back at world history and how organized religion has worked in reality as compared with how it should have worked. There is a lot here to start a person thinking deep thoughts!

I really enjoyed this book, even with the moments of 'oh, I can't look'. I marked it four stars at first but I am going to change it to five. It is definitely worth it!

[Cher 'N Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars - It was alright, an average book.

This had a fascinating underlying story that swirled around biblical lore, conpiracies and mythical creatures (jinns). Sadly, this underlying story kept getting interrupted and overshadowed by the boring plot of the main character.

The MC was weak, unlikeable, and dreadfully dull. I had absolutely zero interest in hearing his pathetic drivel as he stumbled through his pitiful life which was governed by base desires rather than intellect, (oh the irony of him being a "teacher"), particularly when there were other far more interesting characters in the periphery.

With a different MC this could have been great but the inadequate one that was present instead brought the enjoyability factor way down. This story from Ahmed's POV could have been amazing and Tobie would have been a more captivating MC as well.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: All human beings have a tremendous capacity for lying and deceiving and their first victim is invariably themselves.

First Sentence: They were helping a party get out of hand, an end-of-term hooley thrown by a teaching colleague during Tom's probationary year.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can roll your eyes if you like and mutter, "she just gave this guy another 5 star review, she must be a looney". I stand proudly on my pedestal and say "Yes I did". I woke up in the middle of the night and thought about this book.

Sex.Religion.Relationships. Is that what life is all about? Monty Python thought about it. Graham Joyce thought about it. He made me think about it.

Once again, we have an amazing cast of characters. Tom, Sharon, Ahmed, Tobie, and Mary Magdalene. What you say? Mary Magdalene? I say , "Yes it is true". Now your confused. I shall leave you confused and dare you to read the book.

Djinns. There are plenty of those too. I didn't realize Jerusalem might have them. They are all over India...But it makes sense.

I mustn't forget Jerusalem is a character as well. After reading this, I kinda want to meet it. I have never felt drawn to visit..but I feel an urge to wander the various quarters. I feel like I might have been there before.

I would love to hang out with Ahmed and smoke hash, drink beer and decipher scrolls...

I would love to have a therapy session with Tobie. She says and I quote darlink "Your daddy fucked your mummy, and your mummy fucked your daddy. As did mine and everybody else's. That's how we all got here. That's one of two things you can be sure of. The second thing is that you gonna die one day. Everything else is up for grabs. " I just loved that.

This book is about much more than the silly blurb on the back tells us. Frankly if I had just picked this up and read the blurb I would have put it back. But it's the author for me that makes all the difference.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The plot was well constructed and it had a nice development, but then it kind of kept developing and the pages remaining started decreasing rapidly while the story kept building up. Eventually the story had to come to an end but the ending seemed more of an afterthought than any destination the author probably had in mind. I'd give this book four stars up until about the last forty or so pages.

[Arax Miltiadous · Rating 2 out of 5]

Μου τα έκανε λίγο μπάχαλο από κάποια φαση και μετά. Το σκοτεινό ημερολόγιο ήταν κλάσης ανώτερο καιβας ήταν από τα πρώτα του.

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a difficult one to review, I am not sure if the mixture of so many different ideas was just too much. Tom’s wife Katie has died and he heads for Jerusalem to visit is old friend Sharon. There is a lot of unrest in Jerusalem at the time Rabin and Arafat are talking and there is a lot of tension. Sharon is a Jew, her friend Ahmed is an Arab, Tom is a Christian. They all team together to try and solve a mystery.
I think if it had been a straightforward historical, biblical type mystery it would have been and easier read but it involved so many different strange elements that it all gets a bit tangled.

Firstly Tom is obviously grieving, he is feeling guilty, so is this the reason that he starts hearing voices and seeing strange apparitions? Is he being haunted? Ahmed believes that the whole problem is being caused by Djinns and sees them everywhere but he does smoke a lot of weed so I am not sure that he is a reliable influence!

Tom is descending into his own particular hell and he needs the help of his friends to save his sanity. Sharon is there for him and has always loved him. There are some sex scenes in the book which should have been loving but were turned in to something dirty (in my opinion) by the crude language of the author, there was no need to make it into something base.

I carried on to the end but I felt there were just too many ideas vying for importance and no really solid plot. Another attempt to involve Mary Magdalene at any cost, I enjoy some to these stories about Mary but again she is very badly portrayed in this book.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graham Joyce came highly recommended by Jonathan Carroll, and that’s enough recommendation for me to read a phone book. Requiem, Joyce’s fourth novel and the first to be published in the U.S., is a quirky book, written in a weirdly flowing style that I associate with several of today’s British authors (Mary Gentle is the author that comes to mind immediately, although shades of Geoff Ryman and Greg Egan are also present). This style is achieved partly through the use of dialogue as a method for moving plot, wherein elements to the story are told by the characters, but almost as a short story told by the narrator to the other characters. The other major element to this style is the use of blind switchbacks (or red herrings) in the plot, and a willingness to “leave out” information, that the reader must fill in by putting together narrator comments, dialogue, and a good guess. In Gentle’s case, I can’t take this style–she does it to such an extent or I am such a fast reader that I miss the subtle implications and quickly get lost as to what is actually happening. Joyce only does it somewhat, reserving it for the secrets that surround his narrator.

Requiem is about guilt. The trick is to determine exactly what guilt. Tom’s wife Katie dies in a freak traffic accident–her car is smashed by a fallen tree–so Tom quits his job as a teacher and travels to Jerusalem. Although it’s been six months, he still has strange feelings about his wife’s death, much more than just the natural ones of mourning and loss. There’s also something not quite right at the school, helping him make the decision to leave for awhile. In Jerusalem, he connects with an old college friend, Sharon, who is working for a women’s counseling center. Along the way he befriends an old man who runs a hostel. While exploring the old city, something he had always wanted to do, and feels guilty about doing it without Katie, especially after her death, he finds himself adrift, confronted by Arab vagabonds, and this strange old woman who scratches out a message in the sandstone walls with her fingernail.

The similarities with Carroll are many. Not only do scenes have that slightly unreal feeling, while remaining so detailed and close to home, the characters are vivid and intriguing, the narrator is questionable in his sanity, and then there’s the ancient manuscript that might be a part of the Dead Sea Scrolls find that could change our concept of the gospel as it is now known. In both large and small items, the concept of truth and honesty is ambiguous.

I liked Requiem, and almost wanted to read it again as soon as I finished it, to see if there were things that I missed as I sped through the book, caught up in the world and the fine writing. I’m searching for Joyce’s other novels, delighted to find another writer who appeals to that same sense of mystery and wonder that has caught me up in the works of Robertson Davies, Carroll, and Iain Banks.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was all set to give this one 5 stars, since I was intrigued by the weaving of one man's personal grief with the City of Grief, Jerusalem. I had a chance to be in Jerusalem, and the book does a wonderful, eerie job of capturing the place, especially its power to haunt.

And indeed, this IS a ghost story, with the protagonist, Tom Webster, being haunted by his wife's ghost, his sexual fantasies, and his religious doubts. One of the most interesting characters is Ahmed, the Palestinian scholar who translates the ancient scroll Tom has received from a dying Jewish man. Ahmed calls these ghosts DJINN, and is terrified of them.

The scroll itself, as Ahmed translates, is the story of Christ as told by Mary Magdalene, and carries the same message attempted in THE DAVINCI CODE, but with more intensity. Some Christians would be offended at the idea not only that the Magdalene was Jesus's wife but that she, Peter, and Judas had PLOTTED to save Jesus from the cross with certain herbs in order to fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah. They even practiced on Lazurus, giving him snake venom and then restoring him with a herbal compound!!!

However, to make the plan work, Jesus's legs could NOT be broken, as was the custom in crucifixion. And the "Liar" who tells the guard to do it, thus assuring the death of Jesus, turns out to be Saul, later Paul. The anger Joyce feels toward the church's misogyny is aimed directly at Paul, while the Magdalene is seen not only as Jesus's wife but his most loyal disciple.

The ending becomes so overboard that I could only give the book 4 stars--as if Joyce didn't know quite how to wrap it up. Tom shaves his head, plans to blow up St. Paul's with bottles of gasoline--the whole last few chapters wreck the "suspension of disbelief" necessary in magical realism.

However, the book DOES contain one of my top five favorite quotations. After Katie dies, Tom says:

"When people die they leave behind tiny deposits, like dust or ash, littering the lives of those who have to carry on. Impossible to wipe a house clean. Memories dwelled in cobweb places behind wardrobes and between cupboards; they hid behind radiators; they lurked on shelves; like slivers of shattered glass, they waited for their moment to lodge deep in any vulnerable expanse of passing skin."

Anyone who has suffered loss knows EXACTLY what those words mean.

[Justin Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man-pained widower fucks his way into a nervous breakdown, then fucks his way out. The Dead Sea Scrolls, Mary Magdalene, and djinn are also involved.

[lia · Rating 1 out of 5]

problem z tą książką jest taki że może nawet nie jest zła fabularnie - takie wątki biblijne w nowym świetle są dla mnie interesujące, plus te wszystkie djinny były spoko. problem jest taki że nie moge tego ocenić ani trochę wyżej skoro dorosły typ opisuje tutaj scenę seksu ze swoją 14 letnią uczennicą (okazuje się to fantazjami a nie aktualnymi wydarzeniami, ale to nadal niczego nie zmienia) i jeszcze zamiast przyznać że ma jakieś zapędy pedofilskie to mówi że to norma wśród nauczycieli i że go kusiła?? i to wszystko opisuje?? halo?? no dla mnie to skreśla wszystko

[Isidora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Μια εντυπωσιακή και σφιχτοδεμένη ιστορία που εκτυλίσσεται στη σύγχρονη Ιερουσαλήμ, "πόλη των τζινν, όνειρο που 'βλεπες ξύπνιος, εφιάλτης, αλήθεια μες στο ψέμα, πώμα στα ύδατα των βαθών, αλώνι, χωνευτήρι, άξονας της γης, φαντασία κι ολόγραμμα, τόπος σφαγής και λύτρωσης, υπόσχεση ειρήνης."
Ένα βιβλίο με Χειρόγραφα της Νεκράς Θάλασσας, δαιμονικές Ερινύες, Ισραηλινούς με ούζι, αποσπάσματα της Παλαιάς Διαθήκης, μυρωδιές από φαλάφελ και βάλσαμο, ικανό να σε κρατήσει δέσμιο από την πρώτη μέχρι την τελευταία του σελίδα.
Χωρίς αμφιβολία ένα εξαιρετικό μυθιστόρημα, όχι για την πρωτοτυπία των χαρακτήρων και των στοιχείων που το αποτελούν, αλλά για την ποιότητα της αφήγησης που ακροβατεί επιδέξια μεταξύ του φυσικού και του υπερφυσικού υπενθυμίζοντάς μας πόσο ανώφελο και -κυρίως- πόσο βαρετό είναι να επιμένουμε να ζούμε μόνο σε έναν από τους δύο κόσμους.
"Αχ αυτή η εφήμερη ζωή! Πάρε ψωμί και γάλα και θα σ' αγαπώ.xxx"

[Jack Haringa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as rich and powerful as I'd remembered, Joyce's Requiem is a meditation on grief and secrets, those we keep from others and those we keep from ourselves. It's an intensely sexual novel as well--not erotic, but rather concerned with the effects and powers of physical intimacy, especially how we process it under pressure from religion and society. Joyce's evocation of Jerusalem feels thoroughly authentic; the city breathes on the page, and it lives as a character equal to the people who move through its twisted streets.

[Γιώργος Μπελαούρης · Rating 4 out of 5]

το τρίτο που διάβασα από τζόις
είναι κάπως σαν αδελφάκι βιβλίο του τραγουδιού της κάλι στα μάτια μου
βαριά ατμόσφαιρα και κάπως κλειστοφοβική λόγω της τοποθεσίας
η νεράιδα και το ημερολόγιο με είχαν επηρεάσει πολύ περισσότερο, μα -δυστυχώς- καλύτερο από το ίντιγκο

[Trunatrschild · Rating 4 out of 5]

Searching for occult in all the wrong places.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rec. by: Previous (or subsequent) work; Godfather's Books in Astoria OR
Rec. for: Iconoclasts, and peacemakers, perhaps, for a place that knows no peace

The capacity for self-deception was, despite all myths to the contrary, more tenaciously protected in men than in women.
—p.266

Jerusalem Syndrome may not be "listed as a recognised condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or the International Classification of Diseases," but it's frequently observed in visitors to that ancient holy city anyway. Tom Webster has made his way from soggy England to sunny Jerusalem, after the untimely death of his wife Katie and an initially-unspecified workplace issue, and it seems obvious well before the term itself pops up (on page 107) that he has succumbed to something—if not Jerusalem Syndrome, then to something very much like it.

I think Tom's college friend Sharon, who lives in Jerusalem, has the right of it, though:

"Sometimes I despise this city."
—p.69

Through an unlikely chain of events, Tom receives a copy of a lost Dead Sea Scroll—an artifact which leads him to Sharon's friend Ahmed, a multilingual Arab beset by djinn who, despite misgivings, agrees to translate the scroll. The text turns out to be from an apocryphal Gospel, written by and about Mary—Mary Magdalene, that is, who was forcibly expelled from the early Christian church by the machinations of the apostle Paul, who is known only as "The Liar" in the Scroll itself... something which leads Tom and Sharon into ever more intense engagement with Jerusalem's history and the very foundations of Christianity.

This isn't easy on anyone, though—not Tom, or Ahmed, or Sharon. Tom in particular may not be as well put-together as he'd like to believe. He's not the most likeable of protagonists, anyway—Tom's guilt over his wife Katie's death, and about his inappropriate relationship with one of his students, seems entirely justified—but the reality is even worse (or even weirder) than that.

Reading this novel did feel strangely topical, though—as the events of Requiem are unfolding, the real-life peace negotiations between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin were also ongoing, although even then it seemed unlikely that those talks would succeed...

"Not everyone is in favor of Arafat. You know Hamas will try to break the talks."
—p.271

Not that the Israelis in Requiem come off as any better... it was depressing to see the squabbling factions in this book and to realize that essentially nothing has changed in thirty years.

*

Following hard on the heels of the magnificient Facts of Life, I was overjoyed to find this trade paperback (an autographed copy, no less—and we will see no more of those, you know, since Graham Joyce passed away in 2014) in a well-stocked and welcoming bookstore in the seaside town of Astoria, Oregon, called Godfather's Books.

Requiem is a substantially earlier effort, though—first published in 1995, though my copy was printed in 1998—and that shows, I think. I did not enjoy Requiem nearly as much as the other, more recent Graham Joyce books I've encountered. The novel's conclusion felt rushed and undeserved as well, at least to me. You may consider one of the stars I've conferred here an asterisk, if you like. But this story still had its moments, and Joyce kept me guessing all along—so job done, Mr. Joyce. Perhaps one day I'll get to thank you for your work in person.

Eh, probably not.

[Nat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could start by saying that the plot has everything it needs, theoretically, to be gripping and eerie.It is not. It's flat and lacks a certain quality.The dialogues are contrived and the characters shallow and boring.Taking about Jerusalem, Christ, jinns ,lost scripts ,the paranormal and manage to land flat, is an accomplishment.
I could continue ,with a narrative brimming with stereotypical clichés about women. Comical to some extend.At some point he describes a woman who plays no role at all, as pretty enough to be a model! Why?what does this useless information about a nonexistent character ,had to be included!?"she could be a model"lol!This is the epitome of man gaze,not surprising because it was the 90s after all. I don't know a lot of women who almost got rapped by their friend to not only feel bad about HIM but to reach out ,comfort and have sweet sweet sex with said "friend" shortly after!!
To be honest,i couldn't care less about those things because the book stinks of pedophilic references!!
Having a teacher refer to his female under-age students(kids) as sluts and seductresses,made my skin crawl. fantasizing about them during sex? Actually blaming a child of seducing his adult ass?Having(imaginary) sex with an almost 15 year old as a teacher and justifying it by saying that "all teachers have the fantasy of having sex with a student but not all of them had the chance to do so"?? In the end,it is revealed that he didn't actually have sex with his student. Does it make a difference?Does it matter,when he is burning with desire for his 14 year-old student!?Not really,no.
Bruce joyce himself being a teacher ,makes this even worse and alarming!
What strikes me the most is that this book ,this author won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel for this(?)book. There were ppl who read about all these pedophilic references and said"amazing!Give the man a prize"!!
It cost me about 2€ to get that book. Way too expensive.

[Mikko Saari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Webster on opettaja, jonka vaimo on kuollut onnettomuudessa. Tom lopettaa työnsä ja matkustaa spontaanisti Jerusalemiin tapaamaan opiskeluaikaista ystävää. Jerusalemissakaan ei kuitenkaan pääse pakoon syyllisyyttä ja surua.

Jerusalemin kaduilla vaellellessaan Tom kohtaa vanhan naisen, jolla on selvästi joku viesti Tomille, mutta viestin merkitys jää hämäräksi. Tarjoaisiko selitystä palanen Kuolleenmeren kääröistä, jollaista Tomin majatalossa kohtaama erikoinen vanha mies hänelle tyrkyttää?

Jerusalem on levoton kaupunki, jossa muslimit, juutalaiset ja kristityt ovat miltei sodassa keskenään. Tom on vaimonsa kuoleman – ja muiden tapahtumien – johdosta henkisesti raunioina. Sharonilla, Tomin ystävällä, on omat kriisinsä, eikä Tomin ilmestyminen paikalle varsinaisesti helpota tilannetta. Samaan aikaan vanha nainen ja Kuolleen meren kääröt haluavat kertoa Tomille ja Sharonille jotain olennaista aivan kristinuskon alkuajoilta…

Melkoinen keitos. Graham Joycen kunniaksi on sanottava, että kirja toimii: tarina on mielenkiintoinen monella tasolla. Se käsittelee vanhoja kysymyksiä kristinuskon naisvastaisuudesta ja Magdalan Maria, kuvaa Jerusalemia mielenkiintoisella tavalla, saa lukijan vuoroin pitämään Tomista ja inhoamaan tätä.

Harvinaislaatuisen ruma kansikuva varmasti osaltaan viivästytti kirjaan tarttumista, mutta hyvä, että tulin lukeneeksi. Requiem voitti August Derleth -palkinnon vuonna 1996 ja oli World Fantasy -finalistina, eikä suotta. (3.3.2012)

[Mark's endless quest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pfiew. This was a difficult one. Especially because it's hard to feel sympathy for the MC . Joyce wrong -footing the reader a few times doesn't make things easier.
I do think Joyce is juggling with too many balls in this one. This book deals with : Gnostic gospels, Freudian/Jungian theories about the subconscious mind, grief, guilt , Jinn's, the Israeli -Palestine conflict , misogyny within established religions, male sexual frustration....And more. The original concepts do make up for a lot of ambiguous and confusing scenes

When I started this novel I thought it was one of the many 'DaVinci code ' clones that flooded the market during the Dan Brown hype. ( All those novels bearing titles like 'The Judas manuscript' ' the Moses stone ' the Bernini codex. ..Or whatever ) However Graham Joyce wrote this novel long before the Da Vinci code. So that was a surprise,
I still don't know if this was brilliant, a mess...or maybe a brilliant mess ? I have to digest it a bit.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a story derived from what we humans have to go through to fight with our own demons. This book not only brings those demons to life but leaves the “Djinns”existence to our own interpretation.


“We laugh, don’t we, at those medieval ideas of ghosts and spirits and demons. Modern psychology has words for these: ‘hallucination,‘’projection,’ ‘transference.’ This is the modern orthodoxy, and that’s the litany. It all comes out of the disturbed self, doesn’t it? But in two hundred years, maybe they discover some new orthodoxy..”

This book has a lot of meaning depending on how you choose to absorb each chapter. Graham Joyce never fails to astonish me as a reader. Highly recommend!

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All human beings have a tremendous capacity for lying and deceiving and their first victim is invariably themselves."

"When people die they leave behind tiny deposits, like dust or ash, littering the lives of those who have to carry on. Impossible to wipe a house clean. Memories dwelled in cobweb places behind wardrobes and between cupboards; they hid behind radiators; they lurked on shelves; like slivers of shattered glass, they waited for their moment to lodge deep in any vulnerable expanse of passing skin."

[.W. · Rating 1 out of 5]

well, i had high hopes for this after the travesty that was my experience with "The Silent Land", but to no avail. a hopelessly misogynist slog through some Biblical fever dream, which i know was partially intended, but still. another unlikable protagonist and a narrative that somehow manages to make Jerusalem boring. Ahmed's story mid-book was by far the most interesting bit but overall, another big swing and a miss from Joyce. little tip - even though it's something of a colloquialism in his native land, the use of a certain four-letter word for female anatomy should be sparing at best.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will remember that as a Author I will avoid

[Marcel Côté · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is a tasty, well-written read that may be shocking to some because it presents the theory (like in The Da Vinci Code) that Jesus and Mary Magdelene were married, and that Mary was "written out" of the story by women-hating apostles, particularly Paul, after Jesus' death. This is revealed in a scroll written by Mary herself, which through a series of freak accidents falls into the hands of a troubled Brit named Tom who quit teaching and came to Jerusalem following his wife's death, seeking a spiritual reckoning of some kind as well as solace in the arms of Sharon, an old college flame, now a therapist who sleeps with her clients to "fuck the pain away" (as the singer Peaches has put it) and of course does the same for Tom. So we have scenes of him putting his finger in her vagina to taste her menstrual blood (which smells "saline" or "mineral") and this is contrasted to the backstory of Mary Magdelene's scroll, since the men of Mary time considered women unclean and killed Jesus, their would-be messiah, because he dared to consort with women as equals. Tom, being socialized in a very different era, is the kind of guy who doesn't know who he is unless he's being led around by some woman, so with his wife Kate dead in a freak accident he is at wits' end, overwhelmed with guilt because he was lusting after an underage student at the time - and now in Jerusalem, it seems the solution to his problems is to add even more sexual confusion in the form of Sharon, who is presented as the classic Earth Mother, raw female sexuality itself (as opposed to his wife Kate who was more WASPy and composed). Indeed, all the women in the story blur together in Tom's mind, and he starts hallucinating that he is fucking Kate when in fact he is in bed with Sharon, and sometimes his lover even takes the form of Mary Magdelene, when she's not wailing about how they killed Jesus by breaking his legs on the Cross. Add to this another subplot about an Arab scholar who helps Tom to translate the scroll, and who is possessed by jinns (malicious spirits) and can see them everywhere in the streets of Old Jerusalem - the jinns even disguise themselves as Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youth to stir up hate between the two groups and interfere with the peace process! In the midst of this, which is entertainingly told and a delight to read if you don't take it too seriously, there is unfortunately Tom, who has almost no qualities of his own and is basically a Generic White Guy, well-intentioned but always the last to grasp what's going on - a standin for the presumed reader, I assume. Indeed Tom's cluelessness leads directly to the death that ends the novel, since in the midst of a riot when two Arab youth climb a wall to escape the soldiers on their tail and one of them drops a rifle, Tom's first instinct is to pick it up and stand dumbly with it ("What's THIS doing here?") obliging someone who cares about him more than I do to tackle him and take the bullets that were meant for Tom, and should have left this blithering Englishman bleeding out in the alleys of Jerusalem, a more satisfying ending in my view. The problem is that Tom just isn't up to the level of the historic backstory of a failed messiah and a plot by Jesus' followers to hijack his movement after his death and turn it into a religion that hates women. What do the problems of some idiot high school teacher tormented by sexual guilt and a crisis of faith have to do with such world-shaking material? Or conversely, why would the spirits of the past, desperate to make the truth about Mary Magdelene known in our time, choose such a clueless dope as their messenger? In the end the two stories, Tom's and Mary's, don't really gel, so that either the Mary story is reduced to an exotic backdrop for Tom's personal crisis, or Tom's Generic White Guy problems are a needless distraction from the real drama taking place 2000 years ago. But none of this takes away from the fact that this book is a brilliantly written, fast and fun read. Pick it up if you have a taste for jinns and the supernatural, are bored and want to read something you don't have to take too seriously.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graham Joyce, has become a favorite author of mine. Along with Jeffrey Ford, the more I read of his work, the more I respect his talent. This was the third novel by Joyce I have read. From Publishers Weekly via Amazon.Com, here is a rundown on the plot:

Fleeing his (only semi-explained) guilt after the senseless, accidental death of his wife, Tom Webster quits teaching and visits his longtime friend and ex-lover, Sharon, in Jerusalem. Soon, he is haunted by hallucinations, or perhaps they're apparitions, or djinnis, and is entrusted with some Dead Sea scroll fragments. Joyce's Jerusalem is suffused with squalor and splendor, religious meaning and political struggle, as Tom tries to figure out what a host of emissaries from both the natural and the supernatural realms are trying to tell him about the world and about himself.

What I liked best about Joyce's work is that the fantastical in his novels is subtle. Not that the reader needs to dig or watch for clues, but that the characters sometimes don't realize what is happening, or they are just thrown headlong into some vat of magic fantasy. With "Requiem" this is especially poignant. It goes to even deeper degrees. It almost explores the inner workings of one's mind to create the fantastical around them.

This book though explores more of the inner workings of the mind. Three of the characters, including the two main characters, you get to see what makes them tick. And they all have issues of guilt they are dealing with from their past. Guilt comes in all kinds of different ways. It even comes from lies that one character tells to them self, and then also tells others. Like one reviewer at Amazon said, the story can be quite tense, yet there is very little action.

One very interesting aspect of the story is a conspiracy within the Christian church. The Dead Sea Scroll fragments that he receives helps Tom's inner demons along. He ends up haunted by Mary Magdalene, and it brings forth a shake-up between Mary Magdalene and Saul/Paul regarding the role of women in the church, and lies supposedly perpetrated by Paul. I don't know much about this, but know some of Paul's views.

As I mentioned, this was quite a tense story. This was the book that introduced me to Graham Joyce. I saw it as a recommendation, read the synopsis and a couple of reviews, and was drawn in. I ended up obtaining a copy, yet it took me over three years and two other of Joyce's novels before finally getting to it. I think it was best to start with those other novels as it turns out.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Webster's wife, Katie, died suddenly about a year ago, and he just can't seem to get back on his feet. He resigns from his teaching job, amid some unsavory rumors about him and one of his students, and heads to Jerusalem, where his best friend, Sharon, from college days, now resides. But Tom doesn't have her current address, and while searching for her, he befriends an elderly man at his hotel. David confides to Tom that he is in possession of a valuable Dead Sea Scroll, and, knowing that he's dying, he insists that Tom take it, which he does with great reluctance. Tom's thrilled to be walking the streets of the city, but is accosted repeatedly by a creepy old woman, who changes her appearance before his eyes, and leaves him enigmatic messages. He tracks Sharon down, and she takes him in, introducing to a translator, Ahmed. Ahmed discovers that the scroll was written by Mary Magdalen, and reveals stunning evidence about the founding of the Christian religion. Ahmed, a heavy hash user, also tells Tom about the djinni, spirits who are making his life miserable, convincing Tom that they're bedeviling him as well.

Sounds simple enough. But Requiem is told in a series of non-linear flashbacks, and it becomes increasingly difficult to fathom what is going on with Tom. Is he losing his mind? Is the old woman a ghost, a djinn, or is she real? Sharon, a drug rehab therapist doesn't know what to think, especially after a grueling djinn experience of her own. Among these spirits is that of Katie, who seems to want something from them both. As it turns out, Sharon, Ahmed, and Tom are all struggling with their own guilt issues, and none of them is doing it well.

Enigmas can be interesting, as they are in this book. While the setting is crucial to the novel, there is very little overt action, most of which takes place in the minds of the protagonists. The ending is quite dramatic, as well as unexpected. This was my intro to the work of Graham Joyce, who can certainly write with power. Looking forward to checking out his other titles, most of which have not been published in the American market.

[PJ Who Once Was Peejay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd probably give this one 3.5. It's beautifully written, a conjuration of impressive scope, and the first half had me completely absorbed. Mr. Joyce does an amazing job at making Jerusalem a character in this book: an exotic, decrepit, aging beauty; crazy, djinn-haunted, schizophrenic, part whore, part aesthete, part fundamentalist fanatic. It's a city at war with itself, and anyone who wanders into its insane tangle of streets may soon find themselves at war within their own soul, and pulled into one or another human conflict: Christians with Christians, ultra orthodox Jews with secular Jews, Palestinians with Jews, Palestinians with Palestinians, human with djinn, angels, gods, goddesses--and most especially, history with the present.

The writing was no less beautiful in the second half, but I thought the characterization fell apart somewhat. Characters did and awful lot of explaining and telling, and in a few cases (it seemed to me) acting out of character as established in the first part of the book. There is madness involved, and I understand that even the "sane" characters were pulled into it somewhat, but there were times the characters seemed more like enacting puppets rather than the "real" people Mr. Joyce established early on.

The plot was complex and tricksy, which is always a good thing in my book, and although Mr. Joyce tied things up at the end, I didn't have a complete sense of emotional satisfaction. I didn't think the facts of the ending needed to be changed at all, just that he didn't bring me along on the emotional journey as I might have liked to have been. I think that's mostly because of the character issues. Then again, those may be completely personal reactions, my readers fifty-percent gone slightly off the rails.

Still, well worth the read and a lovely piece of work. That conjuration of place is especially fine.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joyce's characterization of Jerusalem really pulled me in. It was incredibly charismatic. Some of his suggestions about Christianity were provocative and fascinating. I enjoyed the mixture of magic, history, and christianity. I found it difficult to follow all of their implications as they unfold from the scroll translations. It felt at times like the historical characters got mixed up in the translation and the author's message was too muddy. I agree with other reviewers that not addressing the reality or fantasy of the MC's journey with the supernatural by the end of the book really weakens it overall. I did not feel the characters resolved authentically and had a growing sense of dread as the end of the book got closer. Though I have to say that my largest problem with the story was the injustices leveled at the human heart. As far as I could discern from the information given, neither Tom, nor Sharon, nor Ahmed is working with the heart center. Everything they are experiencing--that is not supernatural-- comes from their heads. The author calls love a djinn, I started to feel nauseous then at the lumping of illusions generated from the head into the heart. I think about the heart in terms of mindfulness practice and believe that when the mind is quiet and one acts from the heart center there can be no malice or disease in their actions. I resented the thoughtless characterization of love as sick and unavoidable. I resented to the lack of precision and can relate to Tobie when she tells Tom, "don't be sorry. be precise." Yes, Mr. Joyce, be precise, where exactly are you trying to take your reader and for what purpose. At the end of this, my soul felt sickly and I find myself going to my meditation mat to breathe out the impurities of the story.

[Maria Vladimirova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книга была заглочена за полтора дня. Именно заглочена, т.к. остановиться было просто не возможно. Но прежде всего я люблю, я Очень Люблю Грэма Джойса. Ну и во вторых, сюжет закручен довольно лихо... Что касаемо аннотации, не стоит возлагать большие надежды на детективно-историкографическую составляющую книги. Безусловно, сходство с творением Дэна Брауна есть, но только по форме, но не по сути. Да, автор нам предлагает один из вариантов альтернативной версии христианства. Поскольку я не знаток, для меня прошло... Но не уверена что данная версия будет с распростертыми объятьями принята людьми воцерковленными в православии. В общем, Грэм Джойс в этой книге взялася за две "нехилые" весьма огнеопасные темы - подавленная мужская сексуальность, и подавление сексуальности в христианстве. Интригует, правда? :rolleyes: Довольно правдиво описана история развития невроза, ну и в каком-то смысле апофеоз, почти психотический... Т.е. история одного мужчины, у которого в жизни случилась трагедия, ну а как параллель - Иерусалим - город построенный в "сердце мира", обладающей своей душой в которой переплелись и взаимоперепутались почти все мировые религии, где сталкиваются разные народы в притязаниях на превосходство друг над другом.

Так же и в жизни психической у ГГ, структура невроза - это столкновение разных энергий, систем ценностей, эмоций и потребностей... остро сдобренное внезапной травмой. "Питательная среда" Иерусалима провоцирует, нагнетает... но а в итоге исцеляет.

Книга очень эротизированна, как ни какая другая у Джойса, так что рекомендую тем, кто готов погрузиться в мир полумистических-эротических переживаний и похождений главного героя.