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Catharsis
Jude Scarowsky comes from a volatile home; his parents’ violent outbursts force him to self-isolate, medicating his anxiety with any distraction he can find. Until one afternoon, a child appears in his room.
Transported to a time and place long before his own life, Jude finds himself adopted by a peasant family with a rambunctious child drunk on supernatural powers. A child named Jesus of Nazareth.
Discovering that Jude is in fact the historical Judas Iscariot, he knows what his role in this tale includes. But what will he do, and can he handle the stress, knowing he will forever be equated with betrayal?
Transported to a time and place long before his own life, Jude finds himself adopted by a peasant family with a rambunctious child drunk on supernatural powers. A child named Jesus of Nazareth.
Discovering that Jude is in fact the historical Judas Iscariot, he knows what his role in this tale includes. But what will he do, and can he handle the stress, knowing he will forever be equated with betrayal?
182 pages, Paperback
Published October 30, 2020
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November 6, 2023
This book was brought to my attention on the social media pages of David G. McAfee, who was apparently an editor on this project. I was looking for some different material to read as I think I was starting to burn out a little on high fantasy. Revisionist historical fiction seemed like a good diversion.
Essentially, a kid named Jude around the turn of the 21st century is transported two thousand years ago into the past where he is adopted by Joseph and Mary and is therefore a brother to Jesus.
I'm all about the what-if. First thing they teach you at screen/play /writing seminars is all ideas pretty much start with a "what if." This seemed like an interesting what-if, being as how Jude realizes that he will be tasked with performing an act that makes his name synonymous with betrayal. Can he actually go through with it?
This book really never ceases to be strange. O'Neil delights in making young Jesus a rather violent child, using his supernatural powers to pretty much turn mean children, mean teachers and others into collapsed, bloody meat sacks (stories that naturally failed to make the cut in the ol' KJV...maybe that's why after his birth, we don't really hear stories in church about Jesus until he's 12 and teaching in the temple - skips past all that murdery stuff). Meanwhile, Jude just kind of looks on helplessly and, over time, becomes quite the wino.
Then we fast forward to the time right before the journey to Jerusalem and the crucifixion. Jesus is far more chill and Jesus-like, and he finally has a celestial heart-to-heart with Jude to explain why he was taken out of time. This 3-4 chapter chat is essentially a sermon wrapped in a Ghost of Christmas Past/Present/Alternate Future package, with not-so-subtle political messaging.
Then the book wraps up with whether Jude decides to maintain the timeline by betraying Jesus or create an alternate dimension where he is never born in the first place.
My main problem with this book is that Jude is practically an observer the entire time. He never has any agency. In the opening chapters, all he does is escape to his bedroom while his parents are fighting. Then he is flung into the past (not offered the choice), adopted by Joseph and Mary, which he's totally fine with because they accepted him when his real parents never did, gets drunk a lot, gets talked to by Jesus a lot, then doesn't really make a decision. And the only decision he does make is during during the protracted epilogue.
A good portion of this book is also characters just shouting names at each other and kissing hands, cheeks, and arms, embracing, and showing affection that was difficult to buy, even though I'm sure families in the pre-historic Middle East were likely very free with their expressions of affection. But anyway, there was a lot of filler.
Fortunately, it's a quick read, so if you decide to take a chance on this book and you end up agreeing with me, it didn't take much of your time. If it turns out you like this more than I did, then all the better.
Essentially, a kid named Jude around the turn of the 21st century is transported two thousand years ago into the past where he is adopted by Joseph and Mary and is therefore a brother to Jesus.
I'm all about the what-if. First thing they teach you at screen/play /writing seminars is all ideas pretty much start with a "what if." This seemed like an interesting what-if, being as how Jude realizes that he will be tasked with performing an act that makes his name synonymous with betrayal. Can he actually go through with it?
This book really never ceases to be strange. O'Neil delights in making young Jesus a rather violent child, using his supernatural powers to pretty much turn mean children, mean teachers and others into collapsed, bloody meat sacks (stories that naturally failed to make the cut in the ol' KJV...maybe that's why after his birth, we don't really hear stories in church about Jesus until he's 12 and teaching in the temple - skips past all that murdery stuff). Meanwhile, Jude just kind of looks on helplessly and, over time, becomes quite the wino.
Then we fast forward to the time right before the journey to Jerusalem and the crucifixion. Jesus is far more chill and Jesus-like, and he finally has a celestial heart-to-heart with Jude to explain why he was taken out of time. This 3-4 chapter chat is essentially a sermon wrapped in a Ghost of Christmas Past/Present/Alternate Future package, with not-so-subtle political messaging.
Then the book wraps up with whether Jude decides to maintain the timeline by betraying Jesus or create an alternate dimension where he is never born in the first place.
My main problem with this book is that Jude is practically an observer the entire time. He never has any agency. In the opening chapters, all he does is escape to his bedroom while his parents are fighting. Then he is flung into the past (not offered the choice), adopted by Joseph and Mary, which he's totally fine with because they accepted him when his real parents never did, gets drunk a lot, gets talked to by Jesus a lot, then doesn't really make a decision. And the only decision he does make is during during the protracted epilogue.
A good portion of this book is also characters just shouting names at each other and kissing hands, cheeks, and arms, embracing, and showing affection that was difficult to buy, even though I'm sure families in the pre-historic Middle East were likely very free with their expressions of affection. But anyway, there was a lot of filler.
Fortunately, it's a quick read, so if you decide to take a chance on this book and you end up agreeing with me, it didn't take much of your time. If it turns out you like this more than I did, then all the better.
Displaying 1 of 1 review