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Jesus Tales
Retells the story of Jesus' life set as a folktale in different parts of the world
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 7, 2008
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I let my mother read it first. She proclaimed it was blasphemy, but I wasn't discouraged by her opinion; not only do we have extremely differing tastes, but, as an atheist, I find the word "blasphemy" more intriguing than offensive. To its credit, the book is a quick read--not much more than a hundred pages, and with simple writing.
The book consists of fictionalized tales regarding the life of Jesus. It mainly focuses on his youth and his later adventures with Saint Peter. As an atheist, any account of the life of Jesus is fictionalized, but for this review, "fictionalized" refers to an account that widely varies from the Bible, which many people (other than myself) believe to be true.
The stories portray Jesus as morose and unpredictable, often beyond comprehension, and able to find distraction from the knowledge of his inevitable fate by amusing himself with pranks most often at the expense of Saint Peter. I was amused by the novelty of it--a young teenage Jesus calling his teacher a "god damned fool" and telling his parents to go to Hell--but there isn't much substance beyond that. In one story, the sheriff and mayor of Texas threaten to hang Saint Peter "by his dong." In another, angst-ridden teenage Jesus sets fire to a factory and pushes a friend off a roof. There's a selfish cruelty in him that defies the views of him I faced growing up in the Bible belt. For example, he admits after the death of Peter's crippled daughter that the only reason he never healed her was to keep Peter by his side because otherwise, Peter would have returned to his family.
While there is a morbid pleasure in just the thought of Jesus as behaving human and having a sense of humor, the book leaves the motives behind his actions somewhat unexplained. Perhaps, this was intended--it's sort of presumptuous to expect to comprehend him, after all--but as a result, I never found myself relating to him as a character. The book is more shocking than revealing, which is a shame because there is a lot of potential in the book's concept.
The book consists of fictionalized tales regarding the life of Jesus. It mainly focuses on his youth and his later adventures with Saint Peter. As an atheist, any account of the life of Jesus is fictionalized, but for this review, "fictionalized" refers to an account that widely varies from the Bible, which many people (other than myself) believe to be true.
The stories portray Jesus as morose and unpredictable, often beyond comprehension, and able to find distraction from the knowledge of his inevitable fate by amusing himself with pranks most often at the expense of Saint Peter. I was amused by the novelty of it--a young teenage Jesus calling his teacher a "god damned fool" and telling his parents to go to Hell--but there isn't much substance beyond that. In one story, the sheriff and mayor of Texas threaten to hang Saint Peter "by his dong." In another, angst-ridden teenage Jesus sets fire to a factory and pushes a friend off a roof. There's a selfish cruelty in him that defies the views of him I faced growing up in the Bible belt. For example, he admits after the death of Peter's crippled daughter that the only reason he never healed her was to keep Peter by his side because otherwise, Peter would have returned to his family.
While there is a morbid pleasure in just the thought of Jesus as behaving human and having a sense of humor, the book leaves the motives behind his actions somewhat unexplained. Perhaps, this was intended--it's sort of presumptuous to expect to comprehend him, after all--but as a result, I never found myself relating to him as a character. The book is more shocking than revealing, which is a shame because there is a lot of potential in the book's concept.
October 3, 2010
If you're fundamentally religious, you probably won't like this. I'm not, and I do. Linney takes some Italian (and other) folk tales of Christ's wanderings and runs with them. His Jesus is friendly, wacky and willing to puzzle the hell out of a somewhat dimwitted St. Peter. Often funny enough to make you roll around. Kind of a Cisco Kid with a mission.
January 18, 2020
Because Disch excerpted a bit that was v. cool, sort of like Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal maybe but not so outrageous?
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Ok done. Short. And as I theorized above. Fans of "Lamb" will probably like it.
I don't know who else would. It's certainly blasphemous. And God('s Son) works in very mysterious ways, so I was never able to discern if there was a point to any of the anecdotes or short stories. Maybe fans of philosophic conundrums and koans will like it? Or ppl who like sophomoric humor, if we consider the premise that I didn't actually miss anything and so all this book has is lame humor? Maybe fans of the SF writers PKD and Disch (you know who you are, if you don't need me to create the author links for you).
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Ok done. Short. And as I theorized above. Fans of "Lamb" will probably like it.
I don't know who else would. It's certainly blasphemous. And God('s Son) works in very mysterious ways, so I was never able to discern if there was a point to any of the anecdotes or short stories. Maybe fans of philosophic conundrums and koans will like it? Or ppl who like sophomoric humor, if we consider the premise that I didn't actually miss anything and so all this book has is lame humor? Maybe fans of the SF writers PKD and Disch (you know who you are, if you don't need me to create the author links for you).
December 2, 2008
Nah, this isn't religious, but it's really good and it can be damned funny and imaginative. Linney makes him into a man who likes to tease and bait Saint Peter, and has a slightly offbeat sense of humor.
March 7, 2009
This book is one of the best I've read in a long time, right up there with Lamb and God Went to Beauty School as an irreverent but sweet look at God. I laughed out loud more than once. Added bonus: you can read it in one evening.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews