Ο άνθρωπος του Ιησού

by Christos Tsiolkas, Χρήστος Τσιόλκας, Νερίνα Κιοσέογλου (Translator)

Τι συμβαίνει σε μια οικογένεια όταν συνταράσσσεται από κάτι ανείπωτα φρικτό, κάτι τόσο συγκλονιστικό που όλος ο κόσμος θέλει να το μάθει;
Κανείς δεν ξέρει τι ακριβώς ώθησε τον Τόμι Στεφάνο να κάνει αυτό που έκανε εκείνη τη βραδιά. Η οικογένειά του, η αδέξια, αμφιλεγόμενη αγάπη της; Κάποια κατάρα, μήπως, το φαρμακερό κοράκι που ακολουθεί τους άντρες της οικογένειας Στεφάνο γενιές και γενιές; Έφταιγε το γεγονός ότι έχασε τη δουλειά του ή μήπως ο θεός; Η πορνογραφία ή μήπως η τηλεόραση;
Προσπαθώντας να βρει απαντήσεις στα ερωτήματα που προέκυψαν από το θάνατο του αδερφού του, ο Λου Στεφάνο ξεκινάει το προσκύνημα στο παρελθόν, στα ενδόμυχα βάθη της δικής του ψυχής, στους πόθους, τις αναστολές και τη σύγχυση που τον διακατέχει. Αν, όμως, δεν υπάρχουν απαντήσεις; Αν δεν υπάρχουν συγκεκριμένοι λόγοι για τους οποίους κάνουμε αυτά που κάνουμε και αγαπάμε αυτούς που αγαπάμε; Τότε το καλύτερο που μπορεί να ελπίζει ο Λου είναι να ξορκίσει τα φαντάσματά του.

Genres: Fiction, Australia, LGBT, Contemporary, Gay, Literature, Novels

402 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Christos Tsiolkas is the author of nine novels: Loaded, which was made into the feature film Head-On, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe,which won the 2006 Age Fiction Prize and the 2006 Melbourne Best Writing Award. He won Overall Best Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2009, was shortlisted for the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award, long listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize and won the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal for The Slap, which was also announced as the 2009 Australian Booksellers Association and Australian Book Industry Awards Books of the Year.
Barracuda is his fifth novel. Merciless Gods (2014) and Damascus (2019) followed.
He is also a playwright, essayist and screen writer. He lives in Melbourne.

Reviews

[Dimitris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius writer, his writing shocks me, makes me think, gives me enormous pleasure, almost changes me, though at the end of each one of his books I exclame: "thank God I'm nothing like him, nothing like his characters, I'm sooo normal!"

[P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all must have that one writer to whose writings we turn to in times of depression or loneliness or ennui or any kind of gloom. The kind whose writing would rocket you away from all your worries. For me it’s Christos Tsiolkas. I feel a special connection, a secret kinship with his books that I find impossible to put into words. His books struck a chord with me from the very first word and among all his brutally honest, unpretentious, compassionate, confused, angry, lovable and violent characters, I find a rare, unique voice emerging from the cacophony that describes humanity just the way it is. I’ll read any damn thing he writes without giving it a second thought.

The Jesus Man records the story of a migrant family in Australia and as you’d expect, it has all the unique Tsiolkas ingredients to shock you once in a while. Some people may find certain chapters extremely dark or shockingly obscene, but you cannot expect a Tsiolkas novel without its raw incendiary core.

Family, Unrequited love, Migration, Loneliness, Unemployment, Racial discrimination, Generation gap, Greek problems, Sense of not belonging, mother-son relationships, father-son relationships, anger, Dance, Music, Australian politics, religion, sin, penitence, sex and the warmth of human bonds are some of the themes you’d find in Jesus Man.

And reading the book I’ve realized how people treasured music back in the 70s & 80s – collecting songs in rare discs & vinyl, some available only through orders in post. We have it all easy now. But I guess the pleasure people had back then with their precious music would be incomparable to the almost-mocking ease of access we have right now to any song of our choice.

Though it is utterly absorbing and brilliant, it suffers from the usual Tsiolkas clichés. Maybe since some of the issues addressed in the book are no longer relevant in 2016, they may seem anachronistic. But the faults are easily forgivable and we are left pining for more when the epilogue ends.

[notgettingenough]

I’ve read two Tsiolkas books now, and the trend is for them to end with an unprepossessing young homosexual male giving his opinions on his world, that being a very dull place indeed. In the case of The Slap it’s fair enough. The book is orchestrated so that something he does becomes the logical end. But here? There seem to be two books here. The one Tsiolkas wants to write about (so it seems) himself, and the other. The good book. I use those words advisedly.

We begin with the former, but the good book starts fairly early on and is an utterly engrossing account of the downfall of Tommy. What a pitiable fuck he is, searching incessantly for a safety which constantly eludes him. He finds it only for moments at a time. In his girl friend. Listening to music. Escaping into the TV. The ritual and revulsion of porn. However repulsive Tommy becomes during his descent, we never stop feeling sympathy. We want him to survive. To our shock, however, suddenly, with a lot of the book to go – you know this because you flick to the end to check – he checks out.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...

[Takisx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Τι κορυφαίο βιβλίο κι αυτό χριστέ μου, το θεωρώ πραγματικά αριστούργημα.

[Simon Yorke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and compulsive book. Be prepared for a ride into the darkest depths of humanity and the darkest depths of modern society too. A book that makes you want to vomit but at the same time somehow salvages you, gives you an incredible chance of having compassion for not only yourself but the rest of humanity too. Tsiolkas's understanding of the human psyche is incredible and with that he can uncover and deal with taboos that I don't think many writer's can. This is an important book for the comprehension of the tragedy of the human soul, ancient and modern society as well as that important building block: the family. Modern society ignore this book at your peril.

[Michael Taouk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tsiolkas takes us to the miserable depths of drug addiction and sexual perversion. I'm not sure for what reason. No matter the reason, Tsiolkas does it very well. Some of the characters give us a glimpse of hope, but Tsiolkas doesn't allow us to enjoy it much.
Now that I have read the book, I don't know what to do with it.

[Ashish Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Before I begin there is one thing I must insist on, that you must understand: we also shared laughter."

I’ll reiterate just in case you have forgotten, Christos Tsiolkas is my favourite author and The Jesus Man is my fourth book by him that I have read this year. I have never read two books by the same author in one year, so me doing this, says something.  

This book is roughly divided into four parts and each part follows a different member of the Stefano family. If you have read Tsiolkas before, you will know the basic ingredients of his novels; Australia, middle and working class characters, immigrant parents and struggling identities of their children. And yet, each book is so distinct from the other.

The novel opens with our narrator telling us how crows, like shadows, have always been present in Stefano family, have trailed them wherever they go and whenever something “bad” happens, they all blame the crows for it. Then we go back to look how they all came to Australia, their childhood in the suburbs, their struggles of being an adult and when a tragedy hits, their different ways of surfacing from the dark towards the bright light of a hopeful existence.  

What I like about Christos Tsiolkas books is that he writes without pretense. If he is describing shit, he will describe shit without coating it in dusts of gold. Once into the narration, his characters suck you in like a whirlpool. He is a bit like Sally Rooney but darker, a lot darker. And because he does not write like other writers, does not try to make his characters or stories palatable, I find it hard recommending his books to anyone. The Jesus Man is a hard book to get through, with its almost nonchalant approach towards certain issues and when I say “nonchalant” I don’t mean carelessness. He just presents things without make any comments and readers are expected to make their own opinion on them. Even with its difficult subject matter, this is an unputdownable book.

[Declan Melia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gosh! What and angry book. I'm reminded of an Eminem lyric: “So much anger aimed/ at no particular direction/ just sprays and sprays”. I'm quite surprised this book is as beloved as it appears to be in the below reviews. I would agree that it's a very dark read, an interesting look into the mind of people in a society most of us would rather ignore or insulate ourselves from. That said I didn't find it as confronting as, say, Coetzee's Disgrace or A Little Life and I think the difference was the characters. I never really understood Tommy, Dom or Lou and without that sense of understanding their behaviour seemed arbitrary, I couldn't find a way to really care what happened to them. To bring it back to the Eminem lyrics above 'in no particular direction/ just sprays and sprays' I think that was the problem, the senseless anger and violence was just a wash, there wasn't enough of a story arch to make it seem anything but repetitive. Weirdly, I really quite enjoy Tsiolkas' writing when he is describing family and societies, I quite liked reading this book when it was exploring happier waters than genital mutilation and child abduction. I just wanted to hear more about the family BBQ. One might say, perhaps thats the point, the book is supposed to be confronting and shine a light on the sections of society you don't want to understand. But it wasn't so much confronting as unenjoyable. It also suffers from a problem that often befalls young writers, a sort of fatigue in the middle where the writing becomes less interesting than it is at the start or end. This also loses points for the shameless Brett Easton Ellis impression in the final chapters.

[S'hi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have written notes elsewhere about early impressions reading this book, but also have many other layers because I resist the insistence upon pornographic interpretations of every encounter, knowing there are many other ways in which people connect or kept their distance from each other. I accept now that this is a metaphor rather than a reality in Tsiolkas’ writing. But that makes it even more imperative to get the right balance in approaching the balance within his material.

For now I just want to record a few quotes. I will think about and possibly write more after another reading and comparison, to gain new insight into his other books as well, now that I have read Vasilakakos on him as well.

To do justice I should perhaps even seek out some other reviews, but the ones referred to here are translated by this writer from Greek. My own experience “beside” Greek culture may add another perspective, but whether anyone will be interested in that seems doubtful to me from previous feedback I have received when paralleling rather than entering their world.

Nonetheless it is still important to keep living my own life and view. It may prove relevant to someone else at some time.

[Kerryn Tredrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

essentially 3 short stories that happen to involve the same family this gives tsiolkas both room to move & a box to hold his characters. the sees the underside of modern life & captures it in all it's gruesome, soul drenching, pitiful intolerable beauty. it should shock you, but it should also make you think.

[Alan Marr · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the 2nd unfinished book in a week. I think Christos Tsiolkas is a great writer but i don't enjoy him. This one was too much for my puritanical psyche.

[Ella Pia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every book I read by christos tsiolkas I love and this one could be my favourite so far. Made me sob. And his description of migrant family life in melbourne always hits close to home

[Booksy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christos Tsiolkas in his book “Jesus Man” continues to explore controversies around immigration, racism, family values, what is means to be Australian, what it feels like to have no God in heart, what you make of your culture, history of your people in a new country, “the beauty and despair of this exile”, love and hatred and death of loved ones.
I really love the author’s individual style: the staccato of his prose, austerity of his dialogues, sharp, angular brushstrokes of his descriptions.
And yet this book for me feels lacking the impact that was delivered in “The Slap” by the opening scene that set the whole novel, giving it a “backbone” and a centre piece. The story of a Greek family and the three brothers who were born in Australia, their life-long search for meaning, for escape and for love is full of confrontation and torment.
I really think Christos Tsiolkas is the best Australian contemporary literature offers and I am sure he will produce an even more poignant work than what he achieved in “The Slap” (I haven’t read “Barracuda” that is rated even higher than “The Slap”) and I am one of many readers who will be waiting with anticipation.

[Shaun Huntington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read one of the Writers earlier works having read Barracuda.

The protagonist in both stories share many characteristics, struggling to come to their place in the world mainly as presented by the author driven by their sexuality.

Characters are well formed and believable. There is a lovely interplay between the family matriarch and her three sons, who are all very different boys then men.

The landscape is familiar to Melbournians in particular and allows the reader to suspend any disbelief through the technique of a believable setting, the storyline interspersed with historical events.

It's a story of three men, son of migrants trying to find their place in the sun. Told in a sometimes brutal narrative this is not a book for someone looking to avoid the stark realities often around us.

Overall I found the book engaged me and at the same time held me at arms length and it was desire to see how the family struggled through adversities and societal expectations of the time that kept me going to the last page, which in itself I found was a suburb full stop.

[Prateek Samantaray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for a dark novel for a change. Few reviews I read were harsh. But in reality, they expressed the dislike for the dark genre itself. Book definitely deserves a higher rating.
My first impression was this book describes the life of some psycho killer (which some would argue is). First few pages were tough to correlate but once I was in sync, it turned out to be an easy read.
The events definitely did not turn out the way I expected. And by the end of the book, it was on a whole new note, which really makes it interesting. Characters are always nice when Authors ignore the noise in the mind. But in this book, every single thought that comes to mind was mentioned and this made the characters look very dark. But surely the whole atmosphere of the book was dark. So it is tough to see yourself in the character's show throughout the book. But the constant hate each character have for their own personality will make your link with the characters.
Definitely a read for those who are into this genre.

[David Beards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absorbing page turner by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas. The way the author articulates postmodern Australian society and creates 4th dimensional characters draws one completely into his world. I say '4th dimensional' characters because Christos delves deep into the physc of his main characters and presents their strengths, weaknesses, and inner most thoughts that resonate with us on some level. It's dark, but it's raw honesty about life in Australia will absorb and challenge you.

[Jodie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book went from disturbing and boring in the beginning, to just plain boring by the end. I couldn't finish it.
People have said "The Slap" had no point, but at least you could become immersed in the characters. I found it very hard to relate to anyone in this book. I'm generally a fan of controversial or risque novels, but I couldn't stand this one.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I like it" is the wrong rating for this. It's a tough, challenging, ugly work but with extraordinary power. I may be naive but I hate the image he paints of men, forever sex-obsessed and masturbating. However, it combines the immigrant experience with 20th century culture and relationships in a bold way.

[Louise Tobin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought gruesome details from a book would make me think 'fuck' and flinch, but tsolkias has achieved this.

The book climaxes half way through, and then prods on till the end. Sort of like the lives of the characters. The important shit is in the middle.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

A real disappointment, and the only misfire in Tsiolkas' otherwise impressive body of work. Selfish, pointless characters doing selfish and pointless things, but not in any kind of way that can make you feel rewarded for reading their exploits.

[Hikachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The synopsis at the back cover told me pretty much the idea of how the story would be. After reading some first few pages, I thought it'd be something like Sue Miller's Family Portrait. But alas, I was wrong.
For this is more much less subtle and the details were gruesome.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading Loaded years ago and being blown away. Similarly with Barracuda more recently.

The Jesus Man is just as confronting, and a fascinating read, but I don't understand what drives the characters as much.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably Tsiolkas' most "shocking" book. I recommend it to everyone.

[Rwp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book by Tsiolkas !

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think of this as kind of a failed version of dead europe
but I really really liked dead europe so...

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Loaded but still very absorbing.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gruesome and gritty with quite good character development - all of the characters are realistic with their fair share of flaws. Not a good book to read if you are feeling down.

[Benjamin Danx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep, intense & confronting. Tsiolkas truly has a gift in magnifying characters in the uttermost sinister situations. The Stefano brothers will always haunt my thoughts.

[Jim πgr · Rating 1 out of 5]

καμιά σχέση ο τίτλος του βιβλίου με το περιεχόμενο ... ψυχασθενής ο συγγραφέας αυτής της κακογουστής ιστορίας....

[Bruna · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Jesus Man" tem uma quantidade chocante de sexo, quase sempre imaginado, violento e passível de se enquadrar num diagnóstico de perturbações parafílicas. Este é um aviso importante, porque há mais camadas na história para além das compulsões e inaptidões sexuais das personagens, mas estão sempre sob um chorrilho do imagético sexual.

Somos levados pela história de uma família de emigrantes numa Austrália profundamente racista (ainda o será? não conheço nada da história e cultura do país) e acompanhamos o percurso cru, acrimonioso, de três irmãos - Dominic, Tommy e Lou, cujos caminhos de amor e desamor dão o mote aos diversos sub-enredos do livro.

É um livro negro, que nos leva em círculos concêntricos pelo desespero e pela alienação de Tomm e, consequentemente, pela impotência de quem o rodeia.

Não obstante, devaneia excessivamente por personagens e episódios que não me pareceram relevantes e que arrastaram a história por mais 100 páginas do que precisava.