The Gospel of Judas - UK reviews
From The Times, 16th August 2000:
"Simon Mawer tells a gripping, utterly compelling story. He
weaves together the threads of his complex plot with a deftness that
keeps the reader mesmerised to the very end of the book. By the time
Leo Newman has to take his fateful decision, we are deeply caught
up with his dilemma, and swept inevitably along to his conclusions.
And like Leo we are left to cope with the awful, unbelieving void
of its outcome.
Lisa Jardine
From The Observer, 13th August 2000:
"… the quest for the ultimate truth gives life to Simon
Mawer’s characters in his compelling new novel. Leo Newman,
a lapsed Catholic priest, is asked to adjudicate on the authenticity
of a papyrus scroll…
"… the plot leads, with the inexorability of the best
thrillers, to the point where Leo has to decide whether or not to
bear false witness to the truth he has discovered. The twists are
surprising and genuinely tense. For this is a book in which nothing
is quite the way it seems. The question mark of authenticity hangs
over every character like a sword…
"There is a great deal in this book. It is part an introduction
to papyrological scholarship, part a discussion on the role of witness
in biblical history and part a meditation on the nature of truth and
authenticity… it is thrillingly readable…
"Mawer has set himself a task of the greatest scope. He has
set out to dramatise the question of truth, the most intractable question
of all. We end with a piece of kitsch, which is a good pragmatic answer
to the conundrum of truth. Why is it, wonders Newman, that magical
powers are never ascribed to beautiful works of art? Why do people
always see tears in the eyes of worthless pieces of kitsch? The answer
is that people find their own truth. The disturbing message we take
from this excellent novel is that this might just be as close as we
ever get."
Philip Collins
From the Daily Express, 19th August 2000:
...Mawer's poetic language superbly conveys the cloistered world
of Vatican Rome and the passion, heat and history that immerses that
even more pivotal holy city, Jerusalem...
..this novel develops into a gripping read with a superb dramatic
climax. Never a comfortable journey, it reveals the destructive potential
of both love and faith.
Laura Kibby
top
From the Sunday Telegraph, 6th August 2000:
"... Since the unearthing of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, the
notion of a text being discovered which rocks the foundations of the
Church has become a familiar fictional formula...
Unlike his predecessors, however, Simon Mawer has done his homework
and the descriptions of papyrus science in his book are impressively
authentic... The archaeological descriptions of Rome and Jerusalem
are also well-informed and vibrantly realised.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable and extremely well-written novel:
hokum, but first-class hokum."
Matthew D’Ancona
From The Scotsman, 12 August 2000:
"Simon Mawer weaves an absorbing tale of a priest’s faith
being put to the test... The Gospel of Judas is intelligent, unusual,
and absorbing. It is a straight novel with something of the attributes
of a thriller...
"Mawer is a writer of remarkable gifts. His Rome and his Jerusalem
are living and vivid characters in his novel. Not only are they described
convincingly; they help to form the narrative. They impose their mood
on it, and on Leo. More importantly, they serve to establish the authenticity
of the author’s inventions… in the end Leo too convinces.
The picture of a man brought to the end of what was always a short
tether is moving.
This, it seems, is (Mawer’s) fifth novel. On its evidence he
deserves to be better known than he is; it should make him so."
Allan Massie
From the Daily Mail, 8 December 2000:
"The Gospel of Judas is a brilliant novel for those like me
who want a believeable explanation for the resurrection... Because
of Mawer's deep knowledge of ancient scrolls and the language in which
they are written, Father Newman (and the reader) accepts the Judas
one as genuine. Yet if only what is true in fiction were also in fact!"
Ludovic Kennedy
top
|
