This book reminded me of a movie

I first saw this book on a table in the Harvard Bookstore. I loved Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, so I was immediately drawn to the author.

I picked it up, and read the following on the back of the book:

"The story I tell comes out of the tension within the dual nature of Jesus Christ, but what I do with it is my responsibility alone. Parts of it read like a novel, parts like a history, and parts like a fairy tale; I wanted it to be like that because it is, among other things, a story about how stories become stories."

I was going to flip the book open after that, and probably buy it (wouldn't a book have been a great souvenir from the Harvard Bookstore?), but I got called away and set the book down to go and see what Kevin and Connor and Lex had gotten into. (For the record, it was a book printing machine that can make any book in print right there in the store - so you can see how I forgot to get back to my possible purchase.)

Anyway, I finally got around to getting this book from the local library, and it was a good, simple read.

In this version of the story of Jesus Christ, there are actually two men: twin brothers Jesus and Christ. Many passages of the book greatly resemble the text of the New King James. The story was told simply and matter-of-factly, so it was in keeping with the style of the source material.

I think that the book was a fantastic piece of literature.

And now for a slightly-related topic: I think that the bible should be taught in schools as a piece of literature. I went to a great (alternative) high school, and as part our of Introduction to Humanities class, we read the bible. As literature. Because if you aren't familiar with the stories that color our history and other literature, you aren't well-educated. I remember that most of the students and parents were fine with this. There were a few exceptions, though, and these students were permitted to sit in the library during these lectures and were exempt from being tested on the subject material. But, I think this was a disservice to their education. Because later in life when someone mentions the sacrificial ram in an office situation, for example, they might not know where that saying comes from. And little things from the bible are used by all sorts of authors in all sorts of other literary works.

Here is another good review of the book. (But be warned - it contains more spoilers than this post does.)

P.S. Have you seen The Prestige?