THE GOOD MAN JESUS AND THE SCOUNDREL CHRIST - ANOTHER VIEW.

THE GOOD MAN JESUS AND THE SCOUNDREL CHRIST by PHILIP PULLMAN.

This is a STORY.

... From the outer back cover.

In this ingenious and spellbinding retelling of the life of Jesus, Philip Pullman revisits the most influential story ever told.

Charged with mystery, compassion and enormous power, The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ throws fresh light on who Jesus was and asks the reader questions that will continue to resonate long after the final page is turned. Above all, this book is about how stories become stories.

.... From the inner front cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: This is the story of Jesus and his brother Christ, of how they lived and (I'm not going to continue for fear of giving part of the story away.)

I started this blog, promising myself I'd review every book I read and so far I've kept to that promise but this review is proving rather difficult (Sighs), so much so that I really don't know if I want to post it.

I'd read so many things about this book, including, of course HUSBAND DEAREST'S REVIEW, and so was expecting 'something' - quite what, I'm not sure.

A totally different review to Hd's as for one thing we read and review books it two completely different ways - he is much more analytical whilst I tend to see things at face value and, in this instance, he has a good working knowledge of the Bible whilst I do not. That said, there was plenty that I did recognise from my childhood telling of the Bible stories, not to mention, all of those Biblical films that I so love.

And that's where I kind of get stuck as, whilst I recognised that the author was trying to make some point, I simply could not get my head around what it was.

Not even able to take the book at face value without looking for some deeper meaning, I, at one point, gave up only to decide on reading it through to the bitter end.

Not a story I enjoyed - the only positive thing I can say about it is, never has there been such debate over a book (no, not even Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code) in the Petty Witter household.

Having recognised some of the events in the book do I now feel inspired to read the Bible as some have done? Truthfully? No.

One of the worst books I have read in a long while but perhaps for a different reason - I can't say it was particularly well or particularly badly written just like I have no real opinion on any of the characters. Totally bland in one's humble opinion, I found myself totally passionless (either to the good or the bad) about this latest offering from Philip Pullman.

This novel was purchased through Amazon, my third read in THE TYPICALLY BRITISH BOOK CHALLENGE (Click on the relevant links to view the 1st and 2nd books read.)

Read John Crace's Digested Read of the book by clicking HERE though you may not wish to do so if you have not already read the book and plan to do so.