A Book Review ⭐️ ⭐️ out of 5
Book: “The Book of Longings”
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Disclaimer: Stopped reading at 67%
I’m sorry for whoever takes offense at my very controversial review, but this book, in my opinion, reads like a Jesus fan-fiction. I don’t care if Jesus had a wife or kids, because I am agnostic, but it just seems like it would make Jesus ignoble.
As a woman, the whole point of what makes Jesus virtuous to me, is the fact that he was able to stay celibate and remained above earthly carnal pleasures. It distinguishes him from all the other men in my life. He is a man, who if he existed today, I know I could talk to, and wouldn’t be looking at me sexually. In the original fanfic (the Bible) he went beyond that, and rose above, hence why priests remain celibate to this day. It’s what makes him honorable, because every other man falls for the trap of earthly pleasures too easily, yet here in this book, he is reduced to a pittance of his canon lore.
If I must be completely, and totally honest, this book bored me. As an agnostic I really don’t want to spend hours reading about Jesus’ sexual escapades. Obviously, I know I’m amplifying and embellishing a minute detail, of course, because it wasn’t really about that. The point I’m trying to make is that I already see him on every social media network. People constantly try to shove him down my throat. I read to escape the drollness of mundane life.
His “wife” Ana was insufferable, and that’s coming from an unrelenting feminist. I found her so nauseating. It almost felt as the author is throwing the feminism in your face while forcing you to believe that feminism prevailed in a time and place when we all know that it did not even remotely exist. The fact of the matter is unfortunately that she would have been stoned. I abhor history myself because of this, but I don’t deny it to serve my own personal fantasies.
I’m sorry for my contemptuous review of this book and I’m sorry to whoever I offend, including the author, Sue Monk Kidd. I did like her other book “The Secret Life of Bees”🐝 . That book was amazing, but I just wasn’t into this. I got halfway through it, and then I kinda just figuratively left it at the library and waved goodbye… no Jesus fan-fiction for me today. (And I’m using figuratively because I was hearing an audiobook from said library)
Finally, I did give it two stars because she does write very well. Her prose is beautiful, and there is no denying that. She is a writer of high caliber, but I just do not agree with her topic of choice in this book.