In Simon Mawer's remarkably poised and poignant novel, the small moment is as significant as the large, and "the detail dictat[es] to the whole." Biblical scholar Father Leo Newman has spent a lifetime deciphering meaning from evanescent fragments of papyrus; he is much less accustomed to descrying the metamorphosis of a relationship writ large ("a mysterious thing, much too mysterious for a simple naming"). How unlikely, then, that he should fall in love with Madeleine Brewer, the vibrant but unbalanced wife of a bureaucrat. How unlikely, too, that he should be confronted with an ancient scroll whose details are radically incendiary rather than dustily abstruse: an apparent account of Jesus' life from Judas's point of view. But how marvelously likely that Mawer should take these elements and create a haunting narrative of doubt and faith, "the thin wash of immediacy" and memory, passion and the fragile remains of its absence. Madeleine and the Judas scroll thrust themselves, uninvited and unexpected, into Leo's quiet life in Rome, their very presence a counterpoint to his isolation and vulnerability. Asked by Madeleine to compromise a lifetime, asked by his colleagues to verify or deny the scroll's authenticity, Leo is a profoundly Prufrockian figure, "No Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be." Does he dare disturb the universe? Mawer skillfully interleaves three narratives: the story of Leo's German mother's life in Rome during World War II, a woman who was herself forced to choose between principle and passion; the unsettling story of Leo's relationship with Madeleine and the scroll; and a circumspect "present," in which Leo is still "a hermit in a cave, a hermit who was hoarding the few fragments of his faith lest they too be swept away by circumstance."
The novel represents a solemn quest, striving back toward half-forgotten origins in an attempt to bring order to a present and future spinning out of control. Its most poignant irony is that Leo is at once creator and destroyer--as he pieces together the story of the scroll, he is simultaneously unraveling his own faith, his own raison d'être: A dun-colored fibrous fragment hung there behind the glass, a fragment of papyrus the color of biscuit, inscribed with the most perfect letters ever man devised, words wrought in the lean and ragged language of the eastern Mediterranean, the workaday language of the streets, the meaning half apprehended, half grasped, half heard through the noise of all that lies between us and them, the shouting, roaring centuries of darkness and enlightenment. How was it possible to communicate to her the pure, organic thrill? The thrill, thanks to Mawer, is ours. --Kelly Flynn
From Library Journal
The idea of a newly discovered fifth gospel particularly by Judas is certainly intriguing, but Mawer spends the bulk of this novel dealing with far more mundane and typical plot lines. When Father Leo Newman, a biblical scholar, is forced into a crisis of faith and sensuality by a requisitely mysterious and attractive woman, it is all too familiar, having been explored in so many other books and films. At times Mawer also suffers from the same excessive love of language and word play as his protagonist, and the novel loses its focus. This complex story, read by Graeme Malcolm, has some fine moments, but the promise of the title is never fully realized. Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Mawer, the author of Mendel's Dwarf (1998), offers another philosophical novel, this time dealing with virtually every large issue that life has to offer: identity, mortality, love, and the existence of God. Father Leo Newman is immersed in each, present and past, as the chapters move back and forth in time. This device is initially trying for the reader, but eventually each piece of Newman's life falls into place, forming a complex mosaic. At first blush, Father Leo seems an unlikely figure to be in the swirl of so many emotions. A reticent Catholic priest, Newman takes comfort in living well away from the edge. But when a diplomat's wife takes an interest in him, Newman wakes up. At the same time, his professional life takes a fascinating yet devastating turn. He is called upon to translate a recently discovered Gospel, written by the apostle Judas, who insists he saw the corrupted body of Christ, negating the Resurrection, and thereby Christianity itself. Mawer's writing style mixes an ephemeral spirit with the pungent smell of reality. Many readers will finish it only to pick it up once more and peel off another layer. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"...beautifully rendered prose. Clean and straightforward, it is incredibly nuanced in capturing the emotional response to faith, love and sex." -- Free Lance Star, 7/8/01
"...establishes Simon Mawer as a world-class novelist..." -- Christian Science Monitor, 7/26/01
"...Mawer has miraculously mingled the best attributes of Graham Greene and James Michener...a breathtakingly subtle literary style..." -- Boston Globe, 6/23/01
About the Author
Simon Mawer was born in England, educated at Oxford, and now lives in Italy. He is the author of four other widely praised and prize-winning novels, including Mendel's Dwarf, which was selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
This work presents the crisis of faith of Catholic Father Leo Newman. An Englishman living in Rome, he is a world-respected expert on papyri. The crisis comes with the discovery of a scroll that appears to be a genuine account of the life of Jesus written by Judas and that discounts the resurrection. At the same time, the priest becomes involved in an adulterous affair with a diplomat's wife who commits suicide. This story has three different time frames (the present, the not-too-distant past, and 1943) and is somewhat disjointed. But the work has a number of marvelously written passages and memorable characters. Malcolm's narration is clear and polished throughout. His various accents are all quite believable. However, the whole work is rather hard to follow. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
