Rating: 
Summary: I slogged through this piece of pseud-lit
Review: Gospel reminded me of nothing so much as a Stephen King book. It shares so many characteristics with King's similarly bloated novels. Paper-thin, cliched characterizations. Annoying, cloying turns of phrase and trite, predictable plot turns. Vapid attempts at social and political commentary. Ridiculous devices like parenthetical asides from supernatural beings. And yet, like King, Barnhardt does it just well enough to keep you intrigued, if barely. However, Stephen King sometimes does manage to involve me and draw me in, even make me feel something sometimes. Barnhardt never did. Still, some of the historical minutiae was amusing, and I did find myself continuing to pick up the book and keep slogging through until I finished. So it's not utter drek. That's the other similarity to Stephen King: As with many of King's books, Gospel does contain a bare whiff, a slight hint, of literature, as if, had he only known how, this guy might have actually written a book with real heft, something with ideas, something with art.Alas, he did not. This is not Umberto Eco or A.S. Byatt. If you must read it take it out from the library; don't pay money for it.
Rating: 
Summary: superbly readable and captivating
Review: GOSPEL is one of the best, most stimulating and interesting novels I have ever read. Enjoyable and tanatalizing for lovers of mysteries, dense enough for theologists, and detailed enough for travelogue enthusiasts. One of few novels for fun I have read more than once...the sense of place in the Ireland and Italy sections are remarkable.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I ever read after Gone with the Wind
Review: I didn't want it to end! This book took me through all the places I dream of visiting and talked about the many subjects, places and philosophies that I have gathered in my brain over 40+ years of reading. It took Barnhardt to put it all together in a logical and sweeping tale of adventure. I have recommended it over and over again and have gone out and bought copies for my sisters.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but twice as long as it should be
Review: GOSPEL is both interesting and infuriating. The latter, because it's twice as long as it need be. Barnhardt has no discipline as a writer, and he didn't get the severe editor he needs. He is afflicted with logorrhea, and rambles on and on with trivia and chitchat. But all this is interspersed with some illuminating stuff. The basic structural idea -- paralleling a first-century text (not really a gospel) and the 20th century efforts to find, keep, and translate it -- is a good one. But it becomes bogged down in irrelevant subplots, random observations, minor characters, aimless drifting, etc. It must have been written after INDIANA JONES and been modelled on the same idea, with definite movie possibilities in mind. But I doubt that Barnhardt would be capable of a screenplay. His would be 300 pages. And he drags the reader all over the Western World -- Oxford, Florence, Rome, Assissi, Jerusalem, Mt. Athos, Athens, Alexandria, Aswan, Khartoum, Addis Ababa, New Orleans, etc. Barnhardt has apparently been all these places, and wants to share the experience with us. Not to mention the travels of Matthias, the "gospel" writer. Recommended if you have the patience. But it would be twice as good if the writer were more focussed.
Rating:
Summary: Easily one of the Best Books I've ever read
Review: Although the length of this book is daunting and the "conversations with god" are a little odd, this is a meticulously researched novel that provides the reader with a realistic and endearing look at the truth behind christianity. Although I resisted the ending due to my very Catholic upbringing, I still have to recommend this book to anyone looking for adventure, romance, history, and some wonderful soulsearching moments about the meaning behind our two thousand year old relationship with Christ. Perhaps the perfect summer read. It was a well developed novel that kept me reading for two weeks. I am still sad that it had to end. Barnhardt at his best.
Rating:
Summary: A historical romp into the origins of Christianity
Review: An alcoholic ex-Jesuit historian in the University of Chicago gets wind of the lost gospel of St. Mathias, the apostle chosen with straws after the death of Judas. He and his assistant take off for Europe and the mideast in search of the document, which is also being sought by the Israelis, the Arabs, the Vatican, American fundamentalists, and the CIA. The beginning of each chapter gives us a portion of the intensely coveted scripture, which begins with the startling, "I have lost my faith, Josephus." This book within the book, written 40 years after Jesus crucifixion, tells of Mathias' search for the truth about the resurrection. He visits James, the cousin of Jesus, Peter, and Mary Magdalen, now the abbess of a convent in the desert. The very premise of this novel, the questions it raises, and its scholarly tone combine a sense of great fun, a reverence for belief, and a keen desire to get to the bottom of things. I raced through the book and have given it to several of my friends.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the Trouble
Review: A somewhat daunting book to read, but well worth it for its story and unique perspective on the history of religion. Barnhardt is a wonderful writer and his most recent book Show World is also a great book. Gospel, however, will always be his most significant achievement. Also, a note to the reader in Cleveland Heights, maybe you should re-read the ending of this book. Your perception of the end of the story, especially regarding Lucy Dantan indicates that you never read the book!
Rating:
Summary: Probably the best book written during the past 10 years.
Review: The gospel itself, and the "yuck stories" of gross martyrdoms, are a major reason this novel appealed to me. O'Hanrahan is a great, falstaffian character himself, but the growth of Lucy from the frigid and inexperienced Catholic girl into an independent and self-possessed woman are why I love this book. And I didn't even like her much at the start of the book.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read, if you ignore suspect theology
Review: This book is a lot of fun if you know a variety of faith communities and like to see their foibles skewered. It's rather irreligious, but not maliciously so; the author seems a congenial and conventional modern agnostic who would be shocked to be thought intolerant. I liked the main characters, and enjoyed the book as a plausible satire until the end. There the author drops the ball with an abortion untrue for its character and done far too complacently (not to mention offending Catholic readers), and again, perhaps less importantly by offering a facile text of the lost gospel that trivializes the search for it.
Rating:
Summary: The best book, I ever read!
Review: If you need a well written, funny and intellectual book, with a lot of pages, great characters and a fantastic story, than buy this novel! It is the best book, I've ever read in my life!
|
