Rating: 
Summary: The Jesus of Limited Means
Review: Had Norman Mailer written "The Gospel According to the Son" forty years ago, in the middle of a decade endlessly divided against itself, we would have a very different novel. Jesus, our narrator here, probably would have been another Maileresque hero, like Rojack in "An American Dream" or DJ in "Why Are We in Viet Nam?", a marauding, secret voice driven White Negro Hipster, committing miracles in hot, violent frenzies, a visionary on the verge of beholding the clarifying image , yet at the sacrifice of his sanity. It might have been that Mailer's obsessions and theories would have followed him into this book like a stray dog he couldn't lose and made the story as ungainly and problematic as the most congested pages of DH Lawrence. Unlike Lawrence, though, Mailer lived long enough to get over the brash brilliance of younger days and brace himself for a longer march. "The Gospel According to the Son", has Jesus writing his own story from a place somehow outside history, neither heaven nor hell, for the purpose of modestly correcting the gospels of his scribes Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. The writers, this Jesus insists, have buttressed the saga in order to enlarge their fold, and declares "What is for me to tell remains neither a simple story nor without surprise, but it is true, at least to all that I recall." The same may be said for Mailer's tact in writing the story. Unlike page bombs like "Harlot's Ghost "or "Oswald's Tale", both of whose considerable merits are had after long, sluggish pages , "Gospel"is brief, a succinct 242 pages, with language that's spare and almost miserly in the use of verb and adjective. The minimalism succeeds , as it gives the narrating Messiah a credible voice, and underscores a genius that's little discussed even by Mailer's defenders, his mastery of first person singular. As in other novels, specifically in the characters of Rojack in the heady "An American Dream", or, closer to the new book, Marilyn Monroe in the guise of her private diary "Of Women and their Elegance, •we have a character whose voice is divided against itself. One, there's the aspect of a young and skilled carpenter coming to knowledge that he is the Messiah and touched with duty that's beyond himself, but there's the human trait as well that and dreads, not wholly sure of the mission. This Jesus at times occasions doubts of the reasons and effectiveness of his instructions, wonders often if God's voice might actually that of Satan's speaking too sweetly in his ear, or if he really is a madman as some call him. We are even introduced to the notion of that God Himself is not all powerful as the gospels exclaimed, but finite, as Jesus feels depleted of His power after days of performing miracles in the Temples. Credibly, there is even doubt from the weary Jesus about the wisdom of dispensing miracles at all, as the razzle - dazzle of Christ as serial healer proves a growing distraction from the teachings. Humans remain humans and concern themselves more with material comfort instead of the care of their souls, and our Jesus finds himself loathing the whole activity .
This psychic dualism is easier discussed as theological precept than it is conveyed as motivating literary action, but Mailer controls his pen with a sure hand. The spare and exacting cadences of the narrator's tone is matter-of-fact and achieves a kind of lean poetry. Both the glory of God in Heaven, and the dry, brittle facts of an earthly plain are addressed as facts of equal consequence. Because Mailer's intention is literary instead of heretical, we have a believable past that is convincingly made of hard soil upon which miracles are being dispensed. The character of Judas is brought out splendidly in a crucial dialogue between himself and the reticent Savior. An anti -Roman agitator desiring the liberation of the Jews, Judas announces that he does not believe that Jesus can lead any people through the gates of Heaven, and that he follows Jesus solely for the political potential to galvanize a movement to toss off the Roman yoke and force them from their land. He declares he will be loyal only so long as Jesus embodies that potential . In turn, Christ responds to Judas's entreaties that he can only tend to the spiritual needs of his people, charged by his Father to bring Man back to the practice of a living faith. The opposing declarations set into motion the mechanism of an inevitable betrayal by Judas that will ironically fulfill Jesus' divine and quixotic purpose on earth. It is written in the gospels, and repeated in Mailer's novel, that God so loved the world that He gave his only son for it's redemption. The fleeting, spectral essence of love has been a major subject of Mailer's other fiction, especially in how obsessive quests for getting and giving love become wrapped, distorted and demolished in struggles for power and influence. Mailer has investigated how these rudely combined energies result in self-made disasters through which his past heroes and heroine - -Rojack in "American Dream", Tim Madden in "Tough Guys Don't Dance" ,and yes, Marilyn in "Of Women and Their Elegance" need to trust the expanded authority of their senses and earn for themselves a personal philosophy they can live with and, presumably, die for. "The Gospel According to the Son" brings this wide current in Mailer's novels to the forefront and enlarges it vividly, and ironically, in the briefest book he's written in years. This book, finally, is about the hardest love of all, a quality of love that forces anyone to consider again if they have any capacity to be Christ -like. Mailer's superb telling of the story convinces that there's nothing heavenly in being even in the slightest way divine.
Rating: 
Summary: well done and highly recommended
Review: I had never read in the genera called "Life of Jesus." I had heard good things about this book, and it was well reviewed by many sources I trust. I've not been disappointed. It tells about Jesus' ministry in a Mark-like fashion (i.e. minimal interpretation, more a description of events) but with a twist: Much of the time we are treated to Jesus' own introspections about what he is doing and what he is wrestling with. Obviously this is fiction, but the deeper question is where along the spectrum of reporting among documentary, interpretation, and fiction do the gospels lie? Mailer has also read in some ancient Jewish and Christian sources and has incorporated things that, ceteris paribus, Jesus would probably have been aware of as his own ministry progressed. The style has a hauntingly minimalist grammar to it, pithy and saying-like, which we come to often associate with the words of Jesus. This makes the work all the more effective. This was my first Mailer book too, so I'm not a groupie, but I've come to respect this author already.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Mixed Bag
Review: I really wonder if Mailer only wrote this after a bet, a dare, or a few beers, or all three. It's a sometimes adequate....at times very insightful and moving....rewrite of a Gospel. But, gees, Norm, this is a damn serious subject about a very complex guy.... couldn'ya have tried just a little bit harder? The characters (especially Jesus) are flat and dull. The overall story is dead boring. Where Mailer has a flash of insight, the dialogue and monologues are good....where he doesn't, he simply quotes the Gospels literally....those parts are intensely irritating. Come on, Norm. Next time you want to do a serious work, stay away from your mates and stay off the piss. And do a bit more thinking and research.
Rating:
Summary: Mailer's Style Finally Finds its Subject
Review: Hmm. Norman Mailer has imagined himself into a fundamentalist Jew in Roman-controlled Palestine, a small-town carpenter who believes himself to be the son of God. Right away, we must believe him, as the point of view is established as first-person omniscient. Not everyone is going to enjoy a story that puts words in Christ's mouth and thoughts in His head, and that takes issue with the Gospels. But everyone is curious about Jesus; he was, after all, a great man. Mailer seems to have read much that allows him to invest his story with details of life and culture that bring it down to earth, as it were. In spite of that, the whole tone is "spiritual": his Jesus seems to be rather a stiff. He is painfully serious, with his eyes on the Lord Above at all times. Remember, though, that he was raised in the Essenes, a very strict group of ascetic fundamentalists. Still, Mailer carries you right along, as his chapters are short and his prose rhythmic and simple. Yet you get no sense of release out of this book, no sense of joy: Christ was in the grip of a tragic necessity, as was His Father. Anyway, this is a nice corrective to the usual universalist reading of Christ's life: he was, after all, a Jew and preaching in a contemporary tradition, though his message would undermine it. (He claimed to respect the Law, yet viewed the Sabbath as optional, for example.) He wished to talk to those influential Pharisees who controlled religious life, and who thought punctilious observance of a mass of regulations would get them into...heaven(?). His was a mystical corrective to a mechanical accounting system (reminds one of Luther, in a way). Yet finally, within two or three hundred years, his monotheistic, sin-centered message was a direct challenge to that intricate supernatural ecology that held sway, in its multitude of forms, over the known world. The Christian church, as we know, won. And, in winning lost the point, of course, which is that losing is winning. But all that is to be expected, and Mailer, who is gently blasphemous throughout (perhaps to be the more devout-who knows?) has Christ commenting on our times as if they were the worst of times, and God, his father, sore-beset. He makes no bones about the limits to God's power. This is, to be sure, a novel, a fiction. It is a retelling of one of the great stories of our culture. Of course, Jesus here spends a fair amount of time complaining that the Gospel writers who told his story distorted it; to some, this book may seem to do the same with much less justification. I disagree. The temptation in using the life of Christ for fictional purposes is that its great symbolic power can elevate a mundane text and obscure the faults of a deficient style. Mailer is a better writer than that. To be sure, his book's entire interest grows out of his choice of protagonist, but he gives back to the story, and so to the culture at large, a real addition of meaning. He fleshes out Jesus' life with authentic homely details, and plausibly shows how the world might have looked to him. In this he is doing as a novelist no more than theologians and preachers have been doing since the Year 1. But the story is never over: it is likely that upon finishing Mailer's book one will be tempted to go back to the Gospels for another read. I know I intend to.
Rating:
Summary: If You Do Not Like This Book, You Have Missed the Point
Review: While I could write pages on the excellence of this book, I will simply say that from its presentation (3- to 7-page chapters) to its content, this book is entirely refreshing, enthralling and entertaining. I see very low ratings on this page and must, with a bit of confessed arrogance, say that those who did not enjoy this book were/are simpletons who expected an "important Jesus book". Mailer makes no attempt to impress us with his high intelligence quotient. On the contrary, he brings Jesus right to our heart and hearth by humanizing him in a surprisingly non-religious manner. If you were bored by the material, give Mr. Mailer a lower rating for dullness. But to generically dismiss this creative endeavor as worthless simply because it is not what was expected or because it was grossly misunderstood only reveals a low intelligence quotient. One need only compare the grammar in some of the reviews on this page to that of Mr. Mailer to understand where true brilliance lies
Rating: 
Summary: It was so-so
Review: Normally, I like books about this subject. So naturally, I picked up a copy of "The Gospel According to the Son". I'm not saying it was absolutely awful, but it wasn't exactly a gripping page-turner either. It was straight out of the Gospels in the Bible. It was interesting, however, to hear Christ narrate His own life. Still, I would skip this one if you're looking for something you want to read over and over.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't add enough to the Bible
Review: This book has some merit, but does not add enough to the portrayal of Jesus in the gospels to make it deserving of more than two stars. I liked Mailer's simple prose, which displays little of the show-offishness of The Fight, and the way in which he links the familiar events of the gospels, but otherwise I found the book slightly uninspirational. Jesus is portrayed as very human, and as grappling with the problem of how to handle his status of Son of God and the powers that go with it, but this is not a remarkable insight on the part of Mailer. I would think that anybody who has read the Bible with a sense of curiosity would have considered this as well.
Rating:
Summary: So much from so little
Review: When a friend leant me The Gospel According to the Son, he sent it with these words of warning: 'When I first read this it seemed too simple, too straightforward. Mailer's cheating by just putting words into a character's mouth. Read it twice to realise just what it is about.' The upshot of this advice was that I am now in possession of a novel that is every reviewer's nightmare and every writer's dream - how can you make so much out of so little? In some respects this is the ultimate compliment for Norman Mailer, a man for whom the words 'egotistical' and 'arrogant' have almost become pseudonyms, because whilst the biblical research is meticulous his philosophy is profound. Instead of writing The Gospel According to Norman Mailer, this is a truly humanist piece of literature, which is probably why the more religious audiences took exception to it. The contrast between the human and the divine is marked but not to the point where the writer becomes didactic or intent on exposing his character's flaws for an effect. There is a constant feeling of control throughout the text rather than having to try and anticipate a sudden outburst of authorial emotion. The audience can remain comfortable in the knowledge that what they are reading is a deeply human portrayal devoid of pandering to history since the research is evident but doesn't influence character construction. The 'plot' itself is a straightforward progression from a young carpenter plying his trade to a deeply introspective preacher who is fully aware of his mortality and realises that he is troubled by the problems of the human condition in the same way as everyone else is. From a personal perspective there are two scenes that are particularly memorable; the 40 day exile in the desert in which the conversations with the Devil are definitely reminiscent of Satan's eloquence in Paradise Lost but also reflect the concerns and doubts of a young man embarking on a life-changing journey. Principally he seems unsure of just how valid the words and advice of his father really are but it is the constant casting of doubt into the mind that captivated me throughout this series of exchanges. The scene of the crucifixion is prose to be savoured since the impetuous youth has now been replaced by a more meditative, mature, reflective adult who accepts his demise with the restraint of one facing the inevitable. Both of these are indicative of the beauty that Mailer's writing holds, both on the level of a simplistic minimalist and also as a novelist fighting against the desperate urges to abandon his objectivity of the character and infuse his own personal agenda into their words. It's true to say that this style takes a bit of adjustment from the more established novelists, but their quality of prose would struggle to capture a novel of this quality. Mailer's projection of the psychological profile is also on a par with Dostoyevsky's Napoleonic hero, Raskolnikov, in Crime and Punishment. Historical fiction must usually lie within certain boundaries of but this breaks them irreparably and does so with such aplomb and self-assurance that you cannot help but turn the final page before beginning to contemplate the inspirational writing you have just had the pleasure of devouring.
Rating:
Summary: A STREET-LEVEL VIEW -- NO CHOIR, FEW SPECIAL EFFECTS...
Review: Norman Mailer's novelized story of the life of Jesus is one that, not surprisingly, stresses His human side -- and as such, it is understandably going to be received with misgiving and even derision from certain groups of the faithful. Nikos Kazantzakis' beautiful novel THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST was ridiculed by fundamentalist Christians as well. The Jesus depicted in these pages is not the idealized image seen in the paintings that hang in Sunday School classrooms all over America. His hands are rough and often dirty; he doesn't always go about in shining, spotless garments; his disciples are rough, uneducated men, 'ugly and misshapen of body; some were misshapen of nose; the hands of many were thick and broken; the legs of others were crooked.' In Mailer's story, Jesus is often plagued by doubts -- doubts about His own divinity, doubts about His ability to complete His mission, doubts even about the nature of His mission. He is wracked from time to time by temptation as well -- and not just during His 40 days in the wilderness, when He is tempted by Satan. There are even times when He feels separated from His Father. These are but a few of the aspects of this story that will likely anger and offend those whose belief is so literal and norrow that it is confined to the printed word of the Bible. If the book is read with an open mind and heart, however, it is easy to see that Mailer is not casting doubts upon the divinity of Jesus -- he is merely allowing us to get closer to the human side, which in turn can bring us closer to an understanding of Jesus the man. The Gospels were written many years after the Crucifixion, by men who did not know Jesus personally. They were based on accounts of accounts of accounts -- and as such, it is unbelievable that exaggerations and additions to the story would not occur. This is why many people look to the suppressed (by the Church) Gospel of Thomas as a more reliable, contemporarily composed look at Christ and His teachings. This does not mean that the story of Jesus is untrue, or of any less importance than the deepest of believers attach to it -- but it is a danger (and this is true in ANY religion) to attach too much importance to words. Mailer's work is fiction -- I didn't get the idea that he was trying to pass it off as anything more -- but a fiction that is extremely respectful to its inspiration, and very relelvant as a tool for our further understanding of Christ. It's not intended to replace or contradict the story of Jesus as told in the Bible -- it's more like a conversation between seekers, with Mailer on one side as the writer, and us on the other side as the reader. It's one side of a dialogue, and if it can spark some thought and contemplation, then it's a valuable one.
Rating:
Summary: Mixing lies with the truth...
Review: ...Norman Mailer seems to understand Satan better than any other character in this book.
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