The Last Pope: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A frightening look at the men behind the cloth!
Review: In The Last Pope, once again Jerry Marcus has written a novel that is a frightening blend of historical fact and fiction. Pope Pius Innocent is one of the most fascinating and complex characters in Marcus' trilogy of religious fiction. The scandalous revelations about the church Pius Innocent uncovers - and the terrifying journey he makes to escape the Vatican - kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't think Marcus could top his previous works (The Salvation Peddler, and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Zev) in bringing a new conscience to the public forum. But he did.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and insightful.
Review: This insightful novel not only shows an understanding of world history , but allows readers to travel deep into the complex (and hypocritical) nature of religion and politics. I felt that I truly got to know Pope Pius Innocent as a troubled soul, and to feel his agony as he faced the most critical decision of his life. Given current events in both Rome and Israel, and that we may soon see the election of a new Pope, this book is a classic example of historical fiction at its best and most honest. Although it may be difficult to follow in some chapters as Marcus challenges the reader with his "novel within a novel," it succeeds in showing the author's keen understanding of human nature - as well as history. It rates closely to "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Zev" (also by Jerry Marcus) in its portrayal of the main character.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and insightful.
Review: This insightful novel not only shows an understanding of world history , but allows readers to travel deep into the complex (and hypocritical) nature of religion and politics. I felt that I truly got to know Pope Pius Innocent as a troubled soul, and to feel his agony as he faced the most critical decision of his life. Given current events in both Rome and Israel, and that we may soon see the election of a new Pope, this book is a classic example of historical fiction at its best and most honest. Although it may be difficult to follow in some chapters as Marcus challenges the reader with his "novel within a novel," it succeeds in showing the author's keen understanding of human nature - as well as history. It rates closely to "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Zev" (also by Jerry Marcus) in its portrayal of the main character.

Rating:
Summary: Religion, the Root of All Evil??
Review: This novel has a small amount of fact, a moderate amount of intrigue and a gigantic amount of misinformation and bigotry. The fact, which is so timely now, is the horror of child abuse by priests in the Catholic Church and the unexcusable behavior of covering up this fact by the hierarchy of the Church. This book, however, only continues the sad disharmony that exist between people of differing religious beliefs. Mr. Marcus uses his novel as a forum for anti-Catholicism much in the same way he proclaims the Catholic church uses the Sacred Scriptures for anti-Semitism. It is also obvious that Mr. Marcus did little research into the doctrine of the Catholic Church or he would not have referred to Jesus' birth as the "immaculate conception." The term "Immaculate Conception" in Catholic doctrine refers to the belief that Mary was conceived free of original sin. (see Part 1, Chapter 2, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph II of the Catechism of the Catholic Church). Mr. Marcus' premise of the need to question what our religious beliefs mean is great, but would have been credible if he had left his own bigotry behind.

Rating:
Summary: Superficial attacks to Catholic Faith
Review: When I started reading the book, I thought I was going to find a profound story with strong characters..... But, after the first chapter, I was just reading superficial attacks to the catholic church, always extreme and without real context. Every comment about the catholic church had no strong support by the characters, which I also expected to be stronger, so at the end of the book -as I always expect- the reader could at least identify with some of their feelings and thoughts. At the end, the so expected revelations, the reason d'etre of the story, are just -again- superficial "facts"... I actually laughed at the end, because eventhough I expected much more or this book, it wasn't bad, until reading the end. I have the feeling that the author just wanted to bring all "virtues" of Judaism and attack Catholisism.