The Gospel According to the Son

            I grabbed Norman Mailer’s The Gospel According to the Son* off of a Housing Works bookshelf a few years ago, and I’m just now getting to it because it’s a tiny little nugget and I forgot about it. Housing Works is a non-profit that supports people with HIV/AIDS. They have several NYC locations, but their bookstore café in Soho is particularly cool (lots of seating, lots of books, lots of coffee, lots of good causes, lots of inspo).

            Norman Mailer caught my eye because I’ve known him as this eccentric, prolific, outspoken, Pulitzer Prize winning founder of The Village Voice who absolutely could not keep a wife. He married six times. He stabbed his second wife at a party, nearly killing her. The party resumed and he went on to marry four more times.

            I’m drawn to religious books because of my upbringing. Religious fiction? Sign me up. For those who are offended easily, let me stop you right here. Fiction can be a useful tool that helps readers think differently and creatively about a subject. Fiction is a thought experiment! If your religious beliefs are so fragile that you can’t test them every now and then, then what’s the point of having a brain?

            That being said, The Gospel According to the Son won’t test your beliefs much. It’s Jesus’ autobiography, starting with him as a child and moving through his teachings, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. The concept certainly has promise, but the writing is dry and unimaginative. Having some prior knowledge of the Gospels is helpful, but you’ll notice there is very little (if any?) overt deviation from the Bible, and if I wanted to read the Bible, I would…read the Bible. Mailer’s Jesus notes that the Gospels are rife with exaggeration, and he clarifies what went down by stripping out extraneous, embellished details. Still, that’s not exactly a productive use of artistic license.

            Mailer even continued to treat women as second rate in his rendition. I’m like oh, a biblical story that reemphasizes the patriarchy, HOW UNIQUE.

            Overall, The Gospel According to the Son feels like an opportunity wasted. If Mailer had turned the novel in as a book report, his teacher would have flagged it for plagiarism. The most inventive aspect of the book is the brief portrayal of a young Jesus who is scared and partially in denial, just like any of us faced with large responsibilities. Like ones in which humanity’s salvation rests upon our shoulders. 

            If you're interested in religious fiction that's actually creative, check out The Bible According to Spike Milligan. If you're interested in religious nonfiction that tests the bounds of conventional religious interpretation, check out Zealot: The Life and Time of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel According to the Son receives 2 out of 5 camel humps.

*Mailer, Norman. The Gospel According to the Son. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997. Print.