Rating: 
Summary: From a different prospective
Review: After reading the scathing review from the New York contributor - - I really wanted to like this book. Particularly after reading the heartfelt orgin(s) of the book that the author shared in the review he had submitted. I couldn't bring myself to it once I began reading it. Within a dozen pages I had lost interest and was appalled that I had bought this book. I felt that the narrative was both inaccurate and semantically anachronistic. The significance of events were presented with more "importance" than they had at the time; Christ's arrival in Jerusalem, and the subsequent chain of events at that Passover, was not the defining moment of the time. It was not the "JFK assassination" like event that was burned into everyone's mind. This is implied. Further - word/concepts are presented - by Pontius Pilate- that appear to be coming, conceptually, at least a 1000 - 1500 years too early. It would be like reading a novel about Abraham Lincoln - and having him say , " that's a cool idea." This was very distracting. In general this was not successfully written from the perspective of a powerful 1st century Roman citizen/official -but from that of a devout 20th century Christian - who had excellent idea and good intent- but who didn't know how to get into the head and heart of his intended subject. (For a wonderful example of a successful attempt to step back in time a millennium or two see Memoirs Of Hadrian by M. Yourcenar. Different subject; roughly the same era.) All-and-all, very disappointing. Awful.
Rating: 
Summary: PONTIUS PILATE: CAVETE EMPTOR
Review: After reading the scathing review from the New York contributor - - I really wanted to like this book. Particularly after reading the heartfelt orgin(s) of the book that the author shared in the review he had submitted. I couldn't bring myself to it once I began reading it. Within a dozen pages I had lost interest and was appalled that I had bought this book. I felt that the narrative was both inaccurate and semantically anachronistic. The significance of events were presented with more "importance" than they had at the time; Christ's arrival in Jerusalem, and the subsequent chain of events at that Passover, was not the defining moment of the time. It was not the "JFK assassination" like event that was burned into everyone's mind. This is implied. Further - word/concepts are presented - by Pontius Pilate- that appear to be coming, conceptually, at least a 1000 - 1500 years too early. It would be like reading a novel about Abraham Lincoln - and having him say , " that's a cool idea." This was very distracting. In general this was not successfully written from the perspective of a powerful 1st century Roman citizen/official -but from that of a devout 20th century Christian - who had excellent idea and good intent- but who didn't know how to get into the head and heart of his intended subject. (For a wonderful example of a successful attempt to step back in time a millennium or two see Memoirs Of Hadrian by M. Yourcenar. Different subject; roughly the same era.) All-and-all, very disappointing. Awful.
Rating:
Summary: The biography Pilate himself might have written.
Review: Although it is a work of fiction, "Memoirs of Pontius Pilate" comes close to deserving a place in the history section. Much of this well-researched book is devoted to Pilate's own biography of Jesus; nevertheless, there is enough supplementary material here to leave the reader a bit more knowledgeable on the history of Roman Palestine. Mills' Pilate begins with an introductory discussion about the Jewish people (written from a perspective that feels authentically Roman). The rest of the book traces the life of Jesus from the Nativity to the Crucifixion, after which the exiled former procurator adds his own views on the events that he had just described. Throughout the work Pilate remains sufficiently sceptical of the miracles and odd "coincidences" that his spies report to him, but the reader soon realises that this Roman is at least open to the possibility that the "strange carpenter" may actually be who he says he is. A word of caution, though: readers who insist on seeing a cruel, heartless tyrant of a governor in this book will be sorely disappointed. Though the historical Pontius Pilatus may have been a man who truly deserves the wicked reputation he is cursed with today, would he have written about himself that way? In all certainty he would have described actions we now see as barbaric within the context of his own culture and upbringing; that is, he would have said that he was simply "doing his job" when he mowed down the Samartians on Mount Gerizim and threatened to hack a crown of Jews to death in Caesarea. Out of his love for Rome, his loyalty to Caesar and perhaps even his own strange form of concern for the well-being of the Jewish people, he did what he felt he had to do. I am no relativist. From the very little that we know about Pilate, there is no doubt that he was -- to put it bluntly -- a very bad man. But it would be ridiculous to assume that he would have seen himself as anything other than a devoted public servant who tried to do his duty well.
Rating:
Summary: The biography Pilate himself might have written.
Review: Although it is a work of fiction, "Memoirs of Pontius Pilate" comes close to deserving a place in the history section. Much of this well-researched book is devoted to Pilate's own biography of Jesus; nevertheless, there is enough supplementary material here to leave the reader a bit more knowledgeable on the history of Roman Palestine. Mills' Pilate begins with an introductory discussion about the Jewish people (written from a perspective that feels authentically Roman). The rest of the book traces the life of Jesus from the Nativity to the Crucifixion, after which the exiled former procurator adds his own views on the events that he had just described. Throughout the work Pilate remains sufficiently sceptical of the miracles and odd "coincidences" that his spies report to him, but the reader soon realises that this Roman is at least open to the possibility that the "strange carpenter" may actually be who he says he is. A word of caution, though: readers who insist on seeing a cruel, heartless tyrant of a governor in this book will be sorely disappointed. Though the historical Pontius Pilatus may have been a man who truly deserves the wicked reputation he is cursed with today, would he have written about himself that way? In all certainty he would have described actions we now see as barbaric within the context of his own culture and upbringing; that is, he would have said that he was simply "doing his job" when he mowed down the Samartians on Mount Gerizim and threatened to hack a crown of Jews to death in Caesarea. Out of his love for Rome, his loyalty to Caesar and perhaps even his own strange form of concern for the well-being of the Jewish people, he did what he felt he had to do. I am no relativist. From the very little that we know about Pilate, there is no doubt that he was -- to put it bluntly -- a very bad man. But it would be ridiculous to assume that he would have seen himself as anything other than a devoted public servant who tried to do his duty well.
Rating:
Summary: An original, suberly written, fascinating, engaging novel.
Review: As a now-exiled governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate reflects on life, politics, religion, and wonders at how it is that Jesus' followers have multiplied and spread all over the Roman Empire. Could such a movement have sprung from the teachings of an obscure zealot crucified long ago in such an insignificant part of the world? Searching his memory, Pilate pieces together what he recalls of Jesus' boyhood, ministry, and trial -- writing in effect a "fifth gospel" account of Christ's life. But his perspective is radically different from that of one of Jesus' followers. He is, after all, a corrupted aging bureaucrat with a cynical turn of mind. Memoirs Of Pontius Pilate is an outstandingly original, superbly written, fascinating and engaging Christian novel.
Rating:
Summary: An awful book
Review: Historical novels are, by definition, not historically accurate, and James R. Mills's "Memoirs of Pontius Pilate" goes a long way toward proving that fact. This is an awful historical novel, one of the worst I've read. To begin with, Pilate is painted as a modern man, and not a citizen of Rome in the first century C.E. This Pilate sounds like a contemporary bible scholar, not a professional soldier and governor. His knowledge of Jewish history is remarkable. Beginning with Moses, Pilate writes with some authority about David, the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, Israel's commissioning as a Holy nation, and Jewish laws regarding ritual cleanliness and food purity. He knows the history of the Greek occupation, the atrocities committed by Antiochus Epiphanes, and the Maccabean revolt. He knows several arcane rites of Judaism, as well as prayers and prophecies. He knows the writings of Hillel, and he doubts the existence of his own gods more than he doubts the existence of YHWH, the God of Israel. This Pilate also knows about the Christ from the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and undertakes great pains to document it. He begins by "reproducing" a letter he received from Caiaphas recounting Jesus' birth. He quotes Hebrew Scripture, recounting and reconciling many of the prophecies regarding Messiah. This is a complex and thouroughly modern man. But his knowledge of things Jewish is not the only aspect of this Pilate that doesn't seem quite right. His personality is off as well. Here, Pilate is depicted as being a compassionate and benevolent governor, rather than the cruel and rigid man history knows him to have been. His insistence in the innocence of Jesus is overstated, as if Mills himself, much like the author of the Gospel according to John, an obvious source for this book, were worried that the wrath of Rome would somehow come down upon his head. And while recollecting the trial of Christ, Pilate shows his own prophetic nature in addition to his compassion. When one member of the assembled mob calling for crucifixion yells out "May his blood be on us, and on our children!" Pilate muses that "[I]f Christianity should somehow endure, I am afraid that shout may result in grief for a lot of Jews." Prophecy, as well as concern. This, coming from the man who hosted gladatorial "games", ordered the slaughter of Samaritans, and authorized the crucifixion of unknown numbers of prisoners just somehow does not ring true. Finally, Pilate's proximity to events in the story seems strained and false. From his sending spies to Galilee, to his walking behind Christ on the way to Golgotha, to his personal witness of the crucifixion, this Pilate's actions just don't jive with those of the man history tells us he was. If you are interested in a realistic portrait of Pilate, I heartily recommend that you skip this book, and instead, read Ann Wroe's well-written and thought-provoking biography, "Pontius Pilate." In it, she explores the personality of the man as he was, and as he has been portrayed through the past 2,000 years. Wroe does a much better job of synthesizing history, myth and legend than Mills does of creating an historic anomaly who is not recognizable as the Pilate of history, myth, or legend. Better still, read the Gospel of John as it is written, rather than through the filter of a fictionalized, modernized, and thoroughly unbelievable Pilate.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing and thought provoking, not light entertainment
Review: I enjoyed this book as it made me think about the history of Christianity from a very different viewpoint, and one that not many have taken. It's not a blending of myth, legend, with a little history thrown in as so much of historical fiction is today. I read it slowly over the course of many evenings. It is not something I could sit down and read in one session. In reading some of the reviews below, especially the one that casts this Pilate as a sympathetic figure, I can't help but wonder if they really read the book. This Pilate is sometimes chilling in his indifferent description of the killing of hundreds if not thousands. It's pretty clear he does not see himself that way though. It is also not in the style of a 'novel' (as mentioned in another review) in that there are the historical afternotes to the chapters, much more like a historical footnote. It is significantly different and much re-written from the book Mills wrote some 10 years ago, which I never did finish from cover to cover.
Rating:
Summary: From a different prospective
Review: I found this book to be very enjoyable. It told a very well known story from a diffenent prospective. It was easy reading and followed events in a chronological order which made the story flow much better than reading disjointed gospels. It made me see those historic events in a differnt light.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and thought provoking, not light entertainment
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed "Memoirs of Pontius Pilate" mostly because it was a pleasure to learn so much about Christ and his time and the world in which he lived. Knowing about the politics in Israel and in the Roman Empire during those years made the story of his life more real to me. I also enjoyed the book because Pontius Pilate, as presented, is an entertaining character with a sense of humor and a gift for creating good narrative. When I finished the book, I regretted that it wasn't longer.
Rating:
Summary: Memoirs of Pontius Pilate
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed "Memoirs of Pontius Pilate" mostly because it was a pleasure to learn so much about Christ and his time and the world in which he lived. Knowing about the politics in Israel and in the Roman Empire during those years made the story of his life more real to me. I also enjoyed the book because Pontius Pilate, as presented, is an entertaining character with a sense of humor and a gift for creating good narrative. When I finished the book, I regretted that it wasn't longer.
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