The LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

Rating:
Summary: cant believe how quick it came
Review: This book was awesome. Absolutely Breathtaking. It really made me think about Jesus Christ as a struggling, suffering human being that dealt with issues just like the rest of us. Words cannot describe what I felt as I was reading this book, I couldn't put down.

Rating:
Summary: Mists of Avalon is to Arthur legend as Last Temptation is...
Review: ...to the Gospels. If one has no knowledge of the Gospels coming in to this book, it would not be a problem, as Kazantzakis skillfully incorporates many of the stories and parables of Jesus. However, he adds some new twists to characters like his mother Mary, and Judas, etc. I achieved a real sense of his Apostles as peasants and as true "common men" who were uncertain about whether this was the Messiah that the Hebrew Scriptures spoke of. It was a little long working up to the crucifixion, but the last 100 pages were extremely interesting as one became witness to the human vs. divine struggle of Kazantzaki's Christ. This book is a good fictional account for those wellversed in the New Testament, or for those whose experience with the Gospels has been limited. Negative comments: The review of the Gospel stories was too tedious for me, and, for a fictional Jesus, I enjoyed Jose Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ much more than this. I am biased, however, as I have read the New Testament.