From Publishers Weekly
A temperate entry in the rapidly overheating
Da Vinci Code sweepstakes, Malarkey's second novel (following
An Obvious Enchantment) illuminates the spiritual yearnings underlying and bolstering that boffo megaseller's more sensationalistic elements. Set in Egypt just after WWII, the novel fictionalizes the discovery of the Gnostic gospels, early Christian writings whose explosive intimations—that a growing nonauthoritarian sect was suppressed as Christianity was incorporated into the Roman empire—have been expertly explored by the great scholar Elaine Pagels. Malarkey, a founding editor of
Tin House, is clearly enamored of these writings, but she makes a hash of the intrigue around their discovery. A faulty sense of period (a character at one point anachronistically calls for "security") and characters and situations straight from romance fiction ("This is the most beautiful part of the horse, and, I think, some women") mix uneasily with fairly sophisticated Bible readings, as young Brit Gemma Bastian follows her archeologist father to Cairo and gets mixed up with the household of his friend David Lazar—and David's sons. Such criticisms would be quibbles if
Resurrection possessed the pulpy energy of
Da Vinci, but it doesn't. Budding Gnostics and Essenes would be better off going straight to Pagels.
(Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From AudioFile
The Gnostic Gospels, once believed to have been destroyed but discovered in 1945, form the basis for this thriller set in London and Cairo. Kate Reading creates the dark mood of postwar London, which is echoed in the emotions of Gemma Bastion when she learns of the suspicious death of her archaeologist father. When Gemma travels to Cairo to settle his estate, she discovers that his last project involved the Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene. As the drama unfolds, the listener feels Gemma's emergence from depression through Kate Reading's quickening pace. Reading's skill with suspenseful narration builds the tension as Gemma adroitly escapes a murderer intent on stealing the Gospel. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
