2013 Booker Long Listed: The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

Rating: 2
The Testament of Mary
A Novel by Colm Toibin
2012 / 96 Pages (56 in PDF format)


Synopsis:
In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel—her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it;” nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples. Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgment of others. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes, in Toibin’s searing evocation, a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. This tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.

Man Booker Project 2013 Long List Projections

Once again, I will be participating in the BookerMarks Man Booker project.  For details check out the details on the BookerMarks blog page or Facebook page.

I would like to take a stab again to guess a few titles that might make the long list.  A compilation of 2013 eligible titles can be found on Goodreads.



 First on my list of hopefuls for the longlist would be Kate Atkinson's Life After Life.  Life After Life has already been short listed for the 2013 Women's Prize and lost to AM Homes' May We Be Forgiven. 
The main reason I would like to have it appear on the long list is that I have already finished 25% of it.  Shallow reason, I know, but my reasoning none the less.  So far it is an intriguing read in which 4 of my Goodreads friends have read and rated 4 stars or better.   It is also "leading" the voting on the  Goodreads Man Booker 2013 Eligible list.