Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt: A Novel

I swear every time I pick this book up to try and read it I fall asleep. It's hard to follow, and I just can't get into it. I will be donating this to the Library...

I started this book a couple of years ago, got about 50 pages into it, and quit. It was a bit too touchy-feely for me. Then I picked it up again last month, started over, and finished it. I'm glad I did. It got better as I progressed, and Anne Rice's research was evident as she described life of a very special Jewish family in first century Palestine. I think James and Joseph were my favorite characters. I also liked her imaginative -- yet, as far as I could tell, orthodox -- description of child Jesus's gradual self-understanding and subsequent self-limitation. Finally, Rice's descriptions of the holy land gave me a vivid mental image that will enliven my reading of the New Testament.

She built her reputation writing books about vampires and witches, exploring her own faith as her characters wrestled with timeless themes of good and evil. Now Anne Rice has taken on the story of Christ himself. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is a novel written as a first-person account by Jesus of his very early years. In an afterword Rice details her research -- the years she spent studying Christ and his times, delving deeply into academic treatises. ..

I was very impressed with Ms Rice's style of writing. It was as though you were hearing the story first hand from Jesus himself. It put Jesus in a human perspective and her style of presenting Him in this manner made this a believable story. I found myself picturing in my mind as I read along that I was actually there and observing the events myself. Excellent piece of work. I have recommended this book to all my friends.

I don't know what I expected when I ordered the book, I bought it because Rice's new book Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana (Christ the Lord)piqued my curiosity at the store and because I loved Memnoch The Devil for the way it made me think about what I thought I knew about my religion.
My first (and immediate) reaction was, leave it to Ann Rice to have the audacity use first person narration as God! What else has she got in store for me? I couldn't put it down! I have recomended the book to every recovery Roman Catholic I know. Loaned it out twice, and plan to at least skim it again before I read the next one, which I wanted to wait a while to do so that I could reflect more on this one.
I still can't say exactly what my reaction is, only that I'm still reflecting, that it seems to have given an element of believability to things I dismissed as religious propaganda.
A great read for the faithful and the fallen!