Customer Reviews

Book of Judas: A Poem

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I bought this after reading somewhere that this book was at least part of what inspired the song 'Until the End of the World' on U2's album Achtung Baby. There are some poems in this book that are disturbing, but that's precisely the point. Judas is a character that must be disturbing at least some of the time. There are also poems in here that made me relate to Judas and to what he found himself doing - betraying Christ.

Until the End of the World is my favorite song on my favorite U2 album, so I wanted to check out this book. I found it to be really thought provoking, and caused some introspection too. I think it can be easy for me to judge Judas on the surface and not give much more thought to what he did. But upon closer examination and forcing myself to consider him a *person,* it also caused me to see myself as not a lot different from this guy. It's a great reminder that I too have the capacity to betray and I have betrayed. What Judas did was awful, but I do awful things sometimes too. Even though what he did was bad, that action eventually brought about an amazing, amazing outcome - which reminds me that even the bad I do can be used for good.

Thanks, Brendan Kennelly, for braving this subject matter!

A book zi would recommend to anyone looking for something to stimulate their brain. Not your typical book of poetry, but very thought provoking.