Customer Reviews

John the Baptizer: A Novel

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I didn't feel like I was reading, but seeing and feeling and experiencing this beautiful, profound and surprising story. I felt like I was reading a classic - A truly important work. If you haven't read any of Mr. Hansen's work before, then read John the Baptizer. I'm not the first to say this, but he really is "the most imaginative and talented novelist of his generation." Read it!

How does that saying go, "Walk a mile in another man's moccasin before you criticize him." ?

After reading John the Baptizer, I felt like I had walked a mile in his sand covered sandals. I used to view John as the comic relief figure in the New Testament. Just another PK that went a little crazy due to all the pressure on him. But, now I view him a great man of faith, vision, and courage.

Hansen wrote a completely engrossing tale that allowed me to empathize with John and the other well drawn supporting characters, i.e. his father the priest, Zechariah.

Oh, now I remember how the saying goes, "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and have their shoes."

I have no criticism for this well written novel. Well worth your time and money.

Keleigh Crigler Hadley author [...]

I'm not a Christian, but this impossibly beautiful, compelling story comes close to making me want to convert.

John's spirituality is of an ascetic variety--by comparison, even Jesus himself is viewed as suspiciously profligate (water into wine indeed!) by some of John's most devoted followers--and yet that asceticism seems so appropriate for the context of that time, and John has so much heart it's heartbreaking. The baptism scenes, particularly the baptism of Andrew (told from Andrew's point of view) are so affecting, I'm convinced I could and would have been a follower too. The royal politics that ultimately necessitate John's arrest are intriguing and nuanced and horrifying (of course); John's crisis of faith in prison--the spiritual suffering being so much more profound than the brutal physical punishment they inflict on him--is so poignant and brilliantly rendered . . . and there are so many other elements of sheer storytelling power and archetypal resonance in this work, I come away feeling like I've been holding a book made of fire and the voice of the author is some sort of modern literary version of revealed Truth. Enjoy!

....just finished reading John the Baptizer and feel as if I am coming back from a fascinating trip.
A very well researched and beautifully written and detailed account of life in Palestine just before the Christian era.
I always thought I knew all about John, I was wrong. I used to be a bit curious about him, now I know him. And all the characters around him.
Thank you Mr. Hansen, a great work, well done.