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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
They've written better...., November 20, 2007
These authors have written better, case in point, John's Story. In Mark's Story, the characters have stilted King Jame-esque speech. In order to draw the reader in, they need to be believeable. This is the Most Amazing Story Ever Told, yet LaHaye and Jenkins have managed to alienate their audience with (admittedly poetic) King James text and one dimension characters.
Save your money, buy it used, or better yet, wait for the library copy.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I Really Wanted it to be a Good Read, December 15, 2008
I have read a number of Christian books including the Left Behind series by these same authors. I greatly enjoyed that series and I was hopeful when I saw Mark's Story on the bookshelf.
If you have ever been disappointed in a movie that was hyped to be especially good, or one by a known director or star whose work you always liked, you will understand my disappointment in this book. I really wanted to like this book and I kept waiting for it to get good. The story opens just before the Last Supper and basically a somewhat paraphrased version of the gospel accounts. I had hoped that after crucifixion, resurrection and ascension the story would get some meat on it. The characters never developed into real people and the writing and description of events is much like reading a news story. The characters are one dimensional and the dialogue is stiff. Much of the dialogue is simple direct quoting of scripture. Stephan's speech before the Sanhedrin is quoted in full and Peter's trip to Cornelius's home are simply taken from scripture.
I read The Apostle by John Pollock and felt that through the author's ability to interweave history, scripture, tradition, custom and depth of characters, I was able to almost know the Apostle Paul and I definitely gained knowledge and appreciation of that great mans work and sacrifice. Unfortunately after reading Mark's Story I found out nothing that isn't readily available in scripture or known tradition. The authors offered nothing that added any insight to any characters or events.
The book is about 300 pages long. Approximately the first 50 are a paraphrase of the Crucifixion and resurrection. The next 50 or so pages are a paraphrase of the first part of Acts. Much of the next 150 pages are a blending of paraphrase of scripture and undeveloped characters. The last 60 pages are simple the gospel of Mark and the epistles of Peter printed word for work from the New King James Bible.
The writing seems to aimed at about a fourth grade level of reading ability and intelligence and appears to be about a middle school level of writing ability. I feel like I got ripped off by the authors of this book. They could have taken their talent and made a good historical novel giving the reader insight into the people and times of the early church, instead all we get as a pedestrian paraphrase of scripture and tradition.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Was There a Novel in There?, April 15, 2009
This book follows the life of John Mark, most commonly called Mark, from the time he is 16 until his death. The book actually starts during Passover of the year that Jesus dies and is resurrected. We get to see the birth of the early church, Mark's various journeys, and his conversations with Peter that formed the basis of the Gospel that bears his name.
Oh, that I had actually liked the book.
Actually, there was one part I did like. The parts about the crucifixion and resurrection were good. In fact, they moved me to tears at a couple of points.
Unfortunately, that was the early part of the book and it went downhill from there.
The book suffered from several problems. Firstly, there is hardly any plot. This is a fictional biography based on the brief mentions of Mark we get in the Bible and tradition handed down from the early church. That's fine, except there is no overall story. And the points that couple have had some tension to them, like Mark leaving Paul during his first journey, as all but glossed over.
The characters are mostly flat. Paul has the most personality, followed by Peter. Mark is little more than cardboard. And it goes downhill from there.
Finally, large passages of the book are nothing but quotes from the New Testament with the pronouns changed. It becomes laughable when the characters are talking in simple sentences one minute and in New King James (at least that's my guess) the next. Almost all of Mark shows up at some point, which makes it rather funny that it and first and second Peter are included in the appendix. I regularly read the Bible, but that's not what I want when I sit down with fiction.
I actually listened to the unabridged audio as narrated by Robertson Dean. He did a great job reading it. I just wish there had been more for him to work from.
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins should be ashamed of releasing this "novel." You'll be better served by spending this time studying the Bible for yourself.
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