Customer Reviews

Three Marys

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I thought Three Marys was an amazing book. Paul Park imagines the lives of several biblical women, and gives us a sense of what their lives might have been like. The three Marys the title refers to are Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalen; and Mary of the Mary and Martha story. The author takes stories from the new testament and tells them from these female viewpoints.

Three Marys is told in simple language that feels appropriate for the characters that Park imagines. At the same time, the novel is complex enough that I had to pay close attention to the details. My sense is that if I were even more familiar with the gospels, I would catch more of the subtleties that Park weaves into his fiction. As a lapsed churchgoer, I felt that I understood some of the references that he made to The Bible, but assume that I missed others. Now I want to go back and reread portions of The Bible to see just how clever this author is.

It is interesting to consider what these women, who were so close to Jesus, went through. This book will leave you with a lot to think about.

Enjoy.

A fascinating look into the life and times of Jesus Christ. It is for open-minded believer, not true believers. Fundamentalist Christians might find this book offensive, but anyone who is interested in a different way of telling the traditional Gospel stories will find this book both poignant and informative.

This book chronicles the crucifixion and the years directly afterwards from the point of view of the three Mary's: Mary, the mother of Christ; Mary of Bethany; and Mary of Magdala. Each chapter (5 in book) is from a different perspective. The book is written in the first person some times and other times it is told as a story, sometimes changing within a single paragraph. It's a very unique writing style and I found it hard to follow.

Although the book uses names of people and places from the bible it contains virtually no actual facts or events (other than the crucifixion itself). The story goes something like: "She ate a piece of bread", "She pulled up her blanket", "She walked down the road". It's as if the entire "cast" was moved to the Dark Ages - the picture the author paints is very "dark". Characters all seem to dislike each other. Very disappointing!