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The Testament of Mary Hardcover – November 13, 2012

by Colm Toibin (Author)

502 customer reviews

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Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's provocative, haunting, and indelible portrait of Mary presents her as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity.

In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son’s crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel—her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it;” nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples. Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgement of others. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. Tóibín’s tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Tóibín is at his lyrical best in The Testament of Mary, a beautiful and daring work…it takes its power from the surprises of its language, its almost shocking characterization, its austere refusal of consolation.” (Mary Gordon The New York Times Book Review)

“[An] exquisite novella…Tóibín gives a familiar story startling intimacy.” (The New Yorker)

“A heartfelt, powerful work.” (Sam Sacks The Wall Street Journal)

“Dramatic and poetic…A powerful, devastating story.” (Ron Charles The Washington Post)

“Lovely, understated and powerfully sad, The Testament of Mary finally gives the mother of Jesus a chance to speak. And, given that chance, she throws aside the blue veil of the Madonna to become wholly, gloriously human.” (Annalisa Quinn NPR)

“Mary—silent, obedient, observant—has echoed down two millennia, cementing a potent ideal in the Western imagination. Now the masterful Irish writer Colm Tóibín puts a jackhammer to the cozy, safe, Christmas-card version in The Testament of Mary.” (Karen R. Long Cleveland Plain Dealer)

“A slim, grave, exquisitely emotional book…The Testament of Mary is a spellbinding, surprisingly reverent book.” (Jeff Giles Entertainment Weekly)

“Tóibín applies a Joycean ruthlessness…Imagining himself into Mary’s interior life is his boldest jump yet.” (Hermione Lee The New York Review of Books)

“Tóibín’s intimate approach make Mary feel more credible and human…The result, The Testament of Mary, feels true.” (Claire Cameron The Millions)

“Tóibín suffuses the story with a sense of mystery and makes the reader feel (perhaps as never before) the tragedy of the crucifixion.” (Macy Halford Buzzfeed)

About the Author

Colm Tóibín is the author of nine novels, including The Blackwater Lightship; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary; and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University. Three times shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Tóibín lives in Dublin and New York.

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Product details

Hardcover: 81 pages
Publisher: Scribner; 1st edition (November 13, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451688385
ISBN-13: 978-1451688382
Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.5 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 502 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #713,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1523 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Religious & Inspirational > Historical
- #2313 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Historical
- #18626 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

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An Interesting Take

February 9, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

One cannot help but admire author Colm Toibin for originality. The story of Jesus has been told by his apostles, followers and theologians of all stripes. But I am hard pressed to think of another story from the perspective of his own mother. That story, though, is only secondary. This book is Mary’s own. No doubt many will form an opinion of this book based on their own beliefs about Christianity. A better way, in my opinion, is to read this book simply as literature, leaving theology to those better informed.

As a book, THE TESTAMENT OF MARY is really quite interesting. Although she does not explicitly come out and say so, one is left with the distinct impression that Mary is not a believer that her son is the son of God sent to save us sinners of the world. She is dismissive if not hostile to her son’s followers (misfits, twitchers, those who cannot even look at a woman) who come by to press her for details, and tells of her son’s claims with incredulity.

Nonetheless, despite her son being the leader of such misfits, she is absorbed in relentless emotional pain over her son’s execution and the manner in which it came about. In this, Mary’s internal world, Toibin displays an exceptional skill as a writer, expressing emotions so deep as to capture the heart of the reader. Whatever one’s take about Christianity, we can all understand and feel for the pain of a mother watching her son slowly and inexorably walking towards his own death, all the while being utterly unable to either stop it or even slow its pace.

What is interesting about THE TESTAMENT OF MARY is that the religious questions are not clarified. The accounts of her son turning water into wine and, more so, raising Lazarus from the dead, seem to have been well verified (within the book, that is). If not miracles, then what were these? In response to being told that her son’s crucifixion saved the world, Mary does not respond by denying it, but instead by declaring that it was not worth it. It is within these ambiguities that Mary’s pain comes through.

Some simply will not read this because it does not comport with traditional Christianity. I mean no disrespect to such people, and they are free to read or not read whatever they choose. If you are interested, however, in a common story being presented from a totally different perspective, this book may be for you.

14 people found this helpful

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His approach in itself has great merit. We rarely consider our gods

September 17, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Colm Toibin navigates language and thought with the deftness of a skilled craftsman, plying a strong narrative with subtlety and nuance. Here he applies that craft to a subject that, by its nature, demands delicacy. Toibin peels back the image of Mary, so carefully sculpted and stewarded across two millenia, to imagine a woman - very human, very flawed, a product of forces she cannot control and of which she does not approve - rather than an icon. His approach in itself has great merit. We rarely consider our gods, heroes and heroines through the basis of their mortality, but Toibin spares no quarter in assessing Mary's very human responses.

His prose as always soars, but, more so than in his other work, it seems more targeted here. There is no waste in this book, and its brooding intensity demands a reader's focus, with no room to wander down tangents or irrelevancies. Toibin assumes the reader's basic knowledge and understanding of Mary's place in the theological hierarchy, so her character is presented fully formed, with little development. She is who she is, and Toibin shows us a new view that is at once provocative, reasonable and compelling. The Testament of Mary is a masterful work.

2 people found this helpful

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Gerald B. Keane

December 12, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a very short book. And, while it's not short on creativity, it is short on substance. Toilbin gave a completely different take on post-Crucifixion Mary. After all, none of the gospels, nor Acts, nor Paul say anything at all that I can recall about Mary's life after Jesus' death. Therefore, the author had a uncultivated field to plow in portraying her as a mother suffering for the rest of her life from her son's death. As a Catholic, I've been raised in a culture that Protestants understandably describe as Mary worship. I understand my Church's motivation in treating Mary with such dignity and respect, but some of it (just some?) doesn't ring true. The Mary of The Testament . . . is distinctly not the mythical, legendary Mary of Catholicism. For that, it's an interesting and compelling work. It just could have been fleshed out more. Still, a worthwhile read.

3 people found this helpful

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