The Book of Longings - Book Review

June 15th, 2020

2.5 stars

“Lord our God, hear my prayer, the prayer of my heart. Bless the largeness inside me, no matter how I fear it. Bless my reed pens and my inks. Bless the words I write. May they be beautiful in your sight. May they be visible to eyes not yet born. When I am dust, sing these words over my bones: she was a voice.”

From the very moment I heard of this book, I immediately started looking everywhere in my library to read it. I have not read any of Monk Kidd's work but I knew about the "The Secret Life of Bees" and the countless amazing reviews on The Book of Longings. Regardless, I was sure this was going to be a new favorite. I mean, the story of an imagined wife of Jesus?? SAY LESS. I pictured a new Madeline Miller but of biblical stories. The beginning was the best part of the book for me. I loved Anna's intense longing to not be forgotten like so many women she knew. Her love for words was so deeply relatable and I was initially so drawn to her relationship with her aunt. I also admired her deep desire to tell the story of the women around her. The scene when she lets her anger be a voice to Tabitha for all the horrors she was put through had me crying and aching for these women both real and imagined. It was because of this scene that I was so disappointed with the rest of the book when it failed to live up to that emotional level.

“To be ignored, to be forgotten, this was the worst sadness of all.”

Since this was a story not only about Anna but also about the women around her, I was let down when the author did not go any further into developing their arcs. I would have loved to have given a deeper insight into the lives and personalities of Mary, Judith, Salome, and all the other women in the book. It would have made for a richer story, but instead, the lack of this component made the book boring and uninteresting for me after the first third of the book.

"It isn't meekness I need, it's anger"

As the book went on, I missed so much the feeling I had in the beginning. The quote above stayed with me, especially because of how relevant it still is today. For the rest of the book, I felt sorely disappointed that it had lost its momentum I felt it had in the introduction of Anna and Yaltha. I thought that the purpose to say their stories in ways that were more elaborated faded as the book dragged on. Yaltha became an almost forgotten character and Anna's love for writing also because second to the story that almost seemed to have no purpose at one point. Even her marriage to Jesus failed to make me feel connected to neither of them. I thought the nickname "Little Thunder" was cute as heck, but with time, I realized I did not care much about them as a couple. The only moment I felt some pang of sympathy for them was their moment when Jesus is about to be crucified. I so wish there had been more moments like these that would have made their relationship more lasting in my mind. I wanted to love this book so badly I cannot even express, but I regret to be the one on the side of unpopular opinion. I admire the author's bravery to put such a (for reasons I don't really understand) controversial take to such a well-known religious and historical figure. I enjoyed reading her author's note and her questions about the cultural impact it would have had if Jesus had really had a wife who was recorded in history.

“The aim of the novelist is not only to hold up a mirror to the world but to imagine what's possible.”

Overall, while this was not my cup of tea, I was able to appreciate this book maybe not in its entirety, but rather for the provoking questions that it brought forward.