Margaret George

Draws on the Bible and secular historical research to present a fictional portrait of Mary Magdalen as she becomes part of Jesus's disciple circle and comes into a realization of her faith. Reprint.

Mary, Called Magdalene

This book started off incredibly strong. As we know from the Bible, Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven demons and healed by Jesus Christ. In this novel, the story of Mary of Magdala becoming possessed by demons was so well done; it had me hooked right away. The story and writing were at their strongest during the first third of this book. 

Mary of Magdala is a child when the book starts, and Margaret George does a fantastic job introducing the world Mary would have lived in. Right off the bat, she is a fully fleshed out, three dimensional character. Growing up in a strict Jewish household, Mary discovers an idol and--instead of destroying it--she keeps it. This is how the demons start to get in, though not obviously at first. When I think back to this part of the book, I'm still in awe of how well written it was. What a captivating story. I would have been entirely content if the book ended when Mary is healed by Jesus; that's how well done and well rounded this was. 

Then...things start to go downhill. Mary herself starts to fall flat. By that I mean her character because noticeably less vibrant, even though you'd think one of Jesus' first followers would come to life from the page, as she did before in the book; but it's not the case here. And, the first part of the book even had some humor and made me laugh. It's not often a book achieves that with me. So, where does that humor and personality go? The rest of the book is lacking. 

Having read many of George's novels before, I was surprised how short and less detailed this one was in comparison. Usually, George follows the entire life of her subjects, sparing no details. So here, in a book that could have easily surpassed 800 or even 900 pages (like many of her other books), we're left with a stripped down narrative of Jesus and his miracles. In fact, there are hardly any miracles at all. Jesus heals the sick and demon possessed, and that's it. George chooses not to relate walking on water or turning water into wine. And why? I cannot understand. She leaves out so much of Jesus' ministry, which I thought readers could have benefitted from. George is usually unafraid, like I mentioned, to give readers the full scope of her characters' lives and does not do that here. 

Maybe George is encouraging readers to pick up a Bible to read more, which, as a Christian, I agree with. As a reader, I was just expecting more depth. I certainly do not agree with everything in this book from a religious point of view, but certain aspects were nourishing to my soul, such as Jesus' death on the cross and its impact. I don't think the author did the best job at representing Jesus as the true Messiah, again because of the lack of miracles. Even his miraculous birth is not included. 

A map of the Sea of Galilee would also have been helpful here, as it was hard to keep track of all the towns mentioned and their exact locations around the lake. Even trying to figure out where Jerusalem was in relation to the lake was difficult for me. I like to be oriented when I read a book of this scope, and I found myself lost many times, trying to differentiate between locations and directions. The characters traveled to so many different places that I couldn't orient. 

Again, the first part of this book was spectacular. It brought the ancient world vividly to life, and the more I read, the less I enjoyed the book. The last 100 pages or so was especially long and drawn out. Mary's so called 'testament' felt out of place; I think, for whatever reason, George just wanted to suddenly switch to a first person POV that ended up falling flat. I would probably have rated this book lower if it wasn't for the first part of the book and how much I enjoyed it. I do encourage everyone reading to discover more about Jesus by reading the Bible. And I'd be happy to have any discussion or answer any questions! 

Amanda

This book started off incredibly strong. As we know from the Bible, Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven demons and healed by Jesus Christ. In this novel, the story of Mary of Magdala becoming possessed by demons was so well done; it had me hooked right away. The story and writing were at their strongest during the first third of this book. 

Mary of Magdala is a child when the book starts, and Margaret George does a fantastic job introducing the world Mary would have lived in. Right off the bat, she is a fully fleshed out, three dimensional character. Growing up in a strict Jewish household, Mary discovers an idol and--instead of destroying it--she keeps it. This is how the demons start to get in, though not obviously at first. When I think back to this part of the book, I'm still in awe of how well written it was. What a captivating story. I would have been entirely content if the book ended when Mary is healed by Jesus; that's how well done and well rounded this was. 

Then...things start to go downhill. Mary herself starts to fall flat. By that I mean her character because noticeably less vibrant, even though you'd think one of Jesus' first followers would come to life from the page, as she did before in the book; but it's not the case here. And, the first part of the book even had some humor and made me laugh. It's not often a book achieves that with me. So, where does that humor and personality go? The rest of the book is lacking. 

Having read many of George's novels before, I was surprised how short and less detailed this one was in comparison. Usually, George follows the entire life of her subjects, sparing no details. So here, in a book that could have easily surpassed 800 or even 900 pages (like many of her other books), we're left with a stripped down narrative of Jesus and his miracles. In fact, there are hardly any miracles at all. Jesus heals the sick and demon possessed, and that's it. George chooses not to relate walking on water or turning water into wine. And why? I cannot understand. She leaves out so much of Jesus' ministry, which I thought readers could have benefitted from. George is usually unafraid, like I mentioned, to give readers the full scope of her characters' lives and does not do that here. 

Maybe George is encouraging readers to pick up a Bible to read more, which, as a Christian, I agree with. As a reader, I was just expecting more depth. I certainly do not agree with everything in this book from a religious point of view, but certain aspects were nourishing to my soul, such as Jesus' death on the cross and its impact. I don't think the author did the best job at representing Jesus as the true Messiah, again because of the lack of miracles. Even his miraculous birth is not included. 

A map of the Sea of Galilee would also have been helpful here, as it was hard to keep track of all the towns mentioned and their exact locations around the lake. Even trying to figure out where Jerusalem was in relation to the lake was difficult for me. I like to be oriented when I read a book of this scope, and I found myself lost many times, trying to differentiate between locations and directions. The characters traveled to so many different places that I couldn't orient. 

Again, the first part of this book was spectacular. It brought the ancient world vividly to life, and the more I read, the less I enjoyed the book. The last 100 pages or so was especially long and drawn out. Mary's so called 'testament' felt out of place; I think, for whatever reason, George just wanted to suddenly switch to a first person POV that ended up falling flat. I would probably have rated this book lower if it wasn't for the first part of the book and how much I enjoyed it. I do encourage everyone reading to discover more about Jesus by reading the Bible. And I'd be happy to have any discussion or answer any questions! 

Mary, Called Magdalene

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