The Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalene

I have finally finished reading, not only one book but two, in a relatively short period of time. I selected these books while browsing through my local public library.


THE SECRET GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE - Michele Roberts

I chose this book for several reasons: the first is the obvious religious and historical relationship. I really enjoyed The Red Tent with Diamant’s ficticious, yet plausible account of the female perspective in the old testament. The book flap suggested that this novel would provide a similar account.

In, The Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Roberts creates a beautiful prose that gives way to a totally unexpected history of Mary Magdalene and her time with Christ. The beginning of the text draws the reader in with compassion for Mary and with interest to see how she explains her personal relationship with the King of the Jews.

As the novel progresses Mary experiences an awakening due to the acceptance of Christ in her heart and Jesus as her savior. After that the lines between Jesus as lover and Christ are strangely twisted and disfigured to the point where I was sure what Roberts through Mary was trying to say.

Mary came to express herself through these visions or dreams that she had. The controversy arose inevitably because she was a female and a self-proclaimed disciple. While I enjoyed the prose aspect of these visions, I feel Roberts did not place enough thought into what they meant.

Also, as a Christian, I have a hard time accepting the fact that Mary and Jesus were never really married, but lovers. The beginning of the text opens the reader’s eyes to the life of a woman in such times. Compassion is immediately given to Mary for the life that befell her and ultimately, how she came to be the sole breadwinner for her immediate family.

While, I really wanted to like this book, since it contains several of the qualities that I generally like in novels, the wishy washy-ness was too much to continue my desire to read. Even though I did finish the text, it just was not a book that I couldn’t put down. Again, I complement Roberts on his fantastic writing style, but critique the direction the novel end up taking.