ARA Review by Revslammer of The Scribe

[Revslammer]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Scribe.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The Scribe
4 out of 5

Escobar, a member of the Jewish Ruling Council, has witnessed the crucifixion of a young Jewish dissident – executed as a rebel outside the gates of the holy city. The repercussions echo throughout the holy land and its place in history – and right through the bones of Escobar himself. He finds himself distraught at having sanctioned this execution, at the same point that he is in a state of personal grief about his own family circumstances.

As a consequence, instead of complying with dictates from the Chief Rabbi, Escobar finds Petrus (Simon Peter) who – in turn – sends him to Ephesus. It is in this thriving city of Asia Minor that Escobar meets up with the Mother of Jesus (Mary) and the author of the fourth Gospel (Ioanna). Woven through this narrative is a biography of Luke (author of the Third Gospel) who accompanies the aged Mary back to Jerusalem and thus gains the information that many will know today as ‘The Infancy Narrative’.

The narrative is a beautifully crafted portrayal of the events surrounding the historical Jesus, and one that is thoroughly consistent with what is known of those events. Well, almost. The research feels very dated, from the perspective of contemporary biblical scholarship. The specialist will find several anachronisms in the text, and a few caricatured portrayals of biblical ‘goodies and baddies’. This is the first reason I could not give this a 5. Nevertheless, if we were fifty years back in time – this narrative would have worked extremely well, and by the standards of the 1960s, the research would be considered meticulous. With so much hard work and vivid imagination that does not transgress historical credibility, it is definitely worth more than a 3.

The second negative is the writing style. Again, there is quite a lot of jumping around, and several occasions where the narrator breaks the so-called ‘fourth wall’. There are also several ‘point-of-view’ violations, which could easily have been edited out without loss. Again, several decades ago, this style would have worked – but it feels a little dated for the contemporary market. This is the other reason I could not stretch to a 5.

Nevertheless, these are very much minor faults (in my opinion), and do not detract from the magic of the storytelling, the vividness in portrayals of both character and context, and the sheer colour, interest, and imagination that seeps through every pore of the narrative.

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