Barbara's Reviews > The Book of Longings

"We women harbor our intimacies in locked places in our bodies. They are ours to relinquish when we choose."

When I first read Sue Monk Kidd had written a new book and it was about Jesus, I was not interested. I felt it would be a didactic persuasion which I wasn't interested in. Chosen by one of my book clubs, I unwillingly started to read it, but I read it with a skeptic's lens, thinking the proof of my reservations was about to be revealed. I needn't have worried.

This is Ana's story. She is the hypothetical wife of Jesus, though he gives historical perspective; it is not about him. Ana is a precocious girl who, similar to other women throughout history, longs for knowledge denied her, a girl who wants to make her voice heard. When she marries Jesus, a match not worthy of her class, she is disowned. She remains close to her brother Judas and her aunt Yaltha, outcasts in their own right and the two other most interesting characters.

Monk Kidd's descriptions of Jerusalem and Alexandria are vivid. The oppression of the Romans and the covert activities to overthrow them enhanced what I previously knew. The extreme difference between everyday life, culture, and freedoms in the two ancient cities was also fascinating. Most interesting was Ana's awakening to a new form of religion, a spiritualism of self, of God in nature, a God who does not dictate every aspect of your life.

The Secret Life of Bees by Monk Kidd was a very good book. This, I believe, is her masterpiece.

"Of all the emotions, hope was the most mysterious. It grew like the blue lotus, snaking up from muddy hearts, beautiful while it lasted."