The Testament of Mary Review

A while back, I started reading The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.  I love Jemisin's work and I was excited to read a new series from her.  The book is absolutely lovely.  However, one of the main story lines is about the grief of a woman whose young son dies.  She described how her baby used to laugh, what a sweet child he was.  Her pain felt real.  Honest.  And if that wasn't heartbreaking enough it's written in the second person. 

The second person. 

I couldn't do it.  I'd read a section and then have to snuggle my son.  It didn't take long for me to decide to put the book down and come back to it in a few years.

I find it shocking that this second person perspective worked.  Jemisin is so talented, I don't know how she does it.  I think it has to do with the honesty, or maybe it just worked for me because I related so strongly to the situation anyway that it being in second person felt completely natural.

I had to go away and read a half dozen goofy rom-coms I downloaded for free off the internet.

Then I remembered that I should write a blog post.  I looked through my to-read pile to see if I had anything short, and I found The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín, which my friend Eric recommended.

This novella describes the later events of the New Testament from Mary's, Jesus' mother's, point of view.  She looks back from the end of her life to describe Lazarus' rising, the wedding at Cana, the crucification, and her escape from Jerusalem.

You probably already see the problem here, in which case you are swifter than I was.  I'd switched from one book about a son dying to another.  About half way through, with the crucification looming, I put the book down and read another half dozen goofy rom-coms.

I did come back to it though, partially out of guilt about my over-due blog posts and partially because it's such a short book and partially because it honestly didn't affect me as strongly as The Fifth Season.

The Mary in this story is not the same character as the Madonna of the New Testament.  In the New Testament, Mary's in on it.  Angels keep her in the loop about the divinity of her son, and at the wedding at Cana, Mary's like, "They're out of wine, Jesus.  Help them out."  But in this story, that's not the case. 

Mary is skeptical.  She's not a believer.  This character is not the same Mary I love.  As my husband put it, "I'm not upset that it's blasphemous.  It's just that if this were fanfiction, I'd be upset she was out of character."

But once you get past that, it makes for an interesting story.  Mary doesn't like her son's friends and thinks they're a bad influence on him.  She knows the things he's up to are going to get him into trouble and she tries to convince him to stop for his own safety.  She's a parent concerned for her son.  She's a parent that doesn't understand how important his beliefs and activities are to him.  It's a situation that's relatable if on a larger scale.

The miracles are ambiguous and eerie.  Mary hears the story of Lazarus' resurrection second hand and sees him after he's been brought back.  He's sickly and creepy and the town is afraid of him.  Then, even though she witnesses the water turned to wine, the situation was chaotic and she couldn't be sure that it hadn't always been wine.

"You mean he will be crucified?" I asked.
"Yes," Martha said.  "Yes."
And then Mary [a different Mary] spoke: "But that will be the beginning."
"Of what?" I asked.
"Of a new life for the world," she said.
Martha and I ignored her.

The disciples don't like Mary's stance on this.  They want to hear her story, but they don't like the story she tells.  They want her to be someone she's not, and they change her character in their gospels to make her more like what they expected.  Then they tell her, "This is the way it was" and contradict her story.  It feels a bit like gaslighting, but it also feels a bit like maybe they're right and her memory has changed in light of her guilt and pain over her son dying.  But then I guess questioning reality is the whole point of gaslighting.

The is the most powerful when the disciples have the gall to tell her that his suffering was necessary.  They tell her that he was the son of God, which they consider more important than his being her son.

"I was there," I said.  "I fled before it was over but if you want witnesses then I am one and I can tell you now, when you say that he redeemed the world, I will say that it was not worth it.  It was not worth it."

It's harsh and jarring against a character I've always loved, but if it's taken for what it is, it's an interesting story about loss.

***

Next week: A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab, the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic.