The Book of Longings



"Lord our God, hear my prayer, the prayer of my heart. Bless the largeness inside me, no matter how I fear it. Bless my reed pens and my inks. Bless the words I write. May they be beautiful in your sight. May they be visible to eyes not yet born. When I am dust, sing these words over my bones: she was a voice."

The Book of Longings is author Sue Monk Kidd's narrative of Jesus's fictional wife Ana. I thought the concept was fascinating! We all know that all the scriptures and holy sermons have always pronounced that Jesus was unmarried. But SMK questions this belief and conjures up a story about Jesus's wife. What if he did have a wife whom he loved and was devoted to? There's no record of Jesus from the age of twelve until the age of thirty. The author has, very artfully, woven a story around this unrecorded period of his life. 

The novel envisions Jesus as a human, not as a God. A stonemason who emerges as a social prophet and a Messiah who announced the coming of God. But in essence this novel is the story of Ana - the forgotten wife of Jesus. With the ways of the old world where women hardly had a place in the society or a voice of their own, where they were treated merely as objects, it is quite possible that there might have been an Ana whose presence in Jesus's life could never come to light. The author imagines this possibility and breathes life into her muse. 

Ana belonged to a wealthy family. She was destined to be married off and sent away but she had a strong desire to be heard, to give voice to millions of silenced and vanquished women through her words. Determinedly, Ana flees her destiny and finds Jesus who sees the fire that burns inside her. They spend ten years with each other, marred by occasional misfortunes but otherwise happy. Through the thick and thins of married life, Ana continues to write intermittently, always longing for more. When Jesus decides to begin his journey as a Messiah, Ana and Jesus are separated by a cruel twist of fate. 

In those years apart, Ana wrestles with misfortunes aplenty and still finds ways to fulfil her longing to write, while pining to be with her husband throughout. She ploughs on for two long years in the hope of joining her husband. She reunites with her husband only to hold him one last time and to look into his eyes at his crucifixion. 

The characters of Ana & Jesus have been brilliantly carved. I remember reading about Jesus and feeling the calm & poise of his being wash over me. I'd read about Ana and her resolute & temerity would become my own. I remember feeling dazed as if time had come to a standstill in the moments when Ana & Jesus were together...while Jesus was being dragged for his crucifixion. A world of emotions came crashing down like an avalanche!

The author pours nothing but perfection through her imagination in The Book of Longings. It was nothing less than a hypnotizing read! I do think that Ana's character bore a striking resemblance with Ahalaya's character from Ahalaya's awakening but that didn't feel like a deterrent to me in any way. 

It goes without saying that I'd give this book 5 dazzling stars and would keep the story always close to my heart. I took three days to write this review after reading the book. Writing a review gives a sense of finality to the fact that a book has ended and I guess I wasn't ready to let go of this book all too soon. 

I hope you find this book as remarkable as I did! With that, I move on to my next read - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path. It appears to be quite an intense read but I'm looking forward to every bit of it. Hope to be back soon with a review.

Till then, Happy Reading! :)

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