OptionalBooks

Not quite quenching it

The blind man, healed of his ailment, complains about the ugliness of the world. The mother of the healed child complains about how loud and active it is. And the couple from Cana complains that Jesus only turned their water into wine at the very end of their wedding. Now Christ is sentenced to death and lives out his last hours.

In this clever opening, Nothomb's snappy writing mixes with her great sense of humour to immediately draw the reader into her retelling of the passion of Christ. But, immediately after the conviction, the story shifts gears. Jesus Christ reflects on his perspective of these miracles and on his life in general. He will go on to reflect on love, suffering, humanity, and the titular thirst.

These reflections are hit and miss: Some of them are interesting food for thought, or cleverly play on the Bible's teachings. Others take too much space for how banal they actually are. The ratio between the two categories will probably vary from reader to reader, but turned out not that great for me.

Disappointingly, the way this story plays with the Bible's account of things turns more and more annoying throughout. While the opening pages are a joy to read, later sections proudly contradict the Bible in a way that mostly feels spiteful—Luke's account is labelled a “misinterpretation” and John is accused of “spouting nonsense.” Sympathetically, these remarks could be read as the human side of Christ shining through. Given his situation, spite and anger are quite understandable emotions to feel.

Other areas demonstrate Christ having become man much more expertly though. At one point, we follow Christ's thought process as he deals with all of the pain, fear and self-hatred he's experiencing on the cross. After multiple pages, he finally arrives at a place where he is ready to forgive himself.

Overall, this novel just barely falls on the side of me not liking it. But this verdict might change on a reread.

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