Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist ISBN: 0-679-72544-X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 20 November, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A truly great character and a story to remember!
Comment: I first found this book by accident, while browsing through the Amazon.com book lists. Then one day I found it in a shelf here in Brazil and decided to buy it. At first sight it didn't seem to be a very impressive book, especially because it was so thin. However, I must say I was totally "hooked" by the style of Mr. Lagerkvist.
He is so economical in his writing, that basically almost every one of his sentences or descriptions carry a lot of "weight". I believe the power of his writing comes from his "raw" style. It's such a short phrase or description, but yet so powerful, that several times I stopped to reflect about that part or caught myself thinking about it at a later time.
As you must have already know, this is the story of Barabbas, who was a terrible criminal and escaped the "Death Row" of his time, because Jesus was chosen to die in his place.
It is a beautiful story, because unlike many modern writers, Mr. Lagerkvist never tries to build a "hero" or any of the things I read a lot in these books for writers I tend to buy. He also never "melts" over emotional passages that could lead to a "hollywood drama" scene...
We basically follow this miserable and damned being, through the rest of his existence, as he tries to understand the life of the stranger called Jesus and at the same time find some clue about his pointless existence.
I can even say I am a bit suspect to praise this book, since I have this major crush on books about redemption or deep and lonely characters. It is always nice to read a book which touches the human condition with such objectivity.
Oh, and this book has a very powerful and beautiful end. If you found this book and is still reading this review, I believe you should probably buy it. I have no doubt this is a book worth reading!
Rating: 5
Summary: The story the Bible leaves out
Comment: The Bible mentions how Barabbas was released when he was scheduled to be crucified, when the people could have chosen for Christ to be set free. What the Bible doesn't talk about is what Barabbas did and how the experiece of being set free as opposed to Christ affected him. This book makes that speculation. It also shows that Christ was thought a fraud by many--most were just plain scared of someone with the audacity to walk around claiming to be God's son. The book reveals the complications in having faith in the Christian religion and questions the judgement of those with faith.
Rating: 5
Summary: Is faith useful? For whom? And when?
Comment: The answers are not in this book, actually they are not really in any book. Many attemps, sure, there are thousands of books from religious garbage to philosophy and fairy tales.
But the quest, the eternal quest to find something to ground us, to find a point of departure from which all the nonsense, beauty and cruelty we see in life could be explained, is brilliantly assembled in this book, using the inner strugle of Barabbas searching for an answer for the killing a guy called Jesus who died instead go him for no good reason at all. In his search he faces the same stupidity, fanatism, hate and superstition that surrounds the life of that man until today.
For the author, the inner pain of Barabbas have not faded with time and nowadays remains as valid as 2000 years ago, when there is no good reason to have faith in anything at all, but to claudicate upon such quest only leads to despair faster that to keep on looking for something we know nothing about.
 |
Title: The Dwarf by Par Lagerkvist, Alexandra Dick ISBN: 0374521352 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1958 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: The Sibyl by Par Lagerkvist, Naomi Walford ISBN: 0394702409 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 September, 1963 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: The Trial of God by ELIE WIESEL ISBN: 0805210539 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 14 November, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: The Courage to Be (Yale Nota Bene) by Paul Tillich, Peter J. Gomes ISBN: 0300084714 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Silence by Shusaku Endo, William Johnston ISBN: 0800871863 Publisher: Parkwest Pubns Pub. Date: March, 1980 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
