The Kingdom

January 30, 2017
The latest from Carrère (Limonov) is a tale of modern and ancient Christianity, filtered through a text that’s equal parts memoir, academic essay, and fictional exploration. Starting first with the author’s brief, intense relationship with religion in the early 1990s, the book follows Carrère’s path as he eventually finds fault with his faith. From here, he turns back the clock to parse out the lives of early Christian evangelists, particularly Paul and Luke, starting in 50 CE. Combining scholarship, biblical reference, and imagination, Carrère brings the exploits of these men, working to spread the story of Jesus to the masses while being persecuted and challenged by detractors, to life. The author approaches every moment with the mind of a skeptical storyteller, plugging in personal theories about the identities of the authors behind biblical letters and gospels and questioning the validity of the many miracles Jesus is said to have performed. Jumping back and forth through time—at one point, talk of the Virgin Mary leads to a tangent on Internet porn—results in a frequently fascinating book written by a curious, sharp mind.

December 1, 2016

Though this hefty tome from award-winning French author Carrere (Limonov) is described as a fictional account of the early Christians, don't expect a swords-and-tattered-sandals biblical epic. Carrere, known for genre blending of the highest order, opens with a prolog about returning to this book after storming out as scriptwriter for a hit French TV series, then offers an extended look at a spiritual crisis of earlier years (though he hates the word spiritual). The account itself, which doesn't start much before page 100, reads less like fiction than accessible, brightly penned history. Homier scenes ("Luke was a doctor. Paul was sick") are followed by in-depth reflection ("Thousands of pages have been written on this 'thorn in the flesh.' ...What could it be?"), and there's contemporary contextualizing, too ("You can't say that the Romans invented globalization...but they brought it to a point of perfect"). VERDICT If, as Carrere says, Borges called theology a branch of fantastic literature, this could be it. Strong if sometimes extended reading for sophisticated readers.

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