Christ the Lord : the road to Cana tells the story of Jesus, starting from a couple of months before he commenced his ministry and finishing with the wedding of Cana, probably a six-month time frame. The author, Anne Rice uses historical facts, Catholic doctrine and poetic licence to tell this part of Jesus’ life. Mostly she is consistent with the biblical account but not always.
Anne chose to tell the story from Jesus’ perspective which I imagined caused some controversy. We all have our own theological and emotional ideas on Jesus and this technique certainly put words in his mouth and thoughts in his mind that aren’t in the Scriptures. However, I enjoyed this approach. Anne was able to show Jesus’ deep compassion and genuine kindness for the well being of others. It’s also curious to think about when did Jesus know he was the Messiah. Anne handled this issue well.
Anne does introduce a female character into the story who was supposedly Jesus’ love interest, though he always made it clear he would never marry. I found this part of the story a bit longwinded but it did give interesting historical insights into the culture at that time.
Overall an insightful read.
Book Review : Christ the Lord : the road to Cana
