Arcadia Discussion Zone

I have the Swedish translated version and to test the skill of the Swedish translator I compared the intro para, a quote from 2nd Epistle of St John and the translator chose the same quote from the Church of Sweden authorized version, so far so good, but ...here comes the caveat, at this moment I had to put my hip waders on 'cuz I haven't even started to read her text and already I see a huge gaping logic flaw.

Check these links to understand why, its that crucial to the entire premise of this book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Epistle_of_John
http://www.kretzmannproject.org/EP_MINOR/2JO.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_va ... le_of_John

What the links point out is quite simple, either the 'lady' referred to in the Epistle is a woman named Kuria, or its a reference to the woman in Revelations who is surrounded by her 'children' as she crushes the serpents head. Those 'children' have been taken to be the 12 Tribes of Israel, or the 12 Apostles, but certainly not a progenitor to Harkey.

The use of this opening Biblic citation is a no-brainer when put into context of the story's text.

Now, after putting on my hipwaders I start to slosh my way thru the Prologue, in this situation the Swedish translator chose the word 'gikt' which means gout to describe gnarled fingers. Since I don't have the exact English wording to compare to, I doubt Harkey used the word polyarthritic to describe the crippling effects to finger joints.

However as RS can tell ya, gout is associated with being a disease of the affluent, the image of a fatcat tycoon with foot up-raised on a cushioned stool wrapped in bandages. The expression 'port wine toe' is quite often used in conventional British lit to describe this affliction.

The Swedish translator got this image of a woman who was afflicted as being affluent by the mere fact the woman could write. This Swede translator did his homework a lot better than Harkey did. If Harkey didn't intend to mean a disease specific condition she can't prove actually happened, a better choice would be a more generic arthritis but this would make a translator to come up with a Swedish equivalent of a peasant who learned the crude basics of writing + penmanship.

The Swedes don't have this luxury in their language due to word starvation as a result of slavishly copying the deleterious effects of the French word police Academy. The author, in so many words, made a leap in faith so that he could use a readily available Swedish word and stay as close to the confines of the English text he was to translate.

Folk might say, why bicker over such a trivial point, well....let's put it this way... why did Harkey hinge an entire story on a blatant falsified translation of the 'lady' from St. John's Epistle? This Prologue she inserted to give a sense of authenticity defies gravity if an affluent gout-afflicted person lived in extreme poverty for 40 years in a dark, dank cave.

Then as the story ensues of a woman making the rounds of the Stations on the Via Dolorosa in olde Jerusalem, with no mention of the presence Uzi toting police, of walking into a Palestinian owned shop and not describe the un-mistakable presence of a bubbling hookah wafting the aroma of sweetened, scented tobacco and the proprietor not offering his approaching sucker, er, ah, prospective customer to be fleeced the opportunity to sit down, take a toke or 2 from this hubbly-bubbly contraption, in typical Arab fashion exchange trivial banter, what they call shooting the shit, in Texas.

All this typical cultural input is strangely missing, gives me the distinctive impression Harkey didn't do her homework again. Actually I am waiting for her to say something that puts me into a sense of being there, so far the story reminds me of what I described on another topic of 2 guys writing a thriller each from an opposite start point, only in this case the hop-skip jerkiness is typical of what ya get from reading forum posts from louvian + paula.

The way louvian describes a 'stain glass' window, the way paula senses mystery in it all is what I have experienced so far. I wonder if Harkey will eventually surface out of the shadows, in a manner similar when Mel Gibson made his cameo appearance in his Passion of Christ movie when, in a close up, he holds a spike and hammers on it.

If I detect something that comes across a bit different from the composite louvian-paula style of posting I will definitely zero in on it. I take it the Swedish translator never read anything on this forum, or conversely, if he is reading the forum he is not a posting member. If he had to read how louvian + paula post so that he could get a glimpse of their logic jumps it would make his job as a translator a bit easier when he comes across these quirky situations.

Either way ya look at it, this Swedish translator has to do a delicate balancing act so as not to simplify the text more than he already is forced to just to get the story line to stay connected and make some plausible sense to a Swedish reader. The choice of making a woman purported to be Magdalen of suffering from a specific disease of affluence in extreme poverty is already giving the story a tinge of being a parody from the jump. I doubt this is what Harkey intended, but its a judgment call on the Swedish translator's part.

I have to digress a bit in order to go forward, 'cuz that's what the book plot does, a better way to describe it is... back to the future meets the exorcist.

In the inside jacket flap is a recent, I guess, photo of Harkey. She reminds me of the mom of a really fantastic babe I dated nearly 55 years back in time. This gals' family emigrated to the U.S after WW2 from Iceland. What made them unique is that they were Jewish. When Harkey puts her alter ego heroine in Israel and sez being a red haired woman is unique yells me Harkey is really out traveling again..

The dominant red hair groups are Jews, Irish, Scandinavian, Scots. This gal I dated, her entire family had red hair. Then along comes the part that triggers off the exorcist connection, a priest relative who is a Jesuit and is a college professor. The only essential difference is the scene shifts from Georgetown to LALA land.

Then the bit about the ring, well... ok boys + girls, save up yer corn soggies boxtops and get yer 1 size fitz-all super mystical ring complete with magic symbols. I mean, c'mon, ya gotta be able to flog a better gimmick than that.

This type of sales pitch gimmick is in every New Age 'zine on the planet, along with mystical copper bracelets studded with genu-whine zircon encrusted symbols to ward off evil vibes. If I recall correctly Frank Zappa memorializes his zircon-encrusted roach clip...how does that intro line go... I'm goin' to Montana soon to be a dental floss tycoon...

Then the epileptoid like absence seizure with a fast forward to the past to create a pseudo-deja vu trip, and the happenstance coincidence of an Arab midget haunting a Christian Basilica, yeah, sure, yank my left leg, the one with the jingle bells on it.

I am sorry if my descriptions are making this book come across like a 3-ring circus in a 1 room bungalow, but I only got to page 20 when I wrote my intro above. Now I am up to page 40 and here is a nifty twist, a priest is willing to subscribe to a siren's call 'boot a heretical, schismatic cousin' who got the 'evil eye' glance from the lady in red.

I guess drinkin' Irish bog water tea can do things like that to ya, just like some alkies see pink elephants. I mention Irish tea 'cuz the heroine brings back some to her priest cousin and the very next sentence starting a page break has him sleeping restlessly.

I don't attribute this quirky logic jump to the Swedish translator, he has his hands full trying to find adequate transition phrases to follow these quirky logic jumps so that a Swedish reader somehow can get a sense of situational continuity. Methinks Harkey should read everything Agatha Christy ever wrote so that she can get a better handle on these abrupt scene changes.

Harkey's book ain't supposed to be a whodunnit thriller, but I didn't expect an ironic parody either. These deja vu reveries are like a cheap shot parody of what Sr Emmerich experienced when in ecstasy. The big difference being Sr. Emmerich is a Saint, Harkey ain't.

I wonder what the next 20 pages conjure up. I am getting the distinct impression this is a how to do it start yer own heretical schismatic church book, in a manner that I hinted at way back when on the forum that a Talmud-gnostic behind the scenes influence was why Sauniere did what he did. To me, this is another example of life meets life, and gets a life of its own.

I wonder if this is what triggered off the fast forward trip..its quite popular in LALA land.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylened ... mphetamine

Wearing hipwaders worked for a while, but now I am really bogged down, I am like in deep kimchee, for those in the know. The plot plods along, but the abrupt scene changes, well, that's what ya get for watching too many hollyweird fliks these days.

The piling up happenstance coincidences the heroine encounters is getting a bit, already so, I'm telling you. The Talmud-gnostic bit 'boot Magdalene being the central focus of Jesus' life is getting flogged big time now. It seems where ever our flaxen haired vixen or is it doyenne goes, she meets folk in the know, but this time I mean really in the know, 'cuz this a fem thing and this gnostic fairytale 'boot Magdalen is their only reason to live.

In between abrupt scene changes, Harkey manages to set history right by coming to the defense of a dimwit Toni Mae, to the country folk, aka Marie Antoinette to history buffs. She even throws in a subterreanean pitch for a secret sect, as of yet un-named, ? neo-Templars ala Dan Beige? La Sanch just to nudge the story line closer to RLC enigma perhaps? yer S W A G is as good as mine on this one.

The next abrupt scene change has our itinerant wanna be book peddler in D.C, District of Corrruption so she can compare her personal grale search for DVB's perfect pint with what the spooks do in nearby McClean-Langley area. In an out of way nut seemingly crucial for the storyline to project itself forward , our suffering protagonist is intro'd to a gal who's family are in the 'apparition biz', not Mary, Mother of Jesus who figures in 99% of recognized Church apparitions but Magdalen who has never been seen in any of ther Church acknowleged vision to date.

Its this made in Virginia location I assume was to give kudos to Serendipity. Now here is where it gets straight out of Talmud as far as I can figure out, Magdalen has been give a bad rap and in order to elevate her status in the gnostic world, Talmudists of 2,000 years ago, the only folks who were literate and had a ready supply of extremely hard to get items like parchment, writing quills, ink to create their own gnostic propaganda and could call them whatever Apostle's name they chose.

Even tho' Thomas was in India, his Gospel, supposedly written in his hand showed up, along with Judas, even tho' he already hung hisself and sundry such documents to not only get Magdalene off the hook for being an adulteress, not a ho', but elevate her staus to being a wife. Harkey has a Magdalen attribution on the bottom of those pages she digresses 'boot what Magdalene is supposedly quoted as having written.

She got the royal treatment rather well in those areas of France where Talmudists had already set up shop. She didn't get it in areas where there was no Talmudic presence, which makes ya kind of wonder why not. Now I am up to page 64 where there is another abrupt back to the future scene in Galilee 2,000 years ago.

This book so far might be useful for creating a modern TV soap, but the morbid undertone is more like... as my stomach turns.. or similar mid day TV soaps for couch potatoes with a Bud in 1 hand and a bowl of tortilla chips on their lap and a TV tray in front of them for the salsa sauces. The usual accoutrements of TV remote control, wireless phone, laptop for 'Net surfing, maybe a cat or dog for company and this scene is set.

My read of the book so far seems to be that of somebody who bought the deluxe DVD package and is jumping from 1 extra scene not included in the main feature to other sundry fillers. I hope this is not what I have to battle thru for the next 400 pages. I don't think my eyeballs can take the strain.

This book will never be considered for a Pulitzer or any other reputable literary merit prize, unless S+S have a sweetheart deal to get some of their titles this notoriety. Actually this book would be useful in 1 setting I can think of, namely, in High School English composition classes on what not to follow in the organizing of a novel, short story, whatever.

As I slowly got into the hop-skip-rip a fart-skedaddle rhythm of Harkey's book it slowly dawned on me that LA smog must be what happened to all them 'dust bowlers' who migrated to LA.

The short attention span, the paucity of meaningful descriptive phrases to get the setting to fit the overall plot and sound bite dialog don't make for easy reading. In the back of my mind a parallel world has been surfacing due to the associative tracks being played out in the book.

This will give ya an idea as to what sort of imagery is being conjured up on that parallel stream of consciousness while I plow thru Harkey's book. I actually should include the Perils of Pauline or is it Pearl Pureheart from the 20s silent fliks where the heroine's really had to over-dramatize the subtlest idea

This is what I found today on the spur of a moment...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKUTW65PK4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQi9gtODUZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFzJ47hbnJs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l1GvDWtccI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwc4_dpF ... re=related

Its what I call a clash of multi-cultures when 'dust bowler' descendants adapt to to the gag me with a spoon LA culture and then re-export it everywhere they go, or saturate their writings with this amalgamated culture.

Its easy to spot on the forum, 'cuz its done by folk who come a laid back lifestyle be it LA or Texas, its a country-style living kind of thing ya find in the hills where the ridge-runners roam.

I inserted this bit of paradigm shift to prep a readers mind for the rollercoaster ride they will experience as they also fight their way thru the tedium of Harkey's jumbled story telling lines. The happenstansical manner of folk automagically seeing the protagonist as a modern day throw back to be mistaken for somebody who has been dead for 2,000 years.

When I saw Harkey's photo on the inside jacket flap there was no automagic, aha, a modern day Magdalen instead I saw a replica of a mom of a gal I once dated way back when. I had no idea Icelandic Jewish women today resemble Magdalen of 2,000 years back. I will have to re-read what Sr. Emmerich wrote regarding how Magdalen came across. Seeing as how Sr. Emmerich is the only person who was given this privilege in her ecstatic visions.

I came across this website for fledgling authors and on this website was somebody's else's take on Harkey's book...
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Magdalene-L ... en-McGowan

now, for the sake of comparison, which person, The Dutchman or M T Graves gets to the heart of the matter as to how to navigate one's way thru Harkey's book?

Here are 2 responses to the hubpages article...

Comments

M T Graves says:
20 hours ago

I am experiencing extreme difficulty plowing thru her book. The abrupt scene changes, the not so well thought out logic transitions one expects to find in a plotline. The dialog comes across more appropriate for politicians used to quoting 'sound bites'. The steady stream of happenstances is tiresome after the first 50 pages and I still have 400 pages to go.

The lack of appropriate descriptive phrasing to set a scene is readily apparent. After these 1st 50 pages I get the feeling of reading some giddy teeny-bop instead of a supposedly mature, experienced author. The lack of atmosphere to convey what ever message Ms Harkey-Smith intended a reader to get is another disappointment after one gets past the pre-publication hype.

The promotional folks at Simon + Schuster are definitely more adept at getting folks' attention than Ms Harkey-Smith is able to deliver. I find the use-abuse of such a so-so theme of ... I am the Czars lost daughter kind of thing getting recycled to be I am the 92nd generational descendant, I think, 'cuz I can't prove it, even tho' Ancestry.com says on their website anybody can buy this pedigree, kind of thing of being a descendant of Jesus + Magdalene.

This would have made all of those preceding 91 generations, if one goes by the way logic works, they are 'demi god-lets' 'cuz they have this inherited DNA of some sort to lay claim to. The problem is, Brian Sykes, the leading DNA researcher in the world has never detected this unique, 1 of a kind separate DNA. He found 7 Daughters of Eve and her 35 related sub-groupings, but he has yet to announce he isolated this unique Magdalen-Jesus bloodline DNA.

I wonder when or how Ms Harkey-Smith is going to be able to demonstrate to the world that her DNA and nobody else on the planet has this unique DNA, otherwise she just wrote another copycat-like book Dan Brown did of some themes in HBHG.

Its this ho-hum, I wonder what kind of slick wrinkle separates Ms Harkey-Smith's book from all of the other books of this genre. To quote a line from a Shania Twain song...'that don't impress me much'...

Or, to put an Irish flair to it, this quote from a U2 song... 'I still haven't found what I am looking for'...

The Lost Dutchman says:
4 hours ago

Dear Mr M T Graves or whatever your name is,

I first wanted to deny your comment above, but - as you can see and although I don't agree with it - I have approved it. The reason why I didn't delete it, is that you make my point far better than I could do if I didn't publish your comment.

You expect to find "not so well thought out logic transitions" in a plotline, so don't complain when you find what you were looking for. (I didn't find them, but hey, I didn't expect to find them either.)- If you want to criticize a book, Mr M T Graves or whatever your name is, then don't make this sort of mistakes. They make you look silly. Don't forget to say which book you want to criticize, for instance. It doesn't make you sound convincing.

"The lack of appropriate descriptive phrasing to set a scene" sure sounds great and even very serious, as if you were some kind of a literary reviewer... but atmosphere or the lack of it has nothing to do with getting a message through to the reader. And above all, Mr M T Graves or whatever your name is, don't reveal your hidden agenda that openly. There definitely was a "pre-publication hype" with "The Expected One", but not with the recently published "The Book of Love" - was that the reason why you forgot to mention which book you were experiencing extreme difficulties with?

If an author presents herself to the people as Kathleen McGowan, don't call her Ms Harkey-Smith, unless you have a good reason for it. And if you do, then say what this good reason is. I don't call you Mr M T Space, do I? (http://myweb.wvnet.edu/e-gor/mtgraves/mtfanmail.ht - So, don't try to suggest something about the credibility of an artist by saying Bono is, in fact, Paul David Hewson. This, really, is a stupid thing to do.

If you want to sound like a literary reviewer, Mr M T Something, saying things about abrupt scene changes, logic transitions or appropriate descriptive phrasing, then don't write sentences like this one:

"I find the use-abuse of such a so-so theme of ... I am the Czars lost daughter kind of thing getting recycled to be I am the 92nd generational descendant, I think, 'cuz I can't prove it, even tho' Ancestry.com says on their website anybody can buy this pedigree, kind of thing of being a descendant of Jesus + Magdalene."

I have read it over and over again, and I guess you have a problem with conveying whatever message you intended a reader to get, because I'm still not sure what you are trying to say here.

I honestly don't see any logic transitions in your following plotline too, Mr M T Graves or whatever your real name is: "This would have made all of those preceding 91 generations, if one goes by the way logic works, they are 'demi god-lets' 'cuz they have this inherited DNA of some sort to lay claim to. The problem is, Brian Sykes, the leading DNA researcher in the world has never detected this unique, 1 of a kind separate DNA. He found 7 Daughters of Eve and her 35 related sub-groupings, but he has yet to announce he isolated this unique Magdalen-Jesus bloodline DNA." - What the hell are you talking about?

You wonder when or how "Ms Harkey-Smith is going to be able to demonstrate to the world that her DNA and nobody else on the planet has this unique DNA"... Now, you don't say what she exactly has to demonstrate, but you do say that "otherwise she just wrote another copycat-like book Dan Brown did of some themes in HBHG".

Suppose you are saying here that if she is not able to demonstrate she has the DNA of Jesus and/or Magdalene, she just wrote another copy-cat book of Holy Blood, Holy Grail - as Dan Brown did. Now, you really have to explain to me - 'cause I don't get it - what's the logic transition in this plotline of yours. Or maybe you are just talking nonsense? (If she is able to demonstrate, for instance, then she did not write the copy-cat stuff?)

You wonder what kind of slick wrinkle separates "Ms Harkey-Smith's book" (which one?) "from all of the other books of this genre?" - Well, you have read only the first 50 pages of one of the two books, so just try the other 400 and then tell me if Dan Brown or Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln have written extensively about, let's say, Matilda of Tuscany, as Kathleen McGowan did in "The Book of Love". Or were you talking about "The Expected One", Mr M T Whateveryournicknameis?

Really, M T, this comment of yours is telling more about you - or the enemies of Ms Mc Gowan - than it says about Ms McGowan. And that's the reason why I approved it.

Sincerely yours,

Patrick Bernauw


now here comes the kicker...The Dutchman considers anybody who critiques Harkey's book on its own merits as being her enemy...NOW THAT REALLY SEZ SOMETHING, yes?

Why did she release a book and not expect it to be critiqued. Obviously if it don't come with lavishly slathered on praise, it must be a hateful person not to be positive about it. Well, I am of the opinion that the reason there is such things called critiques is for the simple reason somebody has to be able to tell the Emperor he has no clothes on.

I deliberately put in the convoluted bit about resurrecting dormant DNA that has not been isolated for simply that reason. How can a person today claim this 92nd generational DNA and there is no intervening trace of it?

I will give The Dutchman the benefit of a thoughtful ole bubba reply since he did not catch the ole jake response the first time around. Since I didn't lavish praise on The Expectant book The Dutchman was ready to delete it but reconsidered in the points he brings out, which was very thoughtful of him, yes?

I see her book lying on a special shelf in a place euphemistically called the 2nd office, the other reading room. I use that room daily but that uncomfortable 'ring around the rosies' is something I am not looking forward to. Getting thru her book is my version of climbing Mt Everest with hip waders on. I have a real challenge on my hands here.

MT, pray, why don't you just try reading another book more to your liking, and spare yourself and us the agonies?

Nicole,

Imagine the ganza megillah, ya know, the whole schtick as they say back da block in da 'hood. This is as trendy as it gets. This is a supreme act of penitence on my part to be able to agoníze my way thru dat book.

I admit, I am not in sackcloth + ashes, I don't sleep outside in the rain, sleet, hail, etc. I don't survive on moldy bread, I don't bleed myself with leeches, 'cuz those things are mild compared to the anguish of reading page after page of angst.

I wonder if the setting were in Kafka's Prague, Dostoyevsky's Russia, it would come across as being more credible. Have ya ever heard yiddish comedian's ever go on about 'The Guilt' its the acknowlegement they are damned for all eternity 'cuz they may have forgotten to follow 1 of 623 rituals they are supposed adhere to in life.

For example Nicole, I assume yer aware a devout Jew is supposed to say Thank You God For Not Making Me a Woman, every time he gets up in the morning and if he ever forgets to do it just once in hs life its part of 'The Guilt' he bears thruout life.

Since this is gonna be perhaps a life long endeavor, please bear with me, yer gonna get free ole bubba's thrown in for the bargain. I compared it to climbing Mt Everest with hip waders on. Why, ya may ask, am I into this self-flagellation? Simple, How can I respond intelligently to an on-going conversation 'boot just this book and what it purports?

It will be made into a flik and the resultant hype will match the Beige fiasco's. The only possible saving grace will be that the film studios go belly up like General Motors did. I hope Mel Gibson does a Magdalen flik based on what Sr. Emmerich wrote so that he can de-mythify that suffering woman.

Now, here is what I posted to respond to The Dutchman on his hubpage, 'cuz I ain't so sure he's gonna let it stay posted. It goes like this....

Hi Mr Dutchman,

I appreciated yer timely reply, in fact I am impressed ya found the time to do it. I will explain something to ya so ya can put it all in to perspective. I am reading a Swedish translation of the Expectant One simply 'cuz there are no English copies here to buy.

I saw that the Swedish translator is going to run into some difficulties due to the word starved language Swedish is. The Swedes have had their language put on hold by apishly copying the language gestapo Academy model from the French.

Here is a glaring example, the Swedish translator uses 'gikt' to describe gnarled hands of an aging cave dwelling Magdalen. The word gikt actually means gout, a rich man's disease, I don't have Ms pen names' original text in front of me for comparison, I assume she used gnarled instead of polyarthritic joints.

Ya might be thinkin'..what's the big deal..this is the big deal, A person inflicted with gout is usually depicted as a fat cat tycoon with his bandaged foot up-raised on satin cushions to ease the pain of his port-wine toe as the saying goes. So imagine Sally Housewife buying this book in Scandinavia, written in Swedish and reading that a poor, destitute old woman living in a dark, dank cave has a rich man's disease. This alone would give the average Scandinavian reader the impression the book is basically a satire about society seen in a historical perspective.

This is not the only example where a translator has to make judgement calls as to how to find suitable expression which follow the basic storyline and allows for all of the abrupt, no forewarning scene changes. This Swedish translator, if he is anything like the rest really hate translating U.S authors and prefer UK writers due to the archaic way UK writers express themself. That is the type of English they got jammed down their throat when they learned English in Scandinavian schools.

To the traditional way of a Swedish translator handling an English text they prefer Dickens to Tom Clancy. I bring up Tom Clancy 'cuz I know the translator of Clancy's books into Swedish and how he agonized over how to find the appropriate nuanced Swedish to match Clancy's nuanced amareekin military jargon english.

Now, this guy who translated Ms pen-name and her penchant for typical Hollyweird soundbite dialog had to find typical everyday Swedish so that it didn't come across as 2 Scandinavian Shakespearean scholars speaking in an academic stilted manner. I gather you have not translated Ms pen-name into yer Belgian dialects.

How would Ms pen-name's The Expected One come across using Flemish? Are there that many suitable Flemish in daily use phrases without resorting to Flemish slang available to do the job? Once ya get this part of how I am appraching Ms pen-name after the usual pre-sales hype that Simon + Schusters agents did in Scandinavia you can see my encounter with a rich man's disease in a cave setting influenced how I was going to take the rest of the text, with a pinch of salt.

Its one thing if yer enamored with Ms pen-name, its another thing for me as a 1st time reader of anything she ever wrote to get as enthusiastic as you. I read Dan Brown, translated, and saw his dreary follow-up movies and this tainted my approach to Ms pen-name's storyline. More of same.

After the Baigent-Brown trial debacle this genre has now become a free for all and every gimmick under the sun is gonna get flogged for what its worth. Why do ya think I brought up that Czar's daughter bit?

There are others before Ms pen-name who have located Jesus + Magdalen, plus their kiddies all over the place, the most recent I can think of is in China or is it Mongolia? This is not a brand-new idea is it? Have you ever read Mark Twain's book a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? There is a film of the same name which is quite good. How about the story The Prince + The Pauper, this is also quite good, but it got beaten out by the chicanery of Jacob in the OT Biblic story, by 5,000 years.

To me the Mathilda story is quite an obscure character, it could have just as easily come out of a Nostradamus quatrain for all of its relevance. The nice thing about an un-biased critique is that I don't know the writer, the writer don't know me, all I have to go by is what the writer is dumping out on the marketplace. I know yer uncomfortable with a different take on things, but be thankful that there is such a thing as diversity, after all somebody has to be able to tell the Emperor he has no clothes on.

Actually yer more than likely a better writer than Ms pen-name. but yer name has not been hyped like hers. I think that is called fate, don't ya agree?

I am slowly making progress, here is the next installment...

It has taken me quite a while to plow thru this segment which takes me up to page 110. I am constantly reminded of a yiddish expression OY VEY when I pick up the book to pick up where I left off. I am suffering several pains simultaneously, mostly of a gagging like sensation, mentally as well as physically. I will explain why.

This content has been removed by the Moderator, who judged it to have broken the House Rules.

The Hollyweird tendency, ala Dan Beige to come across as a name dropper, Berenguer is now a Scots name for a Sinclair. Let’s see if if Moree is gonna be a Lessie, as the story progresses. The name Magnus, found moreso in Scandinavia than Ireland is now Irish. The fact our heroin(e) is a Cajun named Irish type, so that it can be given a French affectation is really stretching it, especially ’cuz she has red hair.

The steady depiction of Magdalene wearing a red robe, which is not how she is described by Sr. Emmerich, is really stretching it, ’cuz the only mention of a red robe is that worn by Jesus, ripped off and thrown down unceremoneously on the ground, Roman soldiers cast lots, played a dice game, for possession of it. Sr. Emmerich sez the Roman Centurion at Golgotha took it from the soldiers and gave it to Jesus’ Mother. Magdalen never had possession of the robe according to Sr. Emmerich. The red robe biz with Magdalen is strictly a gnostic myth.

Ms Smith adds a new design twist on to the blown up roadside sarcophagus, something akin to the design of interlocking rings for the Olympics. The happenstances are so forced, the farcical element so apparent, even in my misery of forcing myself this Herculean task, even tho’ it was Ulysees who made his Odyssey, I have to groan. It ain’t farcical ’nuff to laugh at.

The story line abruptly jumped from being in the Distrct of Corruption area to Paris. The chain of happenstances to include every nuance of the RLC enigma is name dropped in. Sulpice gets a couple pages worth, Notre Dame Cathedral gets a couple of pages. The Louve gets a different treatment than Beige gave it. This time the happenstance chain revolves around another artist in order to name drop him in as well. The same rediculous tendency to giving symbols seen in art works a life of their own as if they were gospel truth than the Gospels themself.

I wonder why Ms Smith uses overkill refs to all of the Cathar myths, the gnostic spin ’boot Magdalene living in RLC in a ’alchemic’ tower, then ya wonder why I need a barf bag handy. As I am now up to the part where the heroin(e) is camping out in Scotsman Berenger’s summer home, aka villa, aka chateau in Arques accompanied by her heretic cousin the priest, who is now convinced she is getting channeled by the right type of spirits, not the alcoholic variety.

The only missing so far is a genie who appears when she rubs her magic ring, but, I am only on page 110, that gives a genie 300+ more pages to suddenly appear. The storyline is now levelling off like our forum posts that go tangential.

Stay tuned for the next episode

Perservere MT, we will all cheer when you finally make it through!

The Moderator wrote:


Never mind MT, it has happened before you know; for example:

Thinkin’

By: John N Burke VX2403 (2/2 Field Ambulance (PoW))

It ain’t no good ter grumble and ter curse,
Cawse after orl – things could be bloomin’ worse.
This ‘ere’s no life uv pleshur, you kin bet,
But wot’s the odds, we ‘aven’t snuffed it yet!

Deleted by the German censors
Deleted by the German censors
Deleted by the German censors
Deleted by the German censors
(Who judged it to break the House Rules)

We gits our Red Crawss parcils – good grub too,
An’ nigh goes mad when mail frum ‘ome cums thru’.
The only time we don’t feel in the pink
Is when we sorta stops, an’ starts ter think!

Our folks – uv ‘oom we never made a fuss,
We thinks uv ‘em, an’ wot they meant ter us,
An’ when we sees ‘em once again back there,
We’ll more appreshiate their luv an’ care!

The girl so dear ‘oo when we ‘ad ter part
Bore up real brave despite an achin’ ‘eart.
We think uv ‘er, an’ think uv ‘ow she yearns
Fer that great day, when we, at last, returns.

The friends we left, our ‘omes, our native land,
We’re thinkin’ uv ‘em orl, an’ struth, they’re grand!
An’ even tho’ we sometimes gits the mopes,
We’ve orlways got one thort ter raise our ‘opes.

Orl things must end (as sum bright feller wrote),
An’ when this does, we’ll grab that flamin’ boat,
Our thorts about this life, we’ll leave be’ind.
And think erbout the new life we’re ter find!

***

Wombat.

Thanx wombat,

I appreciate that dudes sense of gallows humor. Am I to take it he is a home sick Irishman?

The part that got green inked is my take on how a thoro' read of everything on the forum can have its parallels in her book. Just like a comparison of HBHG, or any of the other book dealing with RLC, can be found on the forum.

The minutest detail has been magnified, dissected, scrutinized and then some. If I mention my reading of something reminds me of another author don't automagically mean that particulatr author slavishly copied another author. I got that impressíon when reading Dan Beige, he comes across a bit like John Grisham to me.

I told Richrd more than once he should take all of my stuff and fold it into any book he cares to write. I ain't a fussy snob. I share willingly. Well, actually everybody does by posting to the forum, its all up for grabs. Its this aspect I imagine that upset the moderator.

I reached page 176 and thought that I was reading something straight out of Agatha Christy. Something ain’t kosher here. This Moree or is it let’s see-Lessie oughta be jewish if she is supposed to be a direct descendant of Magdalene, who hopped over every generation in between according to the story line. The past 50+ pages of hyping the hell out of Cathar myth- legend, just to get our heroin(e)’s bloodline a Cathar-Cajun(arcadian) twist. Not a single mention of this needed kosher factotum.

Ya gotta keep in mind the artsy-fartsy name dropping screed is, as I have come to surmise is, filler material so that Moree or lessie has a way to be compared. The happenstance now is this Scottish Berenger has been tailing her every move. He knows ’boot the spook voice in the Louvre calling ’sandro’, like in name dropped Botticelli. It is also a planned happenstance to be able to unload a bunch of allegorical alchemical, astrologic New Age bull into the storyline.

The only name I heard was- agatha, like in Christy due to all of the similarities in storyline development. Even the happenstances take on an Agatha Christy touch. I can see why Ms Smith has our heroin(e) traipsing around in a quaint luxurious chateau in Arques, in a backwater dilapidated area of France. The use of a Bishop to be an errand boy with a parallel storyline concerning Moree or lessie’s dad, named conviently, Paschal, so he + daughter Moree or lessie can be seen as paschal lambs, is another overkill development, to my way of thinking.

Every chance Ms Smith can spin twist a Magdalene angle into the storyline ’til it reached over-kill status, she does with a gusto. These past 50 pages are used to set the stage for the sequel book title. It comes across more like...I love me, who do you love? The forced sound bite dialogue is really head shakingly pathetic. Each unfolding scene comes across as an impromtu high school English class lesson where a teacher assigns the kids random parts and each reads his part in a dull monotone.

The incessant droning on ’boot the bygone Cathars, and their even more numerous survivor descendants is a good way to get anybody to toss the book aside. I promised myself I’d stay with this arduous ordeal to the bitter end. Talking ’boot bitter ends, reminds me I need to cut my sitting-reading sessions on the ’other office’s porcelain throne’ to a reasonable minimum. The storyline text is so full of bulls_ _t, it subliminally suggests I need to evacuate the effects of it.

I am nearing the part of the storyline where some counterpoint baddies, led by a name dropped, Cromwell, who belong to a secrect sect are gonna try to upset Moree or lessie’s personal grail search. At this very moment she is on her way to a ball, almost in Cinderella fashion sans the glass slippers.

Ah, before I forget, Ms Smith actually told am almost joke, but forgot the punchline.. it goes like this. Manservant Roland, who don’t chanson his lines sez, I was born a Cathar, I lived in Cather land, I am gonna die a Cathar, and the punch line Moree or lessie should have said was... don’t ya have any worthwhile ambitions to be anything in life?

BTW, a not so elegant touch to create a sense of distance from Dan Beige, Ms Smith has her Scots Berenger adamantly insist he has no da Vinci artwork in his chateau. It alludes to this Berenger belonging to a competing sect than PoS. But then again,I have this mental image of Ms Smith slurp on lemons + prunes to increase her pucker factor. Gotta tighten them sphincters ya know. LA is a rough town.

The admixture of a Pit + the Pendulum type of melodrama to spice up a Agatha Christy-like sub-plot so that the denouements can fall in place before the commercial breaks.

Instead of the War of the Roses we are now confronted with PoS-Johanites- ala Da Vinci, square off with the Botticelli afficinado Magdalene's. In this role reversal of a half-breed Scot cum Frenchman who uses a masked ball to lure his opposition in so that they can inter-act with our heroin(e) to be able to up the suspense factor, put her own life in danger, allow her Jesuit Uncle to expound like a heretic is some of the tidbits I plowed thru these past 100 pages. I got 200 pages to go. I hope I get thru them before the library wants their book back. Ah yes, squeeze in a trip to Montsegur, a reminiscence trip to Masada, and be told Francis of Assissi + the Borgias are distant kinfolk... can't forget the name-dropping, can we?

As I stopped my reading to post these lines our protagonist did something straight out of a computer game called MYST. She has to navigate around in the dark with only the aid of moonlight, crack security codes to escape from the chateau she is in, meander thru the garden to climb up a re-make of Sauniere'e Tower, wait for an alchemic experience worthy of a chapter out of Christian Rosencrantz, the Poe like descriptions ya get from reading Murders of the Rue Morgue come to mind, hey we're in France, yes?

Morree sneaks out of this Tower, manages to defeat motion detectors of the estate, skedaddles down a local road, ducks back into the estate to a replica of Poussins Tomb, and voila, she meets something akin to the white rabbit, does an Alice bit and tries to go down a secret tunnel, after she rubbed her magic ring.

Its at this point I stopped, 'cuz prior to this she bumps off a guy who seduced her buddy. This dude, a lay about UK wastrel who is filthy rich, who is a hi-up in the PoS Johannite-da Vinci faction trying to eliminate any trace of the pro-Magdalene Expected krew, who got whacked 'cuz of his involvement with killing an ancestor to our heroin(e), the Paschal lamb.

If this all sounds a bit jumbled up, it sort of happened like that, 'cuz the jump transitions of the storyline ala TV style are the way the segments happen. From all that I read so far this gal only took a shower or 2, changed clothes a few times, always manages to have hiking shoes on, eats up a storm, gets chauffered every where, I mean does she have a life of her own?

In the literary world the 11th hour save and similar deus ex machina contrivances have salvaged many a dilemna, and this book proves it. Oh, I forgot to lavish copious attention on a myriad of Cathar spins to ensure that every base got covered.

When Morree got conked over the head and barely shed any blood, no skull fracture amazingly e'nuff but left with an intense headache of short duration, etc. I guess these medical wonder are a take for granted in the lit world.

Amazing creatures these fictive characters, who in the epilogue turn out to be actual in many instances of events that happened to the author. If yer not confused by that flim-flam , don't be surprised. It reminds me of the debates over Hitler's Diaries, or if Stalin was an Okhrana agent.

What I ref to is a fictitious made for Hollyweird document written in perfectly legible Greek by an Aramaic woman with no schooling. Ms Smith fabricates a gospel of the Magdalene and this point in the book, with 200 pages to go I gave up on it.

Not a single thing the author wrote coincides with anything Sr Emmerich described 'boot Mary Magdalene. The steady litany-like adulation of this blasphemy-heresy was more than I could stomach. The constant tie-in hype refs to her sequel book became a source of irritation plus.

What started out as a possible social satire disguised as religious fiction eventually turned out to be the author's own odyssey to make events + circumstances fir her agenda to be a god-child. Ye olde Greeks had nothing better to do with their copious free spare time than to regale each other with tall tales of daring of their anthropromorphic deities.

When these bullshit sessions of olde got worked over by a rising in influence priestly caste, the fun + games were over, folk were expected to believe that malarkey. The Romans went a serious set further with their emperor cults.

Now we have a modern myth maker reverting back to this pagan tradition to foist a trendy replay of this deification process. I wonder when some guys in white suits will be called in at some future point in time to find a suitable home for this self edification. When Anti Christ hits town he can't have that sort of competition, yes?

Methinks it would be better not to so grandiosely pave a 4-lane expressway to hell. That should be reserved for the AntiC, not the author, but if she is hell-bent on going to hell, who am I as a mere mortal to stop her? After all she sez she is chosen for that role...

Another thing to factor in, if the muslims get offended by this desecration of Issa their beloved prophet, she is risking a fatwa. The muslims are not so benign as the Vatican has been so far, even with their Office of the Inquisition. I wonder when the sequel... highway to hell will get hyped. If ya recall that's what Jesus did to get away from the Magdalen at the Cross, if ya go by the reasoning displayed by the author.

On another topic TCP is arguing 'boot a missing generation in Matthew's way of accounting for Jesus' bloodline from Abe, via Dave. I wonder if TCP will get as exasperated when he realizes all 91 generations from year zero to 2009 are missing in the Expectant One's bloodline. There is not a single intermediary in sight, not a single claimant, nobody, that is 'cept Ms Smith.

I posted the lineage of the modified bloodline The Church has used to keep Jesus' message alive. its called the Papacy. Imagine if 91 generations went by, some 300+ Popes not selected to be Shepherds of the Flock, all of a sudden some dude prances into Peters square + sez I am the promised Pope, I got a bit delayed but here I am. Gimme my Tiara. How do ya think the faithful all over the world are gonna react?

She miraculously comes across sayin', I'm that love child, 'cuz I say so. I don't need no proof, no DNA, no nuthin'. I got love and that's all that's needed. I don't even need my corn soggies packaged magic amulet decoder ring I needed to get the 1st book in motion.

Its this magic leap in faith that out does the faith required to be a muslim, bhuddist, hindu. Jew, Catholic. Those religions require a serious grounding in order to understand the myriad of rite, ritual, dogma, litany structure, traditions, etc. This notion of being this all of a sudden here I am god-child of Magdalene 2,000 years down the line, dressed to kill instead of in beggars rags as Magdalene was depicted suffering in a dark dank cave with gouty fingers, even tho' gout tends to be a rich man's disease that afflicts the large toe

In this dark, dank grotto, this emaciated woman afflicted with this devastatingly painful disease writes such crisp + clear calligraphy on vellum-parchment usually only found in a Temple, not a dark, dank cave of an impoverished woman, who manages to write volumes of her personal travails, manages to seal it so thoroughly it withstands the ravishes of 2,000 years of dampness and comes out of these flasks in mint condition, odor free as well.

That is a lil' background, for starters. Then comes what the manuscripts portend. There is a big stink goin' on in the forum over the Castillon Diary and this claim to be a hop, skipped, jumped over 91st generation later love child, there is not a single shred of this documentation which sez Ms Smith is who she claims to be. The poor woman who brought up the Castillon Diary is gettin' pilloried daily, there is not a single peep 'boot the so-called missing-non-existent Magdalene documents.

The author sez in the Epilogue that most of what transpired is close to what actually happened to her, really? Now if I get this right, if I go to Jerusalem and stand where the 8th Station is, where Jesus admonishes weepin' women of Jerusalem to weep for their own kids + City instead, tells me Jesus foresaw 2,000+ years of sorrow ahead for Jerusalem.

This didn't come thru in the story Ms Smith tells, she sez ya get diffferent vibes. Hers told her to go in to a lil' shop and get her corn soggies magic amulet ring. If I went to that corner myself I am sure a cop with a Uzi will tell me to keep moving and don't hold up traffic. The only ring I will experience is from the muzzle of that Uzi in my back.

The content of these elusive 200 pages will slowly be forth coming.

This is why this section takes so long to piece together. I went back and re-read Sr Emmerich's Passion Week descriptions so that I have a clear mental picture of folks like Judas, Herod, Pilate, Claudia Procula, Magdalene, the Apostles.

On page 341 I saw this in quotes...'Syndernas förlåtelse får de som är uppfullda av kärlek. Men om den mest rättfärdige mannen saknar kärlek i sitt hjärta kommer han icke att få förlåtelse'... since I don't have the original English this translation can be seen in several varying angles.

It can mean stuff like everybody is supposed to love 1 another...but I'll see ya in court for a divorce, if ya cross me. It can be seen as... sure I love things truly I do, I love to maltreat folks, I love to see folk squirm. These sorts of things come thru by way of how the author describes John the Baptist as a savage wife beater, wife in question is Magdalen, their wedding took place at Cana according to the author.

Salome is depicted as a lifelong friend to Magdalene, Salome did the head on a platter schtick to avenge John The Baptist's cruel treatment of Magdalene. Judas is another lifelong friend of Magdalene who was truly Jesus' closest, most trust worthy Apostle, yeah sure... that's why Jesus said to Judas...It would have been better that you were not born...

Magdalene was a genuine Princess in rags. She was brought up in a life of wealth + privilege. She was well schooled, knew Greek, etc according to the author. Her intimate love scenes with Jesus who declares His love + devotion to Magdalene, He fathers their daughter Sara, who tradition in South France was brought to France by Jeremiah. She is the patron Saint of Gypsies. The 1st kid Magdalen had was from John the Baptist.

These conflicts with the historical + Biblic narrative are not in conflict with recent gnostic screed pandered by the Princeton Theology Dept. The story of Magdalene writing her own 'gospel' and what it contains reads like a National Enquirer gossip column...I was the Bride of Jesus....

Here in Sweden there was a fundie sect that had its own love triangles and the pastor of the sect was accused of causing the convienent deaths of a couple women he was married to. It seems a 3rd partner Swedish press called Kristi brud..The Bride Of Christ was the perp behind it all.

Its this type of insinuating a National Enquirer like description in an almost blog-like fashion really made following the story line bearable. My gag reflex max'd out more than once over 100 pages of this script tailor made for a TV soap....turn in tomorrow to see if John the Baptist re-attaches his head type thing...

As it is Magdalene got his skull delivered in a carton sitting on a silk cushion ... touching, these small details, no? The author goes out of her way to ensure that any + every painting ya ever saw depicting the Magdalene has a historic antecedent. If every painter depicts Magdalene as wearing a red cape, the author does likewise, but in the description Sr Emmerich gives Magdalene wears dark, somber clothes the entire time.

Claudia Procula mysteriously has a kid no historian ever mentions. This kid is born with a deformed left lag, later develops an illness the doctors of the times can't cure. She brings this dying kid to the house where a relative of Judas' kid is dead from this same malady. Jesus raises this kid from her dead state, cures Claudia's kid by merely glancing at Claudia.

Neither of these events are found Biblic or in Sr Emmerich's descriptions. But the author sez they happened that way. The author sez Magdalen's dau Sara-Tamar has healing powers like her dad. Yet nobody in the intervening 2,000 years even to the present claimant to be a direct Expected descendant has this capability. I guess it got dissipated over the eons with each passing generation.

I am in the part of the book where Jesus is being set up to be taken out. I will plough thru who knows how many pages of do-it-yerself history to see how it all unfolds. I haven't cheated by looking for the description of how Jesus didn't die on the Cross, but managed to escape and live outside of Israel, but where?, there are many countries claiming His presence.

It seems Pakistan or is it India has the latest search going on for His final resting place. Stay tuned folks, this saga is not finished.

In this installment I am confronted with a shopping list type of historical flip-flops straight out of Talmud-Gnostic screed cranked out by Pagels, Inc at Princeton Divinity School. Here is a sample of what I experienced, Salome of 7 veils dancing fame, an old buddy of M Magdalene sez Judas was a trusted emissary sent by Jesus to the Pharisees to make sure He, Jesus would not miss His appointed Destiny entre. Then a pregnant for 3rd time M Magdalen with her 2 kids is smuggled into the holding area the Romans stashed Jesus after He was arrested, led by same Salome to pass on their greets to daddy.

This type of historical flip flops have occurred the entire book, now here is the kicker, the entire life + suffering of Jesus was done so that KHS could produce the sequel to this book. Yeah you got that right. KHS has been chosen from 2,000 years back to present this Love Story Sequel penned by M. Magdalen, sanctioned by Jesus, while she was on the run. What has not been explained so far is how in these intervening 2,000 years, this Love Story sequel has never surfaced, and now it appears in bookstores with KHS as author of the up-dated trendy version, not written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Koine Greek, but modern English.

i was flabbergasted to be confronted by this extraordinary farsighted decision of a woman living in squalor, crippled with arthritis managed to write this Love Story Sequel so that it could be published today, with no intervening editing. Jesus really didn't die on the Cross for the salvation of mankind, according to this book, He did it so that the M.Magdalene edition of His Message encoded in the Love Story sequel. ended up in KHS's hands, at least that's the way I understand it from the way the author sez it.

The airlines conveniently have barf bags placed in front of ya. Now i gotta find the one I stashed here. Just writing all of this is rather distressing, 'cuz if folk in the muslim world ever read this book, The Expected One, the author could be subjected to the ordeal Rushdie experienced. BTW, I am not finished reading the entire book. I wonder what the rest of the book has in the way of surprises

Jake,
I'm confused(again)!

You want us all to cut Colin and team some slack about the 'Diary', saying 'dont be too hasty folks lets see how this plays out'.

Yet you come over all Fundamental over 'The Expectant One'!!!!!

What happened to the gentle 'touchy-feely' Jake? Now you are talking Fatwas and Barf BAGS.
But you have no more evidence that KHS is wrong than Colin/Mary are right.

A little consistency here Pops please !
TD

But you have no more evidence that KHS is wrong than Colin/Mary are right.

Oh God, my brain just can't wrestle with such ideas...

Yo Tom,

Remember, life is its own Odyssey for each + every one of us on the planet. I saw from the jump the KHS book was not just a silly love story created for the plump + sedate over-40s dowagers with too much time on their hands. The author has an agenda and is willingly to create a corkscrew effect out of history to be able to wring out the factoids she needs to make her sequel a so-called must read.

When I encountered these siren calls I either put on my hip waders, or reached for a barf bag. Does the idea of treating somebody's personal belief system held concomitantly with a billon other folks mean ya can make a hash out of it, like ya can with yer left over road kill at yer eatery? Be it the Koran which folk willingly will die for, Christianity which has its share of martyrs to the cause, and other major faith like Bhuddhism, Hinduism which folk died for rather than allow it to be denigrated, and you wonder why I get demonstrative.

The no-brainer of a liason with Magdalene was dealt with in the gospels, when Jesus said when He appeared to Magdalene don't touch me I have not yet gone to the Father...should tell ya right then and there the entire lie-fantasy of a sacred marriage, etc is strictly Talmudic- Gnostic screed. Where is the wait and see how it pans out factor here? Ya know Tom D, being a self-professed skeptic is akin to putting blinders on a horse so that it can be kept moving forward in a circle doing a monotonous chore.

If that's how ya want yer intellectual life to function, so be it, who am I as a mere mortal to hinder yer desired life style? KHS will be judged just like the rest of humanity for what she wrote, we mortals can't influence that outcome. Just like I can't do more than what I do when I say my daily prayers for the forgiveness of all the sins committed in the world on a daily basis. I take that as doing my own form of penance.

BTW, Tom D , what do ya think the Saints of the Church were doing with their lives? I ask that for the sole purpose of wondering if ya can put yerself in their place. Do ya think they went thru life as skeptics? Would the Church have lasted a day if the Apostles were skeptics? Methinks ya hitched yer wagon to the wrong baggage train of life dude.

My next query to ya Tom. How many sincerely believing muslims do ya know? What is their take on the sacredness of Issa? I can tell ya here in Sweden a woman artist went into hiding for her Ecce Homo art project. She depicted Jesus full frontal nude with John the Baptist as being homosexuals. Muslims rioted in Stockholm at the art museum she displayed it. And then ya wonder why I mention a possibility of a fatwa?

O, before I forget, yeah Nicole Tom has an impediment here called foot in mouth-itis. He has a bad case of it. I look forward to reading the Diary so that the Sauniere era comes to life. I am not in the least bit interested in her love life. To me that's her personal sphere and should not be tampered with. I am not bothered if or nor there is a challenge to authorship of the Diary. That's a personal problem Tom has to work out with his therapist.

You being a Francophile, expert on all things French, who has written an English text with an accurate description of daily life in Sauniere's day?

I had no idea ya led such a sheltered life Tom.

In typical time honored denouement style the author wraps everything up ala Agatha Christy. There are surprise twists for every character mentioned in this story. History had to be inverted, extravasated, embellished to do all this, One thing for certain, none of the denouements exist in any acknowledged history text, with perhaps some Gnostic stuff the author perused.

Now for the intro of the heresy. The author was alluding to the sequel of this book early on, now at the end she sez, the title of her next book is the love story actually penned by Jesus as the message He meant the world to get....fast forwarded 2,000 years AND in English, amazingly e'nuff. Not bad for a humble Aramaic speaking carpenter, yes?

The Author also sez events in her life led her to write this pseudo-history, quasi love story 'cuz she felt she was this Expected One. It seems other authors have dabbled around with that theme by way of their characters' kismet mojo, it just had to be that way, we were destined for each other type of schlock, that ya see in many a Hollyweird flik.

Ya know the ilk, er ah the scene, camera pans in on their eyes, eyes that seemingly smoulder, voila, instant love, instant sex, instant kids, etc. ad nauseam. Now in the closing pages I encountered a form of scripting I often encountered in the clinical setting with neurotic women who were dumped by hubby for another woman, and when ya listen to them unload their lifetime of emotional baggage, ya eventually find out what Freud discovered well over 100 years back.

Some folks, men as well, fall in love with love as an abstract meaning, but latch on to some unsuspecting sucker, er ah, the love of their life as they convince themself he/she is, and then the unresolved hostility of being rejected or rebuffed by other love objects in their life, in psychiatric jargon, a significant other, slowly ooze out.

These take the form of jealousy, anger at slovenliness of her mate, tardiness in accomplishing a litany of never ending chores, and suddenly the sucker, I mean the intended love object rebels and splits. In the closing chaper the author glosses over the mundane aspects of life, focuses on dramatic escapist events and leaves a reader a picture of an ever wandering nebbish doing what U2 sing about, ya know the song...I still I haven't found what I am looking for....

Yet in the next dramatic outburst... I found Jesus, he speaks to me thru my devotion to the gal in the red cape. When I compared all of the authors descriptions and activities she is depicted as having done during the Crucifixion proceedings, not a single thing the author claims Magdalene did matches up to what stigmatist Catherine Emmerich very straight forwardly describes. The way Magdalene is dressed is vividly described by Sr Emmerich.

This dichotomy, the very tangential nature of the narrative tells a very different story to me of an author having a difficult time which part of her persona is the one she will coalesce around. Is it an act of penitance, an act of searching for a creed to hang on to, the possibilities are many. I see more parallels with characters depicted by Dostoyevsky and Kafka.

I wonder if I can endure plowing thru the sequel to discover this 2,000 y.o hidden but now resurrected love story message Jesus intended for mankind. I got the SISU, so its just summing up the other part of the mental energy part required.

As an addendum I will mention this. The local librarian who manage to find me the Swedish translation, the only copy she found in this part of Sweden told me she saw that an English copy of KHS' 2nd book is in the library system.

She told me, its cheaper for the local commune library to buy that book from the library that has it if it don't get loaned out very often. Its cheaper than paying to borrow it and pay postal rates. The cost she mentioned was 10 bucks or less. Now if the local commune library buys it and gets lo-reader response it takes it out of circulation and sells it for 10 SKR, around a buck 50, which is probably what its actually worth.

That's when I plan to get it. That beats the hell out of paying amazon's ripoff prices, plus postage here.

Once I get hold of the 2nd book I will continue my odyssey just like Ulysees did. It may take a while but it will eventually happen. The local librarian checked the Stockholm area library that has the book, and it just sits there. I have zero faith in any of the gushing over hyped reviews ya see on amazon for any book. I take it the book publishers have a dedicated staff to write these sorts of things.

You know Gravesy you sound just like that great, not to say awesome American writer, William H. Gass. Are you sure your style is not a parody of his?

twyford,

I have to plead ignorance in ref to that dude ya mentioned. Is he anything like Mark Twain. H L Mencken, Art Buchwald, Bennet Cerf? I am familiar with other humor writers like Shel Silverstein, Woody Allen but I have to see if that guy ever made it here to Sweden in the original. Quite a few translations end up here, but they have their shortcomings' cuz of the stranglehold the Swedish Academy put on the Swedish language.

Swedish is so word starved, many Swedish authors write a book in English then send it to their publisher to see if they can find a translator to do it justice in Swedish.

This is a sample of what I found on Gass....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Gass
http://www3.isrl.illinois.edu/~unsworth ... .48:1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Ameri ... rt_Stories

Twyford, I was away from the U.S for 40 years and if the stuff Gass wrote ever got down to the level of the trenches where I was a rubbin' elbows with the troopies, or here in a cultural desert called Sweden I would gladly have devoured what he wrote. He sounds like a kindred, iconoclast I can relate to.

What a shame I never came across any of his works. Then again he was a professor like Seeker, so that may mean what he wrote was meant solely for the publish or perish krowd of academia. Since I ain't got no academic pretensions like fishmonger dilettante Tom D, I would be the last person to think who should be emulated. What did Gass say, it took him 25 years to write The Tunnel. He had to re-write it many times just to make it mediocre.

To me a good laugh, is just that, regardless of the source.

OK folks, somebody in the commune took my request seriously and the library sent me an info sheet saying they tracked down KHS' 2nd book which I will be able to loan from the local library branch. They even managed to get it in the original, so I don't have to go thru a 2nd hand interpretation, this time around I get it straight from the horses mouth, so to speak.

I will be starting odyssey part 2 as a separate topic once I plow thru the 1st 50 or so pages to get a feel for which direction the text is heading. I hope it don't suffer from all the commercial breaks the 1st had built in.