Jesus and Magdalene

The author sent me a copy of his novel to review:

I’m not sure what Joao Cerqueira was satirizing...religion, environmentalists, other bleeding-heart liberals, or all of the above. Does he believe in these factions, or is his novel just a comedy, because it was fairly funny. The return of Jesus to earth was certainly uneventful. He seemed to be more like a mild mannered Clark Kent than Superman. Is Magdalene the nosy (always in trouble) Lois Lane? It seemed that way. Does she get her comeuppance? Can anybody except Al Gore care about all of these afflictions? The novel follows the exploits of Jesus and Magdalene through the genetically modified crops of corn in St. Martin (I’m assuming the country), the deforestation of land for the sake of a resort, and the racial bloodshed between blacks, whites, and gypsies. The author covers a lot of maladies. Does he do a good job? I’m thinking that he does, but I’m still not sure where his head is. Is that a mark of a good writer? Maybe, maybe not. I read his previous novel, The Tragedy of Fidel Castro (see my review of 1/19/2014) with a similar consternation. Is Mr. Cerqueira a Latino version of China Mieville, or an original? School is still out on that subject. But all things considered, It was a reasonably good novel, although different.  

“Jesus returned to Earth by walking down the middle of the road, without anyone noticing his reappearance.” Jesus noticed that, “The people were taller, fatter, hastier, and they no longer wore tunics or sandals…” Thus Jesus returns to modern life in St. Martin. Jesus meets Magdalene at a stall selling books and magazines pertaining to ecology. Magdalene has a twelve member environmental group called Green are the fields. She seems to be in charge of the group but is somewhat challenged by Judas. She sees Jesus as an activist and wants him to join her crew. She tells Jesus about Farmer Joe’s field of genetically modified corn and how her crew tried to destroy it but were chased off the farm. Judas wanted to burn it but was temporarily stopped by Magdalene. She tells Jesus why she is against genetically modified organisms, “Genetically modified organisms are a good example of the threat hanging over mankind. Instead of ending famine by improving traditional farming methods and eliminating protectionism of western farmers, they unleash mutations in pests and make them resistant to pesticides, triggering the collapse of world agriculture.” So the reader now gets a sense of what’s in her head. (I'm on page 23).

The rest of the novel deals with the further exploits of Magdalene’s crew and Jesus. They get involved in world worries such as deforestation, child labor, capitalistic greed, animal rights, and race riots. One wonders what makes Magdalene tick. A good hint is that her favorite novel is Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (see my review of 10/26/2015) and she tries to live her life out of what she learned from More's novel (written in 1516). Does her life end in a similar fashion as Sir Thomas More’s? As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I’m not sure what was in the author’s head when he wrote this novel. Is it a comedy? Is it a tragedy? Is the author for or against all these Al Gore type gaffes. I guess I’m too lazy to read up on Joao Cerqueira’s thoughts. Anyway, I did like this novel better than his previous one, so I do recommend reading his satirical effort.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Sometimes I wonder where a writer gets his ideas. Both of the novels that I have read of Joao Cerqueira’s are a tad strange. China Mieville created a new genre that he calls weird fiction. Is there a new genre for Cerqueira’s writings? Even Stephen King is now credited with the genre of supernatural fiction along with his standard horror genre. Can one of these authors write the next great American novel? I don’t think so, because the great American novel they would have to surpass is Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (see my review of 12/17/2012).