The Childhood of Jesus

The Childhood of Jesus

            J.M. Coetzee

            ISBN: 9781846557262

            4 Stars

            This is an uncorrected galley provided by Penguin

            A man and a boy have traveled far across oceans to reach a new land. Once there they learn the native language, Spanish, and are given new names. Their ages are determined solely on physical appearance. Washed clean of their memories, like everyone who comes to new country, the man, Simon, sets out with the difficult task of finding David’s mother.  On instinct alone he finds the woman he believes is the mother. The woman, who is successfully persuaded of the role, recognizes her son’s intelligent and unconventional wisdom as brilliance. The school and authorities see it negatively, however, and wishes to quell it by taking him away. Simon, who sees both points of view, must decide if he will help mother and son escape.

            I will start off by saying that this is the first work of this author’s that I have read and I am thoroughly impressed. My only complaint is that it did take me awhile to get with the flow of the pacing. That might just be the fact that I am unfamiliar with the author. I cannot stress enough that I enjoy reading anything that makes my brain go into overdrive and that’s exactly what just happened. First of all there are the characters and their story line which in itself is intriguing. Then there is this underlying mystery of why can’t they remember anything and where did they come from? Possibilities galore were running through my head the whole time. This is one of those novels that make you evaluate life and possibly relate to on some level. I really enjoyed it and will gladly recommend it.