The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin is a highly emotional and moving re-imagining of the last days of Christ through his mother’s eyes. This fictional tale is well told and imagined and portrays Mary to the reader as much more human than the virginal image we have of her. I listened to the audiobook of The Testament of Mary and it’s read by the amazing Meryl Streep whom I adore and she brings a beauty to this book like none other. She has one of the most beautiful voices and it fit so well with this story.
Mary is old now and living out her life in the town of Ephesus where disciples of Jesus still care for her by bringing her food and making sure she is ok. However their view of the last days of her son and hers are very different and this story has her remembering the events as she saw and experienced them.
Mary doesn’t believe her son was the son of God and nor does she feel his death was worth the suffering he went through. Mostly she feels regret for not staying with her son as he died and instead fleeing for her own life and also for not speaking up for him although it wouldn’t have helped. In Meryl Streep’s emotional telling of this tale I felt I could feel Mary’s pain, sadness, and regret in her telling of her son’s crucifixion and how she felt afterwards.
The Testament of Mary is almost poetic in ways and is narrated in much the same way by Meryl Streep. I found this audiobook to be very emotional for me as it relates the crucifixion through Mary’s eyes. Ultimately it is a very good audiobook and I can see myself listening to it again as it is fairly short at a little over three hours. For those who enjoy biblical fiction I think The Testament of Mary is one you shouldn’t miss and the audio is superb with Meryl Streep narrating it. The Testament of Mary is a beautifully written book that will haunt your thoughts long after you’ve turned the last page.
Listen to an Excerpt (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Buy at: Simon & Schuster, Audible, and iTunes
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher. No compensation was received for this review and all opinions are my own.
I just finished a book on Mary Magdalene which I found very interesting. Quite different really. This sounds also very good.
Mystica, I’ll have to pop over to your blog and see if you reviewed the one about Mary Magdalene. I love reading books about her. I hope you get the chance to check this one out.
I can imagine how wonderful Streep’s narration is!
It was Kathy!
I am not sure this one is for me
Linda, if I’m being truthful I don’t think so either. LOL.
Streep as narrator? I’m not surprised to find that she did a great job; she is such a marvelous actress and so much of making a book come alive is being able to capture the emotion. I’ll have to keep my eye out for this one on audio.
Lisa, yes I was surprised to see Streep as the narrator. I love her as an actress and her voice is perfectly suited to this novel. I’m positive I enjoyed this one more because of her narrating it.
This one is on my shelf Dar, so I was happy you enjoyed it. I do like the author, but for some reason have put this one off.
Diane, I’d love to chat a bit about it once you do read it. I enjoy biblical stories so this one intrigued me and with Meryl Streep as the narrator I was sold.
I didn’t know Meryl Streep narrated this one! Adding to my wish list once again… Good thing I’ve got a couple of extra credits to work with 😉
JoAnn, that was what attracted me at first to this audio although I do enjoy biblical fiction. Lucky you with some extra credits :).