Book Review: ‘The Testament of Mary,’ by Colm Toibin

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Mary Tobin

Mary, the mother of Jesus, has given Christianity a good name. The problem with all this is that it has led to centuries of sentimentality.... Colm Toibin’s novella “The Testament of Mary” never even approaches the swampy terrain of sentimentality. For “The Testament of Mary” is a beautiful and daring work. Originally performed as a one-woman show in Dublin, it takes its power from the surprises of its language, its almost shocking characterization, its austere refusal of consolation. The source of this mother’s grief is as much the nature of humankind as the cruel fate of her own son. Her prayers are directed not to Yahweh but to Artemis, Greek not Jewish, chaste goddess of the hunt and of fertility, but no one’s mother. Mary’s final word on her son’s life and death is the bleak declaration: “It was not worth it.” [link]