This
novella or prose poem, approximately one hundred pages, is extremely
beautiful. Written from the perspective of Mary, it gives what I can
imagine could be a very real and emotional picture of her as a woman
coping with the loss of her son. I found it interesting that the
writer, a man, was able to break into the psyche of a woman and
describe it so well. Although linking in biblical references, TheTestament of Mary
runs parallel and, at times, even at a tangent, to what is assumed
and believed. Colm
Tóibín
has succeeded in making Mary more human and, in doing so, he has put
her suffering, and even the suffering of her son, in a completely
different perspective. It is the ordinariness
of
them both that shines through and it is just this ordinariness that
makes the suffering that much more poignant. Beautifully written, The
Testament of Mary is
definitely
worth reading.