Kathleen McGowan: The Expected One

The Expected One: A Novel by Kathleen McGowan

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
NOTE::::: not for those who won't accept the possibility of MM and Jesus having a bloodline that still possibly exists.









Started this book, decided after reading the afterward and author's notes that I need one to highlight. So will return to library and keep an eye out for my own copy.



Okay, now half-way thru,changed my mind about buying it for myself...will just read the library book and when the sequels come out will do the same.



It is pretty well written, and rehashes some "theories" already out there, but a little different take than The DaVinci Code. Definitely harsh on Paul (in my mind that's okay by me, don't care for him anyhow), John the Baptist, and several others. Also doesn't idealizes DaVinci like the other book did.



I guess learning a bit more about the author has tinted my view of the book, as I was actually enjoying it before googling her and then "hearing" some of her actual beliefs from her own posts...I actually suppose that if I could speak to her face to face she wouldn't seem so....out there. But to read it without tone and inflection, she sounds a little loony. But her right and that's okay. She actually sounds like people I used to hang around a lot with before I moved to "small-town" America.



Some of the plot themes are now hindering my enjoyment of the book as well, but if it had been written about entirely fictional characters, would not be bothering me...so I adjust my thinking for that.



I don't want to turn anyone off the book, it isn't bad at all. Just my own preconceived notions block my complete enjoyment of the book.



I can accept the possibility of MM and Easa being wed and having children, that, in my mind, is NOT outside the realm of possibility. Nor is the presumption that she may have held a more "pure" interpretation of Easa's teachings. That also is firmly entrenched in my brain as not only acceptable, but probable.



But for the executions of Marie Antoinette and Louis as part of a grand scheme to wipe out the bloodline, ordered by the RC church seems just a wee bit farfetched...but that's okay too...whatever moves the plot along. And I know that some believe all the "theories" surrounding the legend of MM. But bits and pieces of it bug me, and I cannot explain why.



So read the book, make your own mind up...but it is most assuredly NOT FOR the most conservative christian mind.





Update:::: 1 August 2008



Finished book. Enjoyed it so much better there at the last half of the book. While it does go over SOME of the same material as DaVinci Code, it takes quite a few sudden turns away from it as well. As noted before, the issue of DaVinci is quite a bit different.



The author relates in the AUTHOR'S NOTE at the end of the book that it is based much on her own experiences. This is where I had a minor problem. Not a problem for me now, but it was while in the midst of reading it. Despite that, if even half of what she puts forward in this book is, in fact, well, factual and real, then it is impressive and hopeful. I am looking forward to the next part of the series.



The ONLY reservations I had with this book is the fact that I am overly skeptical when I cannot discern tone and intent because of no "face to face" interaction. Many of her, for lack of a better word, theories I do hold with. A lot of them I grew up believing, in some depth or another.



I have always had a problem with the church's stance on women's roles, Paul's theology, the lack of info on the female's in Jesus' life, and the dismissal of even the possiblity that Jesus could have married and had a family. Being a Jew of the times, it would have been strange if he did not. And Pope Gregory, I think it was, that made Mary Magdalene a prostitute did a great disservice to her. She was the one, the only one, who witnessed Jesus' return after the crucifixion. She was also termed the Apostle to the Apostles. And Jesus' closest companion. I believe these are all mentioned in the accepted form of the Bible. For her to be so denigrated as she has been for 2000 years is reprehensible and disgraceful. Not only for her, but for the church and for women everywhere.



I still am a bit skeptical of the author's assertions about Marie Antoinette, the Borgia's and various artists, but then I've never really done much research on the aforementioned people due to lack of interest.



Read this book with a somewhat open mind. The author writes a good story, whether or not you believe it is a fictional account of her own experiences.


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