Oh, Lord.

It is rather difficult to review this kind of book, as is any work of

Kazantzakis. Why, you might ask. After all is a book, and hes not well known
( definitely not like most classics, which is a shame if you were to ask me )
worldwide. Kazantzakis, in my opinion from what Ive read about him, by him, was in
search of knowledge. Not scientific knowledge, Im sure as hell he didnt bore
himself with all that almost palpable information he wouldnt have the interest to
remember ( not that science is boring, but its not for everyone, definitely not for
our man here ). He had a passion for what is greater than man . Who or what is
more powerful than man, what controls us, what makes us human, why , how can
we get there, or better, can we get there, is this power infinite, can we get to shake
hands with it, can we understand it etc. All kinds of questions about the Truth ( what
is the Truth and can anyone know it , or do we all have our own truths ? ) that I
believe he didnt get answers to. Why do I think that ? I got the chance to read three
of his books in a period of 6 or 7 months ( Report to El Greco, The last temptation of
Christ and Christ Recrucified ), and what I can surely admit is how similar they are. I
always read books so I can get a glimpse at the author, rather than the book itself,
at how he thinks, at how he managed to put in words his beliefs, fears, longings,
ideas ( this is one of the reasons I never tend to compare books between
themselves if they are written by different authors ) . I always believed, and I still
do, that art is a form of expression, a form of emptying oneself of emotions because
they become too much to bear. You sit in front of a typewriter and bleed after all.
Let you wounds bleed, then heal yourself . The next one is another wound, with a
different required medicine, a different attendance. All these three books seemed to
me as being the same wound, all over again, he was cutting open a scar, let it bleed
and almost heal, then cut it open once more. Because he couldnt comprehend how
to properly heal it, so it would constantly bleed. Dont get me wrong, these books
are priceless, but their message is the same. EXACTLY. THE. SAME.

<blockquote>"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and

bleed." Ernest Hemingway</blockquote>

.
This is more than just fiction, is more than just a story, but then again, all books are more than just stories , some
action in which you can find delight or not; Christ Recrucified felt more like an exploration of human capabilities to
reach the highest they can get.

It starts as a game, or rather a play. People from a Greek village, Lycovrisi, are chosen by those who held the
political, religious and economical power, according to their actions and personalities, to re-act the events of Jesus

Christ's trial : Yannakkos ( Apostle Peter ), Michelis ( Apostle John ), Kostandis ( Apostle James the Great ),
Panayotaros ( Judas ), Katerina (Mary Magdalene ), and lastly Manolios ( Jesus Christ ). It's beautiful how at the
beginning they don't think of themselves as being worthy of / suitable for the roles , but as days pass, they become
more and more who they are supposed to impersonate.

The writing : It is exquisite. With no exaggeration. Kazantzakis is a talented author. The phrases are not too short,
the dialogue is not hollow ( I don't think there were any shallow remarks or dull conversations ) and the paragraphs
give a lot of information regarding : the weather, the places , the mentality that governed those times, the ideas, the
vices of men, the people and their beastly instincts, how they separate from animals, how they fight against what
threatens them and their beliefs. Everything comes to life and draws you in. One minute you are Manolios, in his
attempts to sacrifice his nothingness to God, the other you are Yannakkos, a merchant-peddler talking with his
donkey ( his only treasure ). Then you get some bits from Panayotaros and his loathing of the elders and the village
for forcing him into becoming Judas. But wait, you are once more determined Michelis, trying to cut lose the ropes
that tie him to Earth and so empty himself of anything that could turn into vices, so he can fill up with Light.

You can empathize with all characters : you understand their reasons because you understand their way of thinking,
Kazantzakis really gives you a glimpse of what expectations or mentality certain people have according to the
environment they grew up in. Love them, hate them, laugh at them etc, they exist and you know they do, because
they are real . They are believable and surely you've met one or another. You cannot classify them in good or bad :
there is no black or white, but shades of grey, lighter or darker.

At first, I read books out of curiosity, of desire for living in an unreachable world, narrowed between two hard
covers and showed in black letters on a white paper, of longing for a different life lived through different eyes. Then,
when I grew, I started looking for understanding, not necessarily an author's understanding of me, but rather the
exact opposite. I want to know how, why and for what he is writing : what is he trying to prove, what does he feel,
what is he looking for, what is he feeling. When I first started reading one of Kazantzakis' books, The Last
Temptation of Christ , I knew what I would find : a man trying to find the Truth, or perhaps, trying to understand a
small part of what he thought the Truth is. I will not tell you if he achieved his purpose, or if he managed to heal his
wounds ( because we know that art is a way of healing or of emptying oneself of unbearable emotions ), because not
even after finishing it I could not answer it . I think he did not expect the same people to read more than one of his
books. Because shortly after, I read Christ Recrucified ( which had been written a few years before ) and I felt as if I
was reading the same book once more.Same questions, same doubts, same answers . Or better said : same lack of
answers.

Now you might ask "why would he write such a book?". In my opinion he tried to understand how far can a man go
in emptying his mind of himself and filling it up with Light, with understanding of God, with comprehending
Him.It's unimaginable what boundaries should break for him to reach the sky. The question is can he still be a man
afterwards? Nikos Kazantzakis came with an answer ( answer that is found in more than one book, so maybe he was
unsure ? or perhaps he simply wanted to convince himself of its Truth?).

I wonder what's your answer.