Pontius Pilate: A Novel
By: Paul L. Maier / Narrated By: David Colacci
Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
Outstanding historical fiction!
FIrst lemme give a mighty and thrilled shoutout to author Paul L. Maier for doing an Erik Larson: In his multiple Prefaces (This was published in book form eeeeeons ago!), he apprises us that in writing Pontius Pilate, he did a LOT of research, took very few creative liberties in the crafting of the story and the fleshing out of personages (Kinda like Larson in The Splendid and the Vile where—in HIS Preface—he tells us that if we hear someone said something, smiled, ANYthing, it comes from documented fact). Further, Maier says that, where he DID do a little bitty bit of dancing with facts, as so little was documented at the time, research and archaeology has borne out his Take On Things. He’s awfully humble about it all, but he’s most certainly pleased that his creations and crafting were correct.
So there’s that, and when one is about to embark on a historical novel about a well-known figure whom little is known of after a certain era, that is really refreshing and reassuring. EsPECially if all you’ve known about the main figure, here Pontius Pilate, is that Barry Dennen ROCKED his performance in “Jesus Christ Superstar”, and that one invokes his name as adding to the sufferings of Christ whilst one is going through various recitations during Mass. You see? I went into this audiobook as a complete and total boob.
Right away this is engaging, as Pilate is rather puffed up with his aims to rise high high high in the ranks of Roman bureaucracy but finds he has to do a lot of tap-dancing in order to please Tiberius back in Rome, and the Jewish population in Judea. It helps that his wife Procula is with him, and she’s always savvy, vigilant, and shares her views most generously, whether requested to or not. She keeps him from being arrested, possibly executed, as things go as they will back in Rome, with this or that person completely falling out of favor with Tiberius, inviting his ire, adding to his extreme paranoia.
What I loved about this book was that, from the get-go, stretches of historical stories are covered. Whether it’s Salome dancing and gyrating wildly and then requesting the head of John the Baptist be brought to her on a platter, or it’s Tiberius dying and leaving “Little Boots”, aka Caligula, as the soon to be Bat Sh** Crazy Emperor who squanders fortunes, wreaks havoc, executes multitudes. Simply stellar story-crafting by Maier, and always engaging.
Further, the interactions between Pilate and the Teacher from Nazareth are great, and are made even better as Maier relays Pilate’s thoughts, his emotions, how he felt to have his hands tied behind his back during the fraught and chaotic trial(s). He was in a No-Win situation, trying to straddle his desire to do right by an innocent man… and… his position as the voice of Rome in Judea. That he makes the choice he does, that he rationalizes it all, that Procula has SUCH verbal digs and jabs that wound to the core, is simply AWEsome.
Now here is where I bring up David Colacci as the rather uninspired narrator (No pun intended). He kinda drawls away in an anchorman’s matter of fact tones, doesn’t imbue Pilate with much that might make his emotional stances and thoughts evocative. Colacci does Procula well (Especially when she’s properly chastising Pilate, upbraiding the beJESus outta him (Oh gosh, no pun intended AGAIN). And he does the friendship between young Cornelius, then older Cornelius the Centurion who becomes a follower of the Christ quite well, certainly when it came to the scenes where Pilate is frustrating the heck outta Cornelius, always positing rational explanations for divine interventions (Such as: It was Simon Peter who STOLE the body of Jesus from the grave… something that exasperates Cornelius quite a bit much). So okay job by Colacci, just a wee bit too much with some vocal juggling, and really, he coulda added SOMEthing, SOME emotion, to his performance. Still, Colacci didn’t attempt any accents here, a thing which he’d been deplorable at in an earlier experience I had with him, so Huzzah for tender mercies!
I did soooo love the ending, with what Pilate MIGHT have done, how his belief system MIGHT have changed. And that Procula is honored with her own Celebration Days during the calendar year, by some countries, sects, is joyous indeed. And the Epilogue? Worthy worthy worthy of being what wraps up an Epic Listen.
15-hours? Flew by.
And it was nice and apropos that my crush on Pontius Pilate as played by Barry Dennen should be so well fleshed-out and added to.
Is it wrong to say you have a crush on Pontius Pilate? If so? Yikes, Guilty As Charged…!
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