Noah Gordon: The Physician

I saw the book called The Physician for first time after I read I, Claudius. It was in some list of recommended historical novels. I was looking for a novel set in medieval times. In the end I moved to something else, but some time later, when I saw that The Physician on the Kindle Daily Deal just for 2$, I did not hesitate to buy it. I started reading the book, but at the time I did not have enought motivation and experience in reading English to get into it and I put it aside in second chapter.

It took me a year and half to get back to it - I was siting on a train and browsed my Kindle, looking for something to amuse myself with. I opened the book again, finished the second chapter, finished the third and was captured. I've read the remaining thousand pages in about a week.

The Physician isn't as vivid or complex as I, Claudius or Egyptian, maybe even because it is written from third person perspective. And in my opinion it is not as good as these classic books. On the other hand Noah Gordon sometimes builds really good atmosphere and unravels a subplots which lead to (at least fo me) unforeseen culminations. Besides the life of the main character - although still pretty extraordinary - is overall much more common. It was quite easy to understand him and his motivations.

In the year 1020, a London boy called Rob becomes an orphan, and is taken as an apprentice by a Barber-surgeon. Rob learns his craft and travels around England. Eventually he decides to become a Physician to be able to heal and help people as good as anyone could. Therefore he sets onto voyage to Ispahan in Persia to study with Ibn Sina, greatest physician of middle ages. The biggest problem is, that only muslim and jews are allowed to study there. So he decides to disguise as a neglectfuly raised young jew...

“Here is the lesson,” Barber said. “It is just as easy to bring death to man, and I’ve done so. It’s harder to keep hold of life, harder still to maintain a grasp on health. Those are the tasks to which we must keep our minds.”

Very interesting is the insight into the relationships between christians and jews and muslims and jews - it really helped me to understand some differencies. I think, that the author is probably of jewish heritage. On the other hand - the women are quite plain characters. And I am pretty sure that the book is historically inaccurate. But I really enjoyed the details of Robs travels and the description of everyday life...

“I think of the separation between life and Paradise as a river,” Mirdin said. “If there are many bridges that cross the river, should it be of great concern to God which bridge the traveler chooses?”

Few months ago a major motion picture based on this book was released - according to the trailer, it is very loosely inspired, but I am really curious, how did they handle the source material. I hope it will be released in Czech Republic.

Sergio Rubín & Francesca Ambrogetti: Papež František

Tato kniha má podtitul Rozhovor s Jorgem Bergogliem, což naznačuje, že vznikla ještě před zvolením primase argentinského papežem Františkem. Asi žádná životopisná kniha o papeži nemá předmluvu napsanou rabínem a to jen první z mnoha výjimečných momentů kolem Jorge Bergoglia.

Rozhovory velmi nenásilně seznamují čtenáře s Františkovým dětstvím, kněžskou službou i pohnutou historií Argentiny druhé poloviny 20. století. Jednotlivé kapitoly jsou provázány autorskými shrnutími a popisem drobných zážitků a historek, které novináři při dotazování sesbírali. Je jasné, že od takovéto knihy nelze očekávat nějakou kontroverzi nebo drsnější polohy, ale přesto se, myslím si, dostává velmi hluboko. Papež František je představen jako bohatá a mnohovrstevná osobnost, rozhodně nejednoznačná minimálně ve své opravdové a upřímné touze po přiblížení se bližním a Bohu.

Po jejím přečtení mnohem lépe rozumím mnoha papežovým vyjádřením, která běžně potkávám v médiích a která jsou zpravidla zkreslena překladem či neznalostí reálií ze strany novinářů. Rozhodně doporučuji všem, kteří si říkají, že František je docela zajímavý muž nebo neví co si o něm vlastně myslet. Já už teď vím.