If the religious novel Gilead seemed unexpected from Marilynne Robinson, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt[Knopf, Nov.], coming from vampire connoisseur Anne Rice, is doubly unexpected. Yet this novel, like each of her best books, thrives on the character's voice to transport us to other—and otherworldly—times.
In simple, seductive tones, this fictional Jesus relates his story beginning in childhood, when he discovers himself to be in possession of mysterious powers. "I knew something now that was beyond what I could put into words," he proclaims at one point—but putting the unexpected into words is precisely what novelists do. Reading her absorbing author's note at the end puts the novel into greater personal perspective: it is clear that this book was both unexpected and always, in a sense, planned. Rice has done some serious homework here. A book like this has a built-in audience and built-in stigma, but strip away the Christian or religious label and you still have a good story, well told.
