Under Tiberius by Nick Tosches

Under Tiberius Reviews

• 
  Kenneth P.

  Gaius Fulvius Falconius is a speech writer for Tiberius, the infamous Emperor of Rome in the first century. Tiberius is a lecherous thug of a dictator who is regarded as a god thanks to the clever speech-writing of Gaius. When Gaius is sent to Judea for an assignment with Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of that province, he is beset with a brainstorm. Hell, he thinks, if I can make a god out of that douche-bag Tiberius, I can make a god out of anybody; hence the genesis of the mother-of-all-scams.
  
  In Judea, Gaius confronts a common loiterer with "lambent eyes, the likes of which I had never before seen." This loiterer is a drinker, a petty thief with a gift of gab. What's more, he knows Scripture, he's smart. And, of course, he has those lambent eyes. His name is Iesusa, which translates to Jesus. He's perfect for the ultimate money-grab.
  
  Becoming a god can be a drag. One must husband the darker appetites. Both Gaius and Jesus are whore-mongerers with a taste for the grape. But once the phony miracles begin to accumulate, this dynamic duo must lessen the lust. On Jesus it's particularly hard because he's a serial masturbator with a penchant for anal sex. Lest you think this a terrible cheap shot, you should know that Gaius and Jesus do indeed go whore-free as the book progresses. The lecherous life is bad for business. The name of this game is Money For Miracles.
  
  Gaius is a brilliant writer and Jesus can talk the talk. With so many fake cripples begging for coins, it becomes easy to fabricate miracles. Raise the dead? Find a comatose drug addict and create theatre. Afterward, accept no praise, remain humble. Indeed most of the miracles attributed to Jesus are wild, fabricated rumors that accelerate into concrete facts. Five thousand people fed with but two fishes in the desert. Jesus: "I've never been to a desert." The dynamic duo shun these stories for they are counter-productive by virtue of their excess. This is about swelling the coffers and wild stories do not help.
  
  After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus and Gaius have a discussion about the content of the words. Jesus says, "Such a bounty of shit as could not be produced by Faith, Hope and Charity together in a week." (Faith, Hope and Charity being the names of their donkeys)
  
  Jesus takes exception to the words of Gaius that he had been required to deliver, particularly with regard to the idea that thinking of adultery is as criminal as doing the deed. Jesus tells him that if there is crime in the thought, well, one may as well go ahead with the fornication.
  
  The culprits have a good laugh over this.
  
  This is a kind of buddy book, with a relationship that evolves for good and ill. Eventually Jesus begins to stray from Gaius' script and delivers some thoughtful, if secular, nuggets of wisdom.
  
  The New Church that thousands of sheep throw coins at becomes a heavy burden for Faith, Hope and Charity-- the donkeys. These beasts are laden with gold and silver. Gaius becomes rich. You already know what happens to Iesusa.
  
  This entertaining novel is not for everyone. If you were ever of a mind to vote for Mike Huckabee (or any similar douche-bags), this book is not for you.
  
  
• 
  Philip Girvan

  In my estimation, Tosches has been treading water since the publication of_In the Hand of Dante_ in 2002. _Save the Last Dance for Satan_ published in 2011 was a rollicking, fun look at the relationship between organized crime and the business of early 60s rock & roll; _King of the Jews_, his somewhat scattered examination of the life of Arthur Rothstein, contains beautiful writing, particularly the elegy for Hubert Selby, Jr.; _Me and the Devil_ delves into Anne Rice territory with considerable emphasis on Tosches's celebrity buddies like Johnny Depp and Keith Richards. It was the first time since _Dino_ that I thought Tosches's writing boring.
  
  Very much enjoyed last year's children's novel _Johnny's First Cigarette_ written in collaboration with illustrator Lisa-Marie Moyen, and Under Tiberius is a triumphant return to form. Narrated by Emperor Tiberius's former speechwriter, lately banished to Judea, the book provides a lively, many would suggest blasphemous, account of Christ whom the speechwriter meets and befriends shortly upon arriving. It's a spirited account of a familiar story and the best thing Tosches has written in over a decade. Highly recommended.
• 
  Barry Hammond

  After reading "Dino" and "Where Dead Voices Gather," I'd probably be up for reading pretty much anything Nick Toches wrote, up to and including his grocery list (which I'm sure he'd manage to make interesting). While the subject matter of this story didn't much appeal to me (it's about the life of Christ and I'd just watched Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods & Kings" so I was feeling like I'd just done that sort of territory) I thought, "What the hell, it's Nick Toches." Needless to say, he didn't disappoint. I don't think I've ever read as cynical, practical, jaundiced, clear-eyed, level-headed, knowing-about-human-nature version of these events, yet he still manages to be both poetic and emotional. I'm sure some yammering, pompous, delusional, self-important "authority" figures will give him some shit for this when it comes out in August but that's kind of who he wrote it about so they can kiss my (and his) ass. I liked this book. It's kind of like Jesus for fans of the Baltimore cop show "The Wire." A damn good read. - BH.
• 
  Христо Блажев

  Месия на пълен работен ден:
  http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...
  
  "Който вярва в Бог, не вярва на себе си.
  Който се моли на Бог, се моли в бездънната клозетна дупка на собственото си безсмислено съществуване."
  
  Исках набързо да се почувствате нашамарени с тоя цитат, за да разберете овреме в какво се забърквате. “При Тиберий” на Ник Тошес разказва за живота на Исус от Назарет, но не е книга за религиозни, нито за хора, които не могат да приемат малко грубички шеги и цинизъм. И ако щете вярвайте, воглаве с тези неща в нея има силно духовно послание, задълбочена теология, древногръцка философия и малко фокуси за цвят. Объркани ли сте? Хубаво. И аз бях.
  
  издателство "Екслибрис"
  
  http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...
• 
  Chris Blocker

  I really have little tolerance for haters. I'm cool with disagreement, but when a person reaches the point of throwing vehement rage at the object of their disdain, I tune out or turn off. It's counterproductive and it usually makes the hater look like a complete idiot.
  
  Enter the many books which criticize the roots of Christianity in the most vulgar manners. Clearly, some people hate organized religion. That's okay. It's understandable for some. Rather than approach the subject with grace and intelligence, however, they digress into crude tirades, hoping to convince readers that Jesus had his way with his mother and every little boy he came across in his travels. This is not the product of intelligent and insightful discourse; it is the work of a juvenile mind bent on “proving something.” And it does not matter the target of this puerile criticism, portraying Jesus as a horny manipulator or the Islamic religion as a nation of sword-toting brainless idiots is equivalent to black face and Looney Tunes' anti-Japanese propaganda. If you want to disprove the saintliness of Jesus, do so in a way that at least resembles historical reality.
  
  That said, it's surprising that I not only finished Nick Tosches' Under Tiberius, but that I quite enjoyed it.
  
  From the beginning, it is clear Tosches has some bones to pick with Christianity. Jesus is portrayed as a stinking drunk whose only ambitions are money and getting laid. Jesus forms a business relationship with our narrator, Gaius, and the two embark on a scheme to get rich. Along the way, they become friends. For me, this relationship never made any sense whatsoever. Gaius was somebody, banished perhaps, but it seemed unlikely he'd ever form a true relationship with the likes of Jesus. Everything about this novel reeked of authorial manipulation based on a long-standing hatred. Gaps of narrative and logic abounded.
  
  But I pressed on. And somewhere, midway, the author did something unexpected: he began to treat the character of Jesus with some dignity. Though Jesus was no messiah by any stretch of the word, he developed a sense of humanity. He became a person, not a caricature. And like that, Under Tiberius became a worthwhile fictional critique of Jesus. Was that the intention all along? Did the author lose focus? Seriously, what the hell?
  
  Suddenly, the writing was interesting and gorgeous. There were still gaps in the story and I still didn't understand the character of Gaius, why he cared so much about the man he was manipulating, but Jesus, ironically, became more real. Compared to the way he was portrayed for much of the novel's beginning, Jesus was multi-multi-faceted. And though he was no son of god, he began to resemble the historical figure who believed in something.
  
  Under Tiberius could've been so much better had it not initially been a strident mockery of Jesus. It could've been the book that completely changed my mind about Jesus-bashing novels. I could've accepted the greed and the sex, even more surprising, I could accept the plot holes and the rushed ending, but I could not accept the blatant vulgarity of a one-dimensional Jesus. Had more time been invested in the relationships Jesus had with his disciples and others, less time spent jumping from whore to whore, I would've had a greater appreciation for this novel. Nevertheless, it surprised me in the end, and that counts for something.
  
  Thank you, Mr. Tosches, for giving me a Jesus I could believe in.
• 
  Johnny

  Under Tiberius is set in first century Rome and Palestine where the main character Gaius Fulvius Falconius, former speechwriter for Emperor Tiberius, finds himself befriending a local thief named Jesus. Together they conspire to obtain untold riches by convincing the masses Jesus is the Son of God. How? Gaius will become the speechwriter for Jesus and place eloquent words and speeches in the new Messiah's mouth. The author has done some research, although you wouldn't see people in first century Palestine eating turkey (they are native to the Americas) or throwing around words like fuck, never mind the idea of a pagan Roman walking with a Jewish Messiah, fraud or otherwise. Additionally, the author throws around the "Render unto Caesar" line quite a bit without fully articulating what the line, and others uttered by Jesus of Nazareth, would have meant to first century hearers (it has nothing to do with whatever anchronistic ideas the author or other people place upon that and other phrases). The novel is an unimaginative bore laced with difficult vocabulary at times (you will learn some new words) with philosophical and (non-)religious musings that can be mistaken as pretentious; all to mask what is otherwise a simple story and even simpler given the fact that the author works with and quotes verbatim at times from the source material, i.e. the Gospels.
• 
  Tenebris-Lupus

  Under Tiberius was my first experience with Tosches's work, and an exhilarating one it was. Set in first-century Rome and Judea, Under Tiberius explores an imagining of the origin story for Jesus of the Christian Bible. Given the vast familiarity with the general story, the flap text lays out the general premise without mystery. A disgraced professional orator of Tiberius's court travels to Caesarea, where he meets an enchanting cutpurse - Jesus. The two hatch a get-rich-quick scheme that, as most know, will live in infamy. Yet, this gritty tale ends in a real world scenario without indulging the "what if" that is worldwide legend and belief.
  
  Tosches's prose proves eloquent in its deigned form as a supposed translation. Readers familiar with the general narrative and miracles of Jesus should find the text as engaging and shocking as intended. Those less familiar may feel the text a bit grinding in the itinerant repetitiveness of the story's protagonists. Regardless, Under Tiberius offers a fresh take on the generally wholesomely bland version of the greatest story ever told.
• 
  Brandon Forsyth

  I had never read Nick Tosches before, and the concept of this book, combined with all this (forgive the pun) rapturous "last literary outlaw" talk, had me primed for a gleefully blasphemous, angry novel. The concept of this novel is simple: Tosches, on a trip to the Vatican, stumbles across an ancient manuscript which reveals the "real" story of Jesus. Fertile ground, to be sure - but Tosches almost takes the concept too far. There's a lot of dead weight here, almost all of it related to making this 'manuscript' sound as authentic as possible. To paraphrase, there's a lot of "I write to you in the third year of Caligula's reign, in the month of Janus," etc. It gets tiresome. What threw me initially was that I was expecting something much more snarky in tone, while Tosches is trying to make this a tragedy about human frailty in the face of mortality. It did move me by the end, but I almost gave up several times along the way. I would recommend Phillip Pullman's "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" if this sounds interesting to you.
• 
  Matthew Storm

  As a writer of Roman-era historical fiction, I'm deeply impressed with the labor behind this story, the thorough research done and Nick Tosches' ability to transport us to Tiberius' Rome and Pilate's Judaea. Somehow the work of a pure historian seems easier than that of the fiction writer who dips into history. Mr. Tosches was obligated to perform the same research as the historian and then to render it light and unobtrusive, something that I think he did very well. Where I thought the book struggled was in the fundamental premise of the fiction itself and the manner in which the story evolved, all too quickly with great leaps taken with insufficent support. Those gaps were evident from the start when Gaius first invents his fraud and finds his accomplice in the opening pages of the book - to me it felt forced, a feeling that I struggled with for the balance of the book. The basic story line was certainly inventive and the author's treatment of Christ was humane (though that humane treatment is certain to set-off predictable controversy). But this creative and well-researched book nonetheless fell somewhat short in the crafting.
• 
  Darryl Hall

  This book made me laugh, gave pause at how much more realistic it seemed than the writings it was based on and was such an allegory for today's religions in the USA.
• 
  John Jr.

  In this 2015 novel, a well-off Roman named Gaius who has been Emperor Tiberius’s speechwriter loses his job, goes to what we’d now call the Middle East, meets a scraggly Jewish thief who calls himself Iesous, and decides to work with him to fabricate a messiah named Jesus. The region is rife with would-be prophets and the like, but those guys are howling madmen or mere street preachers; Gaius knows the arts of persuasion, Jesus proves to have potential as a performer, and together they begin raking in money as well as piling up followers. The crucial thing, though, is that they begin to take their job more seriously.
  
  One implication of Tosches’s premise is obvious: we know so little about the historical Jesus that the biblical account, which conveniently tallies with some previous prophecies, can be read as a skillful fiction—a sequel of sorts—in which, among other adjustments, the harsh God of earlier Jewish writings was softened for a new age. Tosches devotes a considerable amount of his tale to elaborating how this could’ve happened, but as ideas go it is, let us say, unsurprising. Anyone who notices that the world has more than one religion can easily conclude that they can’t all be true and that they could just as well have been dreamed up, whether consciously, as in this book, or through some collective process.
  
  Under Tiberius has two broader aims that are far more provocative. One is to show how invented things escape the control of their inventors. As Gaius collaborates with Jesus, the latter begins to make his own choices in that role (like Galatea, the artist’s creation comes to life), which eventually takes him to a bad end. It also allows us to suppose that the historical Jesus, whoever and whatever he was, played into the desires of (at least some of) the Jews for the fulfillment of prophecy: he became the material out of which a new religion was fabricated (in the sense of made, and also in the sense of made up), and that religion was necessarily beyond his control. It even allows us to consider what might be taken as a postmodern point, that the process by which a story comes to life begins with an author but eventually passes into the hands of its audience. The novel’s second aim is to wise us up, wean us off metaphysics, arm us with roughly the same skeptical empiricism that Nassim Nicholas Taleb prescribes in The Black Swan; by dramatizing a scam, it warns us against falling prey to scams. It would like to save us from saviors. And yet the success of the scam depends on many figures, both named and unnamed, in the background of the narrator’s tale who not only buy into the scam eagerly but contribute to it—Gaius and Jesus begin to hear about miracles that the latter supposedly performed in places where he wasn’t even present—and this implies that we’re always going to need saving. The credulous are always with us.
  
  Under Tiberius does these things exceedingly well. Tosches as a writer of nonfiction is someone I’m acquainted with through his contributions to Vanity Fair magazine. The first one I worked with, a lengthy September 2000 article recounting
  his quest for opium, struck me as a brilliant oddball excursion, totally unexpected and remarkably well written, and the work I’ve encountered since then has also been vivid, if less surprising. It turns out that Tosches’s fiction, to judge from this novel, is just as knowing and artful. To take just one example, Gaius, the novel’s narrator, is at first a speechwriter, as I said (one might call him a rhetor, but despite the appearance of other Latinate words in the text, that particular one isn’t used), and he employs a handful of recognizable rhetorical devices in telling his tale. There’s a reason the devil—the embodiment of deception—is often referred to as silver-tongued. I’m not equipped to judge whether the text approximates any classical-era writers, but it avoids the modern form of psychologizing, and in other ways too it has a subtly stylized, antique, or distant feel, akin to how black-and-white movies look in our age of color film.
  
  Tosches’s methodical and ingenious tale gains in fascination as its action progresses toward Jerusalem; one can’t help wondering how its ending will accord with the biblical account. It’s flecked with descriptive flashes as well as conceptual insights and bits of mordant humor; after recounting for Gaius the many infractions that are punishable by death in what he calls the Book, Jesus remarks, “It is surprising that there are any Jews left to be executed, or Jews to execute them.” Gaius’s account, despite its knowingness, isn’t arrogant or condescending but instead marked here and there with a certain sadder-but-wiser tone. All this is enjoyable.
  
  What’s more—I may as well say it bluntly—the things the novel does are valuable. We need to be reminded that our creations tend to gather themselves up, breathe, and take flight on their own: they tend to have consequences and allow possibilities that we don’t foresee. Tosches’s novel addresses this theme in literary and religious terms, but it applies more widely. Digital technologies are one possible example. We also need, always and forever, to have our credulity pointed out and reproved. For this, the same example could perhaps be given. Whether fiction is the best way to serve these purposes is the wrong question to ask: anything that aims to wise us up, provided only that it makes its point well, is commendable. Fiction was good enough for Voltaire in Candide, and the biblical Jesus himself relied on parables.
• 
  Frank

  Loved this book. Couldn't put it down. The author clearly did a ton if research. The book just has the ability to take you to that time and place. To watch their "friendship" grow was one of the highlights. A lot of people hating on this were never going to like it in the first place. Open your mind up and enjoy the ride.
• 
  David Pearce

  If you enjoy the notion of an illiberal and morally ambiguous Jesus, this is your book. Tosches spins the story and explains the miracles in ways that are provocative and thought provoking.
• 
  Ron

  The premise is that the novel is a translation of a copy of an ancient manuscript Tosches and an old Vatican librarian stumbled upon as Tosches was doing research in Rome. The librarian claims to have had the manuscript analyzed thoroughly and it is genuine – everything, paper, ink, vellum – dates to the time of Christ. Because of the content of the manuscript;t the old librarian has buried it again in the deep vaults, but he gives Tosches a copy. The story it tells is of a Roman nobleman, a speechwriter for Tiberius, who runs afoul of the aging and increasingly crazy emperor, who exiles Gaius to Palestine. Seeing the wide range of crazy prophecy-spouting religious nutcases everywhere, Gaius, the cynical Roman, sees an opportunity to cash in on people's naivete and willingness to listen to religious poppycock. He needs a local shill, stumbles upon a down-and-out Jew who has weirdly compelling eyes – deep and melancholy, able to pull you into them – and proposes that if he is willing to memorize stuff that Gaius writes, and spout it off persuasively, he thinks they can work up a real long con. The Jew's name, of course, is Jeshua – Jesus – and so he goes off on his pastoral mission, spouting off the vague, feel-good New Age-y bullshit that Gaius writes for him, stuff like "The meek will inherit the Earth," and "Turn the other cheek." Jesus turns out to be a real star, can memorize anything, can extemporize when necessary, but still keep largely to the con. The novel follows the Gospel stories pretty well, but putting some twists in: the feeding of the 5000 is a result of doping up a poverty-stricken family and guiding them in a mass hallucination; the raising of one guy from the dead (not Lazarus; he's too far gone, full of maggots and rot-slime) because he is not dead, but comatose, poisoned with henbane, probably by his mother. The con goes on too long, Jesus gets a bit too full of himself, and insists on going into Jerusalem for one last time, instead of just scarfing off to Rome with the loot, and gets bagged by the Sanhedrin, who don't want anyone rocking their pretty comfortable boat. You know what happens next.
  I don't think I have ever read a blasphemous book before, but if this isn't one, I don't know what would be. Jesus the con man, his wisdom and sermons and parables nothing but gobbledygook and the most obvious kind of twaddle, but delivered with such sincerity, just like Joel Osteen or any of those other guys today, and all the rubes fall for it.
  I will remember the sheer audaciousness of the premise, and the fairly good working out of that premise. This is a very sour and cold-hearted impression of religion, of the hypocrisy and self-regard of those in control of the religion, and of the neediness and willingness of the "believers"to accept arrant nonsense.
• 
  Tuco

  
  E se le origini del cristianesimo fossero differenti da come sono state raccontate? In particolare, se Gesù non fosse stato davvero il figlio di Dio quanto più un cencioso ladruncolo che, in combutta con colui che scriveva i discorsi dell'imperatore Tiberio, orchestra una truffa per fingersi il messia al fine di arricchirsi grazie alle donazioni ? E' questa la premessa di “Sotto Tiberio” romanzo rigoroso nella forma e nel ripercorrere le tappe storiche, audace e dissacrante con sfumature satiriche e parodistiche (sebbene la costruzione non sia strettamente legata alla parodia o alla satira ma, anzi, sia l'approccio che lo sviluppo sono seri e lineari coerentemente con la premessa); ecco quindi che il lato umano dei personaggi, e delle situazioni, viene mostrato in concomitanza con le furberie, gli imbrogli e le astuzie dei protagonisti nello sforzo di convincere le persone della venuta del messia. Perché se da un lato i trucchetti che appaiono alla persone come miracoli (o lo diventato passando di bocca in bocca) ci fanno ridere, dall'altro tali speranze riposte nel finto messia si presentano con tutta la loro tragicità quando gli viene chiesto, per esempio, di ridare la vista ad una bambina cieca. L'autore riesce a conciliare il lato umano dell'enigmatico Gesù con i più celebri insegnamenti ed episodi del cristianesimo dandone così una visione alternativa. Tuttavia l'interpretare a lungo un ruolo può essere sfibrante, si rischia con l'aumentare del consenso di non riuscire più a tirarsi fuori dal personaggio che si è creato, ed è forse per poter esprimere e sperimentare meglio tale aspetto che la parte centrale del libro sembra rallentare per un attimo e appiattirsi. Scegliere di scrivere il libro sotto forma di memorie scritte dal protagonista per il nipote (da ricevere al compimento della maggiore età) è un espediente originale che funziona alla grande. Nella parte finale del libro il carattere enigmatico di Gesù diventata più vivido tanto da essere imperscrutabile perfino al suo amico più intimo, fungendo così da base per l'approssimarsi della conclusione.
• 
  Alex

  UPDATE
  I read Phillip Pullman's "The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ" recently and both books deal with very similar topics but in vastly different ways. If this book interests you at all, be sure to check out Pullman's book as well.
  
  ***
  
  I'll assume that if you are at all interested in this book, then you understand that is wildly sacrilegious and blasphemes the story of Jesus Christ at every turn. If one looks past that or isn't inclined in that direction, there's a wonderfully written book about the nature of truth and meaning. The book does a wonderful job examining how the effects of our actions might be separate from the intentions of our actions. This whole notion of intention and examination and attention is held up to the blackest of lights.
  
  Seems like many reviewers dislike the style but I believe they forget that the conceit is that this is a translation of 1st century epistle or even diary entry by a learned writer. He should also be seen as an unreliable narrator who while seeming to be examining his own motivations at some points is also clearly disguising his motivations at another point. The narrator is also clear that he's only guessing at the motivations of the Jesus character. That, to me, is the crux of the book.
  
  This truth we might think we are reading is at least thrice removed from any capital-T Truth we might want to examine. There's a lot here about authorship and who owns the words we remember. It's really fascinating to think through all the layers being pierced in this novel.
  
  In the end, I found myself wanting to see the Jesus character find redemption but Tosches does not grant that reprieve. He is found to be profoundly human and I think there's beauty in that.
• 
  Bob Reutenauer

  This is my first Tosches book and look forward to picking up some others. Great historical fiction, of a sort, the troublemaker sort, the kind that earned him the “literary outlaw” moniker no doubt. The extremely human and imperfect Jesus of Nazareth wandering with his clever sidekick, the recently unemployed speechwriter for the mad emperor Tiberius. Not quite a buddy book of the “fear and loathing” variety.. but they do come out of the desert with keen interests in sex and opium and riddles. For all the blasphemy associated with the book and extended by the levity of reviews .. like my few words above.. this is a serious book of literary imagination, historical empathy, and yes, biblical reverence. Biblical scholar Reza Aslan’s popular and also controversial _Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth_ (2013) is recalled in much of this, and may well have served up some considerable short cuts for Tosches. Taken together though we learn again that it is the novelist, not the academic, who writes for the ages! Performance scenes before crowds of the curious are turned with such unanticipated beauty. The “water into wine” bit was in the bag of tricks of the early common era jesters and clowns throughout the empire, we come to understand. Jesus, in Tosches telling, demonstrates this miraculous swindle with a sublime touch, all can suspend their belief, their common sense, their experience, for something new. Only _Stone Soup_ one of my favorite children’s books, literature that is, does this better!
• 
  Avalon Radys

  Wildly entertaining historical fiction that I often forgot was 'fiction' at all. Elements of the story remind me of Reza Aslan's 'Zealot'...alternative narratives to the devout Christian — realistic portrayals of Jesus as a troublemaker, openly taunting the Roman Republic.
  
  The story opens with a researcher who discovers an ancient manuscript in the Vatican archives, which turns out to be a confessional letter written by a Roman patrician to his young grandson in which he reveals that Jesus Christ was the product of an elaborate long con. The majority of the story is a translation of the letter itself, tracing Jesus' rise from vagabond to messiah. It's a creative take on Christian mythology, but it's message is universal: all gods are given birth by human minds, and that self-knowledge is the only authentic religiosity because it examines these mechanisms of perception and creation.
  
  In an interview with NPR, when asked about whether we all need hope author Nick Tosches answered: "I think we do. And if there is a God, I think the greatest gift he instilled in every human beginning is delusion. And that is what hope is, that we who do not have a cup of coffee today will have one tomorrow. So it basically drives us forward."
• 
  Петър Панчев

  Как се става Божи син. Ръководство
  (Цялото ревю е тук:
  http://knijenpetar.blogspot.bg/2016/0...)
  
  Светът е странно място за живеене, бих казал. Наоколо е пълно с хитреци, които се възползват от човешката наивност и оплитат в измамния си план хиляди хора, неспособни да вникнат в логиката на проблемите си. Просто така стоят нещата от хиляди години, като единствено участниците са различни. „При Тиберий“ („Екслибрис“, 2015, с превод на Неза Михайлова) ми прилича точно на една от тези многобройни схеми, способни да уловят в капана поредните наивници. И ако се питате защо ви ги разправям тия неща, аз се питам пък защо на Ник Тошес му е хрумнало да разбунва духовете с една такава книга? Става въпрос за Исус и поклонниците му. Действието се развива преди 2000 години и страшно напомня на онази история от Библията, в която се ражда Божи син и... става тя една, не е за разправяне. ;) Но какво пък, нека да се позабавляваме, нали няма да ни потърсят сметка, че четем дяволски книги, това време отдавна е в миналото. Все пак е добре, че става въпрос за Исус, а не за друг пророк. Онзи, другия, е опасен. (Продължава в блога:
  http://knijenpetar.blogspot.bg/2016/0...)
• 
  Gayle Slagle

  Under Tiberius by Nick Torsches is a novel about deceit concerning the man who would become Jesus. The premise behind the book is that Nick Torsches finds a manuscipt in the Vatican which is by Gaius Fulvius Falconius, the speechwriter for the evil emperor Tiberius. The story is narrated by Gaius, who decides that he can convert a thief and low life into a messiah; this leads to the creation of Jesus Christ through the speeches of Gaius. The book takes an outrageous and black look into the making of the man who would become the Messiah. Under Tiberius is at times quite intriguing and interesting, but at times is quite boring. It is well-researched and follows the life of Jesus Christ in a realistic, albeit irreverent manner. It is not a book for the masses or the orthodoxically religious, but it is certainly one that should be read by anyone who likes to think and read outside the box.
• 
  Judith Bienvenu

  So, I loved this book. The concept is simple, that an out-of-work speech writer around 30 AD finds a homeless con artist and starts writing speeches for him. Speeches that sound really familiar to modern readers -- speeches you'll find in a certain book that many religions are based on. It's the story of pulling a scam that works really well, but not getting out in time. Full disclosure: I don't believe in the god that most folks believe in, and I certainly don't believe in organized religions. So I found this refreshing, and sad in a way. Sad because, if this really had happened, then humankind has deceived itself mega-massively for 2000 years.
• 
  Jake Forbes

  Yet another rock bio with a charismatic enigma with a messiah complex on their Jesus year. Tosches' Jesus serves to remind of the fine line between fictional and pop martyrs like The Man Who Would Be King or Kurt Cobain and religious figureheads. Jesus without faith and sermons as spin could have capped out at the level of cynicism, but the bonds of friendship and the wrestling with integrity make this a very human and empathetic take on "the Christ."
• 
  Ed

  As someone raised in a very religious Roman Catholic household, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. While reading it, I thought of how upset my mother would be about the heretical and blasphemous contents of this book. But, if one takes this work as fiction, then it is a very imaginative and thought-provoking take on the life of Jesus. I can see where many people will be upset by this book. But, I thoroughly enjoyed it....
• 
  Erik Radvon

  A visceral dive into the first century A.D. that grabs immediately and doesn't let go. A dark, at times profound, often profane look at the lies that power culture and the spin doctors who tell the tales. A few too many cringe worthy moments pop up, but the powerful directness of the prose more than counterbalance it. Not for the faint of heart or overly pious, but an incredible read for the rest of us.
• 
  Stephen Welch

  Bold and audacious, written in Tosches's oft-brilliant prose,
  Under Tiberius is more than an exercise in iconoclasm. In the end a tragic figure, Tosches's Jesus is a flawed anti-hero -- one with which even an unbeliever can sympathize.
  
  I highly recommend it ...
  
  SRW
• 
  Carolyn

  It is hard to determine my feelings on this book...it was not at all as I expected, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It is revolting, vulgar, blasphemous, and weird. That said, I read aloud to those in my presence on a number of occasions. I recommend, but not for the devout or easily offended.
• 
  Tom Christmann

  What a fantastically blasphemous story. It rings as true as any story of the life and death of Jesus. But in this case, Jesus is a thief who agrees to pretend to be the messiah for money. The Irish Catholic in me kept feeling guilty. But I couldn’t put it down because the characters were so great. In the end, I felt for Jesus in a whole new way.
  
  Know Thyself. Read this book.