- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (2 April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330377183
- ISBN-13: 978-0330377188
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.9 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,454,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In his earlier novels, Robert Stone has taken us to such hot spots as Vietnam, Central America and that ultimate sinkhole of depravity we call Hollywood. This time around, it's Jerusalem. Given Stone's gift for depicting both political and personal embroilment--indeed, for making the two inextricable--this particular city is an inspired choice. For starters, Jerusalem is a sacred destination for Muslims, Jews and Christians, and it remains a hotly contested one. It's also a magnet for hustlers, fanatics and millennial dreamers, a generous assortment of whom populate the pages of Damascus Gate. As always, Stone introduces a (relatively) innocent American into the picture--a journalist named Christopher Lucas. This career sceptic prides himself on his detachment, preferring the kind of story "that exposed depravity and duplicity on both sides of supposedly uncompromising sacred struggles. He found such stories reassuring, an affirmation of the universal human spirit." Yet Lucas, a lapsed Catholic, has journeyed to Jerusalem at least in part to recharge his devotional batteries. And as he's slowly drawn into a terrorist plot--which involves drugs, arms smuggling and a plan to blow up the Temple Mount--Lucas sheds his detachment in a hurry. Stone's novel functions as an expert thriller, whose slow, somewhat clunky wind-up is more than compensated for by a brilliant grand finale. It is also, however, a dogged exploration of faith, in which cynics and true believers jostle for predominance. "Life was so self-conscious in Jerusalem," the author reflects, "so lived at close quarters, by competing moralizers. Every little blessing demanded immediate record." It's hard to imagine a more vivid record of these mutual blessings--and maledictions--than Robert Stone's.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"But while the religious quests of Stone's characters help drive his story, the novel is ultimately concerned less with metaphysics and cosmic order than with the earthly realm of politics and the human craving for certainty. The characters in Damascus Gate may be "God- struck," they may dream insistently of a better world, but like so many Stone characters, they end up captives of history and their own very human illusions." The New York Times
"Heavy as a marble tablet, it delivers revelations about character and culture in the way that only a dense, textured novel can.... Precise and passionate, Damascus Gate is a stunning achievement." The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Damascus Gate asks enormous questions about cosmic truth--and its effect on those who think they own it--with intensity, intellectual rigor and abiding morality." The San Francisco Chronicle
"The writing, often dense with metaphor and landscape, is powerful, and the result is a pulsing, profound novel... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"Heavy as a marble tablet, it delivers revelations about character and culture in the way that only a dense, textured novel can.... Precise and passionate, Damascus Gate is a stunning achievement." The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Damascus Gate asks enormous questions about cosmic truth--and its effect on those who think they own it--with intensity, intellectual rigor and abiding morality." The San Francisco Chronicle
"The writing, often dense with metaphor and landscape, is powerful, and the result is a pulsing, profound novel... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
THAT MORNING Lucas was awakened by bells, sounding across the Shoulder of Hinnom from the Church of the Dormition. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THAT MORNING Lucas was awakened by bells, sounding across the Shoulder of Hinnom from the Church of the Dormition. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I began reading this book with very high hopes because of Robert Stone's reputation. However, this is not a book for those who don't have a photographic memory. Unless you can remember, 200 pages later, a name or Hebrew phrase mentioned briefly, you'll be lost, as I was throughout a good deal of this book. The rest of the time I just didn't care. Perhaps it is because Stone is so buy piling up the information that he doesn't pay attention to his characterizations. His characters, particularly his women, are hollow and lifeless. Their conversation is ridiculous, as if Stone mixed up Jerusalem 1992 with some bad dream from the '60s. Having complained about all that, I must say I learned a tremendous amount from this book about the current state of our world. At one point, I was forced to find a Jerusalem travel guide to make sense of all the sites -- religious and otherwise -- that Stone visited. After a while, I realized I was reading the book not for an interesting story or characters, but for a lesson in social science and geography.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read and enjoyed three of Mr. Stone's other novels, I recommended this to our book club, which meets tonight to discuss it. It will be easier to put the "cross" of this book behind me than the stigma my next recommendation to the group will likely carry. Coupling religious themes to the Jerusalem geography--the concept drew me to the book, given first-hand experience with both. unfortunately the author simply failed to execute his grand conception. As interesting as I found the numerous references to world religions, cults, sects, concepts, etc, I found the characters and the plot to be flat and uninspired. Having gritted my teeth to get up to page 300 expecting a "revelation", instead I found myself reading a stale politico-thriller which largely dismissed all that preceded it in favor of "the plot". Well, anyone who essays to create art runs the risk of failure; there is no shame in this. And I did enjoy his other books for their exploration of individuals' souls (especially "Dog Soldiers"--incidentally, a very fine movie was made of this). That said, I would like to speak with any of the notable authors who provided "blurbs" for the book and ask for an explanation. IMHO, it certainly did not meet any of them.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am absolutely shocked that people could have despised this book as much as they did. This is a stunning masterpiece, not his worst book, but his BEST book. I believe that Robert Stone's depiction of Jerusalem is immaculate, and if you Yerushalmis disagree then realize that Stone describes it through the eyes of an outsider. So it is pure. I have seen Israel as both an outsider and a resident, and the vision that Stone lends to it all is a beautiful but disturbing one. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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gosh, i'd love to rant and rave with the rest of you about how much this book sucks, but i'm afraid to say that i really did enjoy it. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 1999
Stone is too enamoured with his vast vocabulary...
Just because you know how to "use it in a sentence" doesn't always mean that you should... Read more
Published on 18 Aug 1999
His Jerusalem is not real, just a grotesque fantasy
For the last 30 years I have lived in Israel, through good and tough times, and I could not find any similarity between the real Jerusalem, the real Israel, the real Gaza, and the... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 1999
This book gave me a migraine!
Who ever led this man to believe he can write! As boorish and contrived a novel as I've ever read.
Published on 2 Aug 1999
Written by a wordsmith who likes to read his own words!!
A complex, multi-dimensional read that I could not wait to put down. I struggled to pick it up to get through it. Read more
Published on 31 July 1999
Don't waste your time
Characters you don't care about. Zealots who aren't very zealous. Unending and poorly written dialogue. Read more
Published on 17 July 1999
It Was the Best of Books, It Was The Worst of Books
I agree with virtually every review in here. Its brilliantly conceived. There are moments of brilliant writing. Read more
Published on 10 July 1999
Must love the sound of his own voice
This book is a slow overblown waste of pulp.
Published on 1 July 1999
Horrendously awful
A blot on the english language. Stone's inadequacies explicated at length.
Published on 29 Jun 1999
Gobbledygook
I couldn't finish this. Slow, dull, overwritten and tedious. For a far better novel in this genre, read Rustad's THE TRUIMPH AND THE GLORY, or even better, Kleier's THE LAST... Read more
Published on 28 Jun 1999
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