Under Tiberius

By: Nick Tosches

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

A work of dangerous and haunting beauty by America's last real literary outlaw.

Under Tiberius is a thrilling story of crime and deceit involving the man who came to be called Jesus Christ. Deep in the recesses of the Vatican, Nick Tosches unearths a first-century memoir by Gaius Fulvius Falconius, foremost speechwriter for Emperor Tiberius. The codex is profound, proof of the existence of a Messiah who was anything but the one we've known - a shabby and licentious thief.

After encountering him in the streets of Judea, Gaius becomes spin doctor to Jesus, and the pair schemes to accrue untold riches by convincing the masses that Jesus is the Son of God. As their marriage of truth and lies is consummated, friendship and wary respect develop between these two grifters. Outrageous and disturbing, Under Tiberius is as black as the ravishing night, shot through with fierce and brilliant light.

©2015 Nick Tosches (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Roaches delivers!

I would imagine that this book will resonate better with Atheists than Theists. Very funny in places!

Profound work.

I’m a fan of Nick Tosches. Again and again he tackles sacred ground and gives it his flipped blessing; Dante, rock and roll, sonny Liston, supernatural blood and sex. Prose is beautiful at times, and always authentic.

Interesting primus inadequately explored

Would you try another book from Nick Tosches and/or Jonathan Davis?

Yes

What could Nick Tosches have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

His exploration of the theme that Jesus was an impostor, helped by a noble birth Roman is interesting. NT borrowed too much "thought process" from modern times. Would have been more interesting if he had tried harder to capture the thinking processes of the 1st century human.

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Davis – was your favorite?

Jesus

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No.

Any additional comments?

I was very intrigued by the idea of this book, but the execution was inadequate. I was disappointed.

Loved it and hated it

The story itself was fabulous - a fascinating potential backstory. But the sound quality was abominable in that it was highly variable so you had to turn the volume way up to listen to the quiet parts and then all of a sudden it would be much louder and blast your ears out until you can get the sound turned down quickly. So it was really frustrating to listen to even though I enjoyed the story greatly overall. If you listen to the story in a completely quiet environment this will be a problem. But listening to it in the car or in the hot tub or at the gym where there is other noise going on around you means that the sound is really hard to regulate. And this is regardless of whether you were listening to it over speakers or through earbuds.

Great Story

Good book! Interesting twist on the history of Christ. Would recommend and or read again.

Good idea that doesn't come off

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I was looking forward to a wry, tongue-in-cheek take on the gospel story, that was just as likely to have happened as the ones we have handed down in the Bible. I had heard Nick interviewed on NPR and liked the extract he read. But instead, I found this novel very labored, crude and too serious, so I am going to return it. I like what I think the author is trying to do but I don't think he succeeds. And it could be the fault of the super-intense, takes-himself-far-too-seriously reader, that didn't bring out a spark of humor in the chapters I listened to.

I much preferred Lamb by Christopher Moore - that was a really good listen.

What could Nick Tosches have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Shortened it, made it somewhat more humorous.

What didn’t you like about Jonathan Davis’s performance?

Laborious, serious, monochrome.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Under Tiberius?

I would have cut down some of the crudity and "toilet" scenes - not removed them altogether, but once the point was made, move on.

Not worth the effort

Maybe it's the effect of knowing pretty much how the story is going to end, but I found this book to be painfully boring. I gave up about 2/3 of the way through.