• Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

  • A Novel
  • By: Anne Rice
  • Narrated by: Josh Heine
  • Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (592 ratings)

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Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt  By  cover art

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

By: Anne Rice
Narrated by: Josh Heine
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Publisher's summary

Having completed the two cycles of legend to which she has devoted her career so far, Anne Rice gives us now her most ambitious and courageous book, a novel about the early years of Christ the Lord, based on the Gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship.

The book's power derives from the passion its author brings to the writing and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of Jesus who tells the story.

Listen to Anne Rice talk about Christ the Lord on Charlie Rose.
©2005 Anne O'Brien Rice (P)2005 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Rice's painstaking historical research is obvious throughout." (Publishers Weekly)

"Riveting....Rice's book is a triumph of tone (her prose lean, lyrical, vivid) and character. As he ponders his staggering responsibility, the boy is fully believable, and yet there's something in his supernatural empathy and blazing intelligence that conveys the wondrousness of a boy like no other." (Kirkus Reviews)

What listeners say about Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

How is it possible?

How is it possible for 3 reviews to be given for a 9 hour book that was released just one hour ago?

Even the printed edition was released just hours ago!

I've very skeptical of the reviews so far... makes me think that former Anne Rice fans are trying to undermine this newest book.

Giving false reviews is terribly misleading to others... I expect better of Audible.com members. Pity.

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132 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Christians will like this novel, might bore others

This is a Christian fictional novel by Ann Rice who returned to the Church in 1998. This is a great book if you are interested an orthodox, well researched book about the life of Jesus, the Christ as a child of 7 or 8 years old as His family returns to Judea and Nazareth from Egypt after the death of King Herod. The book is unusual because it is told in the first person from the perspective of the Christ Child. The book is very thoroughly researched and covers a time in the life of Christ that few Christians think about very much. I was fascinated. The book uses some information from apocryphal gospels, one about the early life of Christ as a child. I believe this early apocryphal Christ Child gospel is not heresy but is simply a fictional account of what Jesus' childhood might have been like, told in the third person by a believer as respectful as Anne Rice is in this account. I learned a lot, and I am surprised I learned so much because Jesus Christ has been the focus of my life and learning for a long time and I consider myself a scholar, but Anne Rice's scholarship far exceeds mine. She makes me feel like an amateur. I am impressed. The reader sounds like a 10 or 11 year-old boy and he is perfect for the part. He does a very professional job reading this book. I cannot recommend this book more strongly.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A tad short of excellent

I'm giving this four stars based on the incredible amount of research Rice conducted in the making of this book, and the interesting author's note at the end where she details her return to the church and talks about the research. In fact, it might not be a bad idea to listen to the afterword first, as I believe it will provide better context for the actual story.

The story itself, isolated from these other factors, would receive three stars from me. There really weren't any passages that had me hanging on every word. This is not a page-turning thriller. However, the tale is interesting enough, and the narration was fine. It's nice to know that the descriptions of the buildings, clothing, lifestyles, and the goings-on in the temple are historically accurate. The story of the moneychangers in the temple, for instance, was very interesting and gave me a much better understanding of what Jesus faced later in his life. I love well-researched historical fiction, and am appreciative of the effort Rice put into this. It was well worth my time.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Not her best work

Let me start by saying, I have been a fan of Anne Rice for many years. Her work has always been a sensual literary treat. Her novels are teaming with tidbits of historical fact and wrought with vivid description. I was hoping for more of the same, but was more then a little disappointed. Regardless or your belief in Christianity, most would agree that the life and death of Jesus is one of the most passionate subjects in human history. Yet it seems she saved most of her own passion on the subject for the afterword.

The book itself was bearable, but by no means a representation of her previous work. The story was often slow and the material poorly connected. It was missing much of the beautiful detail characteristic of her earlier novels. The language, while clearly an attempt at emulation of biblical speak, came across as ineffectual and tedious. The characters were at best two dimensional, and at worst, a pale reflection of the vivid iconography drawn by the bible and historical research.

I was actually saddened by the afterword. Anne Rice did a disservice to her readers. She spends a very long repetitive time on an extremely biased pulpit. She crams a bibliography down your throat in attempts to convert the ?skeptics? and those who might see the bible as an allegory versus a history. I actually found myself saying out loud ?I get it already; you believe the bible is historical fact and the Gospels were written by actual witnesses to Christ.? Instead of pouring so much time and passion into convincing us of the accuracy of her portrayal, I would have rather been moved through the telling of the story.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Read: Didn't want it to end

The voice talent is excellent.

The story is engaging.

I only have two complaints:

1. It is too short. The story only covers 1 year of Jesus' life, from 7 to 8 years old. I don't mind this because the writing is top notch, I just want more ;-)

2. It would be nice to have downloadable footnotes and bibliography so that users can read some (or all) of the sources for the book.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I was prepared to hate this book...

but I was captured by it immediately and couldn't stop listening until it was over. Ms Rice has managed to bring alive 7 year old Jesus and all of the various emotions he must have gone through trying to determine exactly what was different about him. She has also made historical events come alive through the eyes of a little boy. Brilliantly done!!

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Refreshing New Christian Fiction Writer!

I tried her previous literature, The Vampire Chronicles, and found her writing style to be one that pulls you into the story because of the extensive research and attention to detail. However, The Vampire Chronicles became too "dark" for me as each book was released and I stopped reading them.

It is a joy to find the same research and detail given to Christ The Lord! What a blessing to the world to finally have a gifted writer see the Light.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

I am a very disappointed Anne Rice fan

Boring, disjointed story line, childish dialog. Total waste of money. Bring back Lastat!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

fascinating picture of Jesus the boy

This is a great look at Jesus from an angle we hardly see -- Jesus the boy. What must it have been like to grow up in the Roman-ruled world? Anne Rice gives a version that is plausible and definately thought-provoking.

The perspective is a distinctively Roman Catholic one, but that shouldn't turn off Protestant readers. Take the legends and dogma with a grain of salt and move on. Move on because Rice sets up the historical context in which Jesus became a man and then a teacher. (Rice's theory on Mary the perpetual virgin is deft at explaining Jesus's "brothers and sisters" mentioned in the gospels.)

Rice also gives a portrait of Joseph that is touching. We know almost nothing about Joseph the carpenter, but Rice captures a man of God trying to make sense of his burden while trying to be a good father to this mysterious boy.

She works a little too hard working in players that I doubt Jesus encountered as a child (the future high priest Caiaphas), but the idea that Israel is that small and the family lines that intertwined is interesting.

I'd never before read an Anne Rice novel, but I'd heard about her devotion to researching historical background to add authenticity to her work. I was also intrigued by her jump from vampires to Jesus Christ.

She explains how she came to write "Christ the Lord" in a long author's note at the end. It may make a great prologue for fans wondering why the queen of vampires has written a doxology to Jesus Christ.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Breaking new ground

Do not go into this novel expecting the same old preturnatural interview with moments of explicit content. You will not get it. This is a wonderfull half-fiction novel for any audience. With her painstaking research, Rice once again has reached a new level of story writing. This story about a few years in the life of Jesus as a young boy, written in first person no less, is one of the most unique looks into the 1st century I have ever read. Her portrayal of the character of the young Jesus shows a young, thoughtfull, extraordinarily loving, and courageous boy who faces his early trials with quiet dignity and inner strength. All done in a style all Rice's own. Hats off to Anne Rice! (Don't read this expecting vampires or witches. It's a very conservative book about Jesus the Christ.)I found this book to be Rice's most poignantly honest and daring book yet.

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7 people found this helpful