Does this photo seem strange…
It is from June 2020, when I first attempted to read Book of Longings. Flash forward to the day after the election and it didn’t take for a second time. One week later it finally stuck and I finished it!
Summary - A not-so-religious reimagining of Jesus’ life that beautifully tackles the question: What if he had a feminist wife?
Sounds pretty great, right??
Buuuut I ended up not loving it. The plot sounded so strong but to me, using Jesus as a character was more of a ploy to shock potential readers into reading it. Jesus wasn’t in much of the book and I never connected to the main character, Ana Maybe it was still a timing thing or maybe this just wasn’t a book for me.
Have you revisited a DNF that you still ended up not enjoying?
Find The Book of Longings at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
