Jerusalem by Alan Moore – The Steps of All Saints

About:

Jerusalem by Alan Moore is a novel that takes place in a small section of Northampton, England but in different times and planes. The narrative is told through several people, some experiencing the same events, and some seemingly disconnected from the overall storyline. Mr. Moore is known for his influential graphic novels, including Watchmen, and V for Vendetta.

So, I decided to write posts about some of my favorite sections of the novel, before a final review.

• 1280 pages
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright
  
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781631491344

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Thoughts:

The chapter The Steps of All Saints in Jerusalem by Alan Moore was another one I didn’t think I would like but ended up reading and enjoying it. This chapter is written as a play, a short 30-page play written in the style of Samuel Beckett, or so I read, and includes Samuel Beckett as a character

The whole chapter takes place over one night and brings together several people who weren’t even alive at the same time. Samuel Beckett as mentioned previously, Thomas Becket, John Clare, and John Bunyan as well as two characters referred to only as HUSBAND and WIFE.  After trudging through several hundred pages, the astute reader will recognize them as Celia and Johnny Vernal, parents of Audrey Vernal, and distant relatives of Alma and Mick Warren.

The eternal drama, where HUSBAND and WIFE never interact with the other players, is a good read but it doesn’t build towards anything. The chapter certainly doesn’t add anything to the narrative, and we have no idea why those ghosts were put together in that one place, on that specific night.

As much as I enjoyed reading this chapter, I didn’t think it added to this huge book though. I already “met” Audrey Vernall, and if I remember correctly there are at least two chapters in an asylum. However, the most troubling aspect of the play is that it made child abuse and incest mundane.
But maybe that was the point, good people do evil things, while everyone except the victim, views those horrific acts as a mere distraction.
The “banality of evil” personified.

Synopsis:

On the steps of a Church in Northampton, five characters meet in the afterlife (purgatory it seems). Thomas à Becket (1155 – 1162), an English nobleman and Lord Chancellor, Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989), Irish playwright, novelist, and dramatist. John Clare (1797 – 1864) was an English poet, John Bunyan (1628 – 1688), English writer and preacher. Along with the unidentified HUSBAND and WIFE.

HUSBAND and WIFE relive the night in which WIFE confronted HUSBAND on sexually abusing their daughter, and HUSBAND accuses her of being an accomplice. Together they come up with a malicious cover up to send their daughter to an asylum before she tarnishes the family’s name.

HUSBAND and WIFE never meet the other players, though they slowly realize that they are no longer among the living. However, they do not know where they are.

Buy Jerusalem from Amazon.com*
More Books by Alan Moore*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book as a gift
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books