I know just about enough about the Bible to be dangerous. I took a few Religion classes in college etc but I've never read the book cover to cover. That said, I generally like retellings of the most famous stories. Especially the ones that cast the villains in better light. Several years ago, I read a really good book, whose name I can't recall, that recast Judas as a dear confidant and hero that was awesome.
Lazarus is dead is not a retelling so much as an expansion. Lazarus doesn't get a whole lot of lines in the Bible, but it's an important couple of lines. This book tells the tale of a friendship that had to be. Jesus and Lazarus, friends as boys are separated by their ambitions. We don't know much about the separation and it doesn't much matter.
The majority of the novel takes place once Jesus starts performing miracles. Lazarus develops an illness that increases in its seriousness with every miracle. Jesus and Lazarus circle each other, never actually crossing paths and the story spins the web for why. Why did Lazarus have to get so sick, why did Jesus stay away, why did Lazarus rise from the dead...really. It's interesting to think how predestination must work, what it means for individuals. Not that I'm buying it, but it makes for some interesting reading.
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