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Martin Vopenka Můj bratr mesiáš My Brother the Messiah))
This book is set in the future, essentially starting at the end of the 21st century. Things are not good. Climate change has taken effect and it is very hot, very dry and very difficult to live. The family of the narrator live in Prague. The father works to protect.Mr. Lifelong. Mr. Lifelong, is the president of the Central European Federation who is of course course dictatorial. Our narrator is.Marek, who lives with his parents though his father is often absent. Mr. Lifelong has made sure his country is involved in a project to develop a a diffraction grille which will apparently help deflect the suns rays and cool the planet down.
There is a key day when three things happen. For almost all. of the population, the one that matters is that it rains that day. People are very excited and it continues to rain, and the rivers fill up and the planet is saved. However, forMarek, this is not the most important event of the day .The most important event of the day is the birth of his brother, Eli. Unfortunately for him and particularly for his mother it is also the day when she receives a letter from her husband saying that he is leaving her and marrying someone else. She is naturally devastated, even though her husband, feeling guilty, he is very generous towards her.
Marek, however, now knows what his life work will be – looking after his brother. It soon becomes clear that Eli is different, special. When the father insists that.Marek goes away to a special school for the rich and Marek, his brother and his mother are opposed, it is still very young Eli who comes up with a solution to avoid this.
This book is not told chronologically. Indeed, it starts when Marek is well into his seventies and living in a special camp in Greece. This camp consists of followers of Eli, who is long since dead, Marek is trying to continue his legacy by leading groups who support him. We see his frailty when a young woman., Natalia comes to the camp and Marek it is easily seduced. We learn that the diffraction grille worked too well and the planet started getting very cold, with obvious repercussions, not least being mass migration, hence the reason why they are in Greece.
We do follow the backstory of the two brothers. Marek does indeed look after his brother but it soon becomes clear that Eli is special. When the father appears to offer them a better life, it is Eli rather than his brother or mother who rebuffs him, saying that the man has never been a father to him.
The mother has been ill for some time and eventually dies. By this time.Marek has a job selling or letting houses to rich Scandinavians while Eli is growing up. The world is in a complete mess at this time, the temperature falling and considerable misery and poverty abound. Once the mother is buried. Eli tells his brother that he is off. to save the world. Marek is not surprisingly not ready, but his brother persuades him to do so and he manages to sell their mother’s house very quickly to his former boss. Soon after they meet Petr, who will become a lifelong ally.
We gradually learn the story of Eli, Marek and their followers. He does attract a lot of followers but he also attracts a lot of opposition and, as far as Mr lifelong is concerned, he is Public Enemy Number One. Anyone found consorting with him or helping him is to be shot without mercy and without trial.”. As a result, they spend a lot of their time fleeing from one safe house to another.
There is a certain amount of discussion during his life and in particular, well after his death when Marek is in Greece about the nature of Eli. Is he a Messiah? What are his views on Christianity and Jesus and indeed to a certain degree on other religions.
But Eli, like his brother is human and he falls for a woman,Hana Marek warns him of the dangers, for example what would happen if Hana got pregnant? Eli gives her up.
We know eventually that he will be killed though we only learn the details much later.
Now in his 70s, Marek falls for a new arrival, a young woman called Natalia. He is happy but his followers less so. The group of his of his followers in Greece seem somewhat lost. The world seems to have recovered somewhat, but there has been major political and social upheaval. Israel is the most powerful nation in the world. However, Israel like virtually every other country is suffering from a huge problem, namely a massive reduced birth rate. It seems that only the women in g the group of Eli’s followers are able to reproduce while in virtually every other country this is on the whole not happening.
Towards the end of the story, Marek receives a blow when Natalia disappears.
However, when the Israelis turn up to see if Eli might have beentheir messiah, with their technology the Israelis are able to tell him what happened to Natalia.
When one of the young female followers claims to have seen Eli, and Eli the child rather than the adult Marek realises that it is time for one final pilgrimage.
Is Eli a Messiah? Presumably not because he does not perform miracles, cannot heal the sick and has not risen from the dead. Nevertheless. He is clearly charismatic and clearly has a message to impart to the world about the dangers of technology, the dangers of climate change, and the dangers of totalitarian leaders.Vopenka tells an excellent story about troubled times and one man’s attempt to deal with them.
Publishing history
First published by Mladá fronta in 2017
First published in English in 2021 by Barbican Press
Translated by Anna Bryson Gustova