In 2005, a book was published called The Notre Dame Mosque. This publication immediately attracted domestic and foreign readers and caused a lot of controversy. The name and genre of this work were very unusual, hence the polarity of the submitted reviews.
Consider the content of this novel in more detail.
What is this work?
Elena Chudinova’s book, Notre Dame Mosque, was inspired by the writer’s journey through Europe, when she was struck by the number of Muslim immigrants who walked around the historical center of Paris with a pleased look.
The novel is written in the dystopian genre; it is a warning to a Christian writer to the entire European Christian world. Chudinova herself calls her work a "romance mission."
Today this book is published not only in Russian, but also in many European languages. For a long time it was not published in France, referring to the fact that this text is not politically correct. However, there is now its French edition.
After a while, in 2011, this book was filmed by domestic director Vladimir Sinelkov.
Plot of the novel
The novel takes place in approximately 2048. At this time, practically all of France became a Muslim country: immigrants who arrived at the beginning of the century completely seized power in their hands and enslaved the original population. Muslims judge the new French according to Sharia law, forcibly force people of Western European descent to convert to Islam.
Everyone who wants to remain a Christian is driven into a ghetto with terrible conditions of detention. The pride and heart of Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral - turned into a mosque.
However, there are people who are ready to resist the existing order of things. The French resistance is led by a woman who was born in Russia. Her name is Sofia Sevazmiu-Greenberg. It unites Catholics around them, who understand that their struggle is likely to end in defeat, but they want to bring this struggle to the end.
A group of Catholics seizes the Mosque of Notre Dame from Muslims, the priest re-consecrates the religious building, and it again turns into a Christian church. After the mass held here, the cathedral is blown up by the Catholics themselves.
By the way, in the book of Elena Chudinova's "Notre Dame Mosque" it is clear and understandable for readers that the reason for the victory of Muslims over Catholic France was liberalism, excessive tolerance, the destruction of the principles of the Catholic faith and the loss of interest in the world of traditional values.
Reader Reviews
In Russia, this work was met in different ways. Some readers saw in it a prophecy about the events that await tolerant France and other countries of the European world, while others criticized the book for its excessively harsh attitude towards Islam.
In the Orthodox community, estimates also varied. There were priests who spoke of the book “Notre Dame Mosque” as an important work to read, other representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church believed that this book could spark a feud between Russian Muslims and Russian Christians.
Chudinova. "Notre Dame Mosque": author's reading of the text
The writer herself willingly gives interviews in which she tells what prompted her to write a novel. In particular, she points out that it is precisely in the sectarian movements of Islam that a fairly strong aggressiveness is hiding, directed against most ordinary people. Wahhabi terrorists blow up planes, kill innocent people, they are cruel and bloodthirsty.
In her opinion, France, the country in which the ideas of liberalism were born, could fall first under the blows of this terrible and powerful Muslim sectarian movement.
The finale of her work, when a huge cathedral takes off into the air, Yelena Chudinova interprets as an event, somewhat reminiscent of the disappearance of the wonderful city of Kitezh, which went under water so as not to fall into wicked hands. The writer says that the finale of her work is deeply tragic.
A modern understanding of the events described in the book
After the first edition of the book, it was evaluated more critically than today. At this stage, the book "Notre Dame Mosque" finds a lot of readers concerned about the growth of Islamic radicalism in Europe. The situation with immigrants from Muslim countries in recent years has deteriorated significantly, the most terrible forecasts began to come true.
This makes Elena Chudinova’s book more popular. Some critics say that the writer managed to see something that Europeans did not understand 10 years ago.
How much this work will be useful for people after decades is difficult to say today. This depends primarily on how realistic the predictions of a Muslim cultural invasion of Europe turn out to be.