People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

haggadah: a book containing the liturgy for the Passover seder

I have been procrastinating with this review, trying to sort out my thoughts. On one hand her writing is utterly captivating - filled with symbolism and detailed and rich; on the other the main character who propels this story is well, blah.

This story traces, through flashbacks, the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, and all the people involved in it's survival. Hanna, the narrator is a book conservator tasked with "cleaning up" this valuable work. For each curious clue she finds, for example a rare type of butterfly's wing, the reader is treated to a piece of the book's history that explains how that particular remnant came to be. Sounds pretty cool, yes?

The imagination required to weave this story is breathtaking. But the issue wasn't the marvelous and intricate historical details, but character likeability, specifically the narrator. It's not that Hanna is unlikeable, but maybe inconsequential apart from moving this mystery forward - her presence while necessary, feels forced.

In spite of my apathy toward Hanna, I still recommend this book. It's hard to find well written historical fiction and those parts alone make this a worthwhile read. And I hope my impression of the narrator doesn't color your view. As always, I'm curious to see what you think. 3.5-4 stars

If you haven't read any of Geraldine Brooks' other work - I can highly recommend Year of Wonders, and I'm planning to read March (Pulitzer Prize winning story of the father from Little Women.)

The End.

Comments

[jill]

Her non-fiction memoir-ish, Nine Parts of Desire, is also really well done. It explores (with great sensitivity) the lives of Arab women in unexpected ways. It's still in my top twenty, and I think I read it in 1998 or something ;) It's a whole different world from her fiction.