People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of People of the Book: A Novel
Book Review: Ambitious and elusive
Summary: 3 Stars
The first thing that struck me when I began reading this novel was that it must have required a large amount of research. 'People of the Book' is framed by the central protagonist's examination of the history of a fifteenth century religious tract. Each time Dr Hanna Heath discovers a clue, such as a fragment of insect wing stuck inside, Brooks inserts a flashback to the relevant moment in the book's history. There are five such moments, each set in a different part of the world and progressing further back in time.
These flashbacks are self-contained stories, all engaging, and each describing a moment of crisis. The book is passed, like a refugee, from one protector to another, and acts as a metaphor for the Jewish race. Yet some of the heroes are not Jewish, and while the novel depicts mankind's capacity for cruelty, it also reminds us that friendship and sacrifice can cut across creed and faith. So far, so good.
The problem I had mainly concerned Hanna's characterisation. I won't give details away, but her behaviour in the first chapter, given the tense, war-torn environment of Sarajevo she enters, didn't seem credible to me. One action in particular was clearly necessary to the plot, but jarred. Subsequently, I didn't really connect with her, from her detached coolness to her bizarre relationship with her mother. I'm not suggesting that such details are impossible, but the author failed at times to suspend my disbelief.
Another element of the novel I found irritating was the proliferation of italicised and unexplained foreign terms. Some I could work out, but not all.
Having said that, 'People of the Book' is very readable. Unlike many prize-winning novelists, Brooks doesn't try to baffle us with an experimental style. It was a page-turner in places, not in others. To do it justice, I suggest pausing after each flashback or just before, otherwise it's like trying to read several short stories in one go. I found adjusting to new scenes and characters easier this way.
I stress that my rating of 'People of the Book' is purely a reaction to my level of enjoyment. It's a commendable effort, but I've read at least a dozen modern novels in the last year that I prefer.
Book Review: Entertaining and offers some insights
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this book to be quite entertaining and well written. The episodic nature of the narrative is interesting and chapter through chapter adds some extra dimensions to the story. I am also interested in the time periods of history used in the narrative so that added some extra motivation for me. Overall the story is drawn together quite well and I was left reasonably satisfied with the conclusion.
Four stars here rather than five as the characterisation of the lead might appear somewhat lofty, albeit well meaning, but overall was generally credible. Probably one eye to a future screenplay perhaps.
jwk
Book Review: A thought-provoking book
Summary: 5 Stars
I think it's important as a frame for this review to say that "People of the Book" is an outstanding book, and one that I will be recommending to friends. Any negative comments should not be seen as a discouragement to reading it - they are more the sort of things that I'd want to talk about with other people who have read it.
The book consists of a "first person" story - the narrative of Hanna Heath, a world leader in the field of conserving manuscripts, who has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore a fifteenth century Haggadah. This takes her from her home in Australia to Sarajevo, Germany, Boston and London. Would it be too cynical to suggest that this jetsetting has in mind a possible movie? It certainly seems to be a feature of much contemporary fiction.
One of the things that is slightly puzzling about "People of the Book" is that the voice of the first person should have been chosen for Hanna's account. It is written in character - complete with Australian colloquialisms - but also seeking to reflect the emotional damage that Hanna's upbringing has left her with. The occasionally somewhat perfunctory nature of Hanna's account was thus convincing. However, given the much greater emotional expression to be found elsewhere in the book, this left me wondering whether writing this account in the third person might not have worked as well and resulted in a more convincing feel to the book as a whole.
On top of this, the "big story" in the first person account - what the blurb refers to as the "intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics" - whilst fitting with the overall direction of the book, did seem to be something of a bolt-on. It appeared pretty much out of nowhere, and resolved itself in much the same way. To be honest, I felt that the book stood on its own merits without this addition, and I was left wondering why Brooks decided to add what felt like relatively trivial modern thriller-suspense to the dramatic and satisfying historical accounts that she had written.
These historical accounts are the real strength of "People of the Book", and are accounts from the history of the Haggadah - the stories of the characters who put it together and who protected it from destruction at various stages in its history. We are taken from partisans fighting World War II in Yugoslavia to converted Jews suffering under the Inquisition in Spain, and Moroccans being captured and sold as slaves by nomads. These accounts are blunt and harrowing - something which might deter more sensitive readers - but also moving and informative. Bringing a historical era alive, and populating it with the feelings, motivations and fears of the people of the time, is a real challenge, and Brooks convincingly brings it off.
If there is an overall "message" in the book, it is one about tolerance. We see not only religious and political oppression in it, brought right up to the disintegration of Sarajevo in the early 1990's, but also Jews, Muslims and Christians shown sharing the same space, living in respect for one another. Brooks has a sympathetic and sensitive appreciation of the forms of these religions, and throughout her histories, we see the difference made by sincere adherents of different religions, who nonetheless treated people of other religions with dignity and humanity.
The ideal Brooks portrays is not the "tolerance" of a segregated society - which in the cases she offers, is the prelude to the outbreak of mistrust, oppression and violence. Nor is it, of course, the so-called "tolerance" of those people who say that all religious expression must be privatised, nor the so-called "tolerance" of those people who want to squash all religions into a "one-size fits all" mould which has little in common with the true expression of any of them, and actually denies them all. She shows the genuine acceptance of people with different beliefs. People can co-operate and accept one another - accept the shared humanity of people with different beliefs. It has in common, I suspect, with the thoughts of people like Jonathan Sacks ("The Dignity of Difference") and Bono (with the "Coexist" motif from U2's "Atomic Bomb" tour).
"People of the Book" is a thought-provoking and challenging read. The narrative choices Brooks made in writing the book may possibly mean that it doesn't win prizes. However, this is a good mid-weight book for the thinking reader.
Book Review: A literary Da Vinci Code
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure I'd like this book when I first reluctantly ordered it. "Cloud Atlas" has been sitting on my shelf unread for a while now. And Edward Rutherfurd's tomes, too: "London", "Sarum", etc. Their blurbs sound similar: both flit from century to century, from continent to continent, and introduce legions of characters. It sounds too much like hard work.
Let me say that I still have my doubts. I conflated a few characters from time to time and thought "Hey! Who are you?" on a few occasions. But this book is centred on the narrator and 1996 Sarajevo, so there's always a thread to return to, which anchors the story. Each historical interlude solves a little mystery connected to the book and is told in the first person by a new character. It is satisfying for each piece of the jigsaw to fall into place as the story regresses further back in time. But this book needs a dramatis personae, or a list of characters for the less flamboyant. So the reader can refresh his memory. And, call me childish, but I always like a map to pore over in my between-chapters reflections. While I'm on the subject of the book as an object, I do like the cover artwork. I hope they keep it.
What keeps my interest more than anything is the author's beautifully descriptive prose! Brooks could write about the most mundane of subjects and I'd read it! Like, "dread began to spread through him like ink in a glass of clear water." I love that. The moral is also important. I think this is a humanist tale. I think Brooks's message is distilled in the last few pages in the words of Sarajevo's museum's director Ozren Karaman: "That to be a human being matters more than to be a Jew or a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox." And so that's how we see each character, warts and all. We see that there are far more similarities that unite us than differences which divide us. Its main message is one of religious tolerance.
Slight problems now. I found it really difficult to like the protagonist, Hanna. Only as the book was drawing to a close did she begin to seem a little more likeable, a little more human. When she doubted herself. Also, right at the beginning of the book when she and another character have only just met and then with no preamble, save a Lady-and-the-tramp-like restaurant scene, they hop into bed with one another. It happened in at least one other encounter, too. Sometimes the story set in the present (well, 1996 and 2002) let the rest of the book down a little. Only a tiny bit. Oh, and it's probably best to keep a huge dictionary nearby when you're reading. I tripped over quite a few obscure words. I'd have liked to have awarded four-and-a-half stars. It's better than four.
A Booker, people?
Book Review: A gem
Summary: 5 Stars
Geraldine Brooks was a new author to me. She weaves the people and book of the title into a brilliant story spanning six centuries and including many nationalities and faiths.
She is clearly an outstanding researcher and her eye for detail makes her characters jump out of the page. The book is truly thought-provoking and it would be easy to believe the story to be a factual rather than fictional account through the ages.
I loved this book and found it hard to put down. It would appeal to a wide audience. Now to get my hands on more of Geraldine's work as soon as possible!