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: Superb
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't want to repeat all the things other far superior reviews to mine have said, other then this is a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was lucky enough to be sent this as part of the Vine programme and I am truelly grateful. After a spate of poor novels, I was thrilled to read such a captivating one. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did.Book Review: Great sweeps of history made personal
Summary: 5 Stars
At first I thought this might be some pot-boiler like the Da Vinci Code but it's so much better than that. With a rare old book at its centre and a female narrator, it jumps around the world and through the centuries in a captivating way. It's well written, well researched and quite simply hard to put down. One description I particularly liked was of memory loss from long term syphilis - it sounded very much like Alzheimer's. Another of where the sheer cruelty and horror of the Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492 was as vivid as watching a film of it. Excellent.Book Review: This is a good book
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a little wary when first entering this book; I hope I will not get myself into too much trouble when I say it is a very female book, in the same way as, say, the (also excellent) Time Traveller's Wife. However, by the fourth chapter I was absolutely captivated.
I don't want to give too much away about the plot but the narrative works according to a simple effective device, with alternate chapters in the present and tracking the history of the book of the title.
I love a good story to have a strong backdrop and there is a wonderful incidental study here of the relationship between Muslims, Jews and Christians through the centuries. At one point the author writes that "The point - that diverse cultures influence and enrich one another - was made with silent eloquence" is almost a subtle enunciation of a mission statement for this beautifully told story. This is, in part, a tale of the unnecessary destruction wrought by prejudice.
Which all sounds very heavy, when, in fact, this is actually an enjoyable book and a good read.
Book Review: Hard to get into but worth a look
Summary: 3 Stars
One thing you can say for Geraldine Brooks is that she does her research. She is meticulous and has written a story with a myriad of characters and a complex plot in today's increasingly popular genre of religious/academic thrillers. Unfortunately for me, the opening scene where an expert (Hannah) is awoken in the middle of the night by someone urgently needing her expertise just seemed a bit TOO formulaic and Dan Brown-ish. A few pages later when the good looking maverick turns up, I knew before its even explained that they would be "working closely" together that here is the love interest. Again, its been done before, except this is a Jewish rather than a Christian text and the setting is Eastern Europe which isn't often used as a location. I realise Brooks has a solid fanbase, which must of course speak for itself, but despite three determined attempts, I just lost interest, and I am always keen to discover new authors to read. Worth a shot though, you may get further than I did.Book Review: People in a Book
Summary: 3 Stars
The dense and confused history of the Balkans are wrapped up with religion and ethnicity, but to an outside observer the finer points of these differences in the region can be difficult to grasp. Not for nothing has the term "balkanization" come to mean fragmentation.
This book is really a collection of short tales from the history of the region, drawn together with the concept of a valuable book that has surfaced through significant times. The main character is not a native of the area, but an Australian expert, who therefore becomes our eyes examining this diverse history.
As a unifying theme this is interesting and effective, but the reader is allowed to empathise more with Hanna, the outsider, than with any of the other characters. In comparison, the Serbs and Croats, Slavs and Bosnians seem rather two dimensional, their lives puzzles for Hanna to pick over, firmly in the realm of history.
The ending, where a detective-story-mystery rather abruptly rears its head,seems rather jarring after the slow and measured chapters that precede it.
An interesting book, with a very worthy aim of showing the sweep of history in a region of prime importance to European history, from Alexander the Great through Arch Duke Ferdinand to present day conflict, but for me, the most engaging parts deal with our heroine's relationship with her mother. The other episodes, well researched and scholarly, fail to catch fire. Ironically, perhaps they remain rather bookish.