People of the Book: A Novel
by Geraldine Brooks
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Book Summary Information
Author: Geraldine BrooksEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-12-30
ISBN: 0143115006
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780143115007
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of People of the Book: A Novel
Book Review: Historical fiction at its best
Summary: 5 Stars
Geraldine Brooks's amazingly detailed research is only matched by her imagination, which turns People Of The Book into a series of surprises, small and large. Structurally, the book is comprised of a modern-day narrator, Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator called to the task of restoring the lost-and-found Sarajevo Haggadah. Hanna's life and profession are anything but ordinary, and the reader is invited to a journey into her complex relationships with her mother, with her mentor, and with her new lover.
But the heart of the novel is the other story line, the tracing of the history of the Haggadah through the lenses of the people and places that have come in touch with the rare illustrated book. And this is where Geraldine Brooks's extraordinary talent lies. The reader is treated to a series of discoveries going back in time to the 15th century, interwoven with Jewish history as it meanders through Europe. In each of these stops along this journey, Brooks introduces a cast of characters that stand out in their complexity, each well rooted in his or her time and place, yet each of them so unique as to defy a stereotypical character of his or her time. Deftly, each of this chapters can stand alone as a stand-alone, fully-rounded short story, filled with moments of drama doled out with a perfect sense of pace.
The only reservation I have about this book is over Hanna Heath's relationships with the people around her. Brooks has not attempted to create a particularly loveable character in this young woman who is devoted to her profession and forever remains focused on her career. By creating such a character, Brooks took the risk of losing some readers' sympathy toward her narrator. The gamble might have worked better had Hanna become a fully developed character. Perhaps in an attempt to fix that, Hanna explains herself all too often. Moreover, I found her mother's life secrets--which influenced Hanna's world view and crippled her relationship with men--to be the least credible. Hence, I was disturbed by the presumed shadow these secrets and their revelations cast.
Nevertheless, given the enormous satisfaction I received from People of the Book as a whole, I found it to be fiction at its best.
Summary of People of the Book: A Novel
The "complex and moving"(The New Yorker) novel by Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and warInspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called "a tour de force"by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century S pain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding-an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair-only begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics.
Amazon Best of the Month, January 2008: One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, has turned the intriguing but sparely detailed history of this precious volume into an emotionally rich, thrilling fictionalization that retraces its turbulent journey. In the hands of Hanna Heath, an impassioned rare-book expert restoring the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo, it yields clues to its guardians and whereabouts: an insect wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, and a white hair. While readers experience crucial moments in the book's history through a series of fascinating, fleshed-out short stories, Hanna pursues its secrets scientifically, and finds that some interests will still risk everything in the name of protecting this treasure. A complex love story, thrilling mystery, vivid history lesson, and celebration of the enduring power of ideas, People of the Book will surely be hailed as one of the best of 2008. --Mari Malcolm
Australia & New Zealand Books
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