People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks
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Book Reviews of People of the Book: A Novel
Book Review: Truth Better than Fiction
Summary: 4 Stars
I am ambivalent about fictionalization of true events. I love historical fiction because it allows you to learn history while also enjoying the benefits and interests of a novel. Usually, though, the lines between the "historical" and the "fiction" are clear. With Brooks' work, the line is blurred. The "history" of the Sarajevo Haggadah is largely fictionalized, the people who owned it and made it the product of her imagination, the trials and tribulations it faced fabrications. Yet the historical setting of each step, the Spanish Inquisition, Yugoslavia at the start of WW II, are accurately depicted with care in the style of "regular" historical fiction. One learns from this, but there is something disturbing about being presented with a fake history of a real thing.
The book's themes---the power and conflicts of faith and belief, and the miracles and sacrifices of perseverance---are compelling, and Brooks writes well. However, the book's method of telling the story with a series of vignettes from the past of the Haggadah's life, tied together by a story of the current forensic study of the book, was less than completely successful. The result of all the jumping back and forth (oh, there is a salt stain in the book; pop back 300 years for a story that concludes with how the stain got there)resulted in a set of short stories that were universally underdeveloped. Too many characters rushed through for me to really care. The present-day story also through in romance, family drama, an identity story (very poorly imagined and completely unnecessary to the book), and deep skullduggery that properly handled would have made for a longer book, even without the flashbacks. Certainly not a thriller, or even a mystery. Literary historical fiction and, on that level, worth the read.
Book Review: A Worthy Successor to Michener's The Source
Summary: 4 Stars
In the 1960s, James Michener traced the biography of an Israeli town through not just centuries, but millennia, painting an epic portrait of Middle Eastern and European history. Brooks' tale is smaller in scope, but not in impact. In the story, a 15th-century Passover Haggadah is passed down through the ages, changing the lives of the people who own it. This is partially based on fact: The Sarajevo Haggadah is very real, and has survived centuries to offer a glimpse into medieval Jewish life, but Brooks wisely does not attempt to write about the real Haggadah and creates her own document to serve as the narrative's MacGuffin. Interspersed with scenes of a historian's analysis of the document are flashbacks to reveal the truth about the owners, and to show how a historian's best guesses are just that: guesses. A nice twist is that Brooks presents the story in reverse, so that the first flashback takes place during World War II, and the last one explains the creation of the book itself.
By focusing on one historic item and how it changes the lives of the people who own it (and, eventually, create it), Brooks keeps the narrative tight and intense. Her best work is in the flashbacks--the modern scenes don't really connect the historian to the history, and feel a bit more melodramatic than necessary. But that doesn't really detract from the overall strengths of the book. Brooks has managed to make a the history of a historic document into a page-turner. That's no small accomplishment.
Book Review: Jewish history through the story of an ancient prayer book
Summary: 4 Stars
This 2008 novel is a natural best seller. The author is a fine writer and has won a Pulitzer prize for her recent novel "March" which is set in America during the Civil War. I've read all four of her other books and love her early ones the best, which are more journalistic.
People of the Book is based on a true story of a real book known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. This Hebrew prayer book was discovered in Sarajevo and probably was created in the 15th century. The author did amazingly scrupulous research, learning the tools of the trade of book restoration as well as the history of the Jews through the centuries. Through the first person narrative of an Australian book restorer, Hanna Heath, we get to learn about the city of Sarajevo and its recent violent history as well as the fascinating story of the book through the ages. These stories, of course, are fictional. Each one is complete in itself as the book passes from hand to hand through the centuries. I learned more than I ever thought was possible for me to know about the art of book restoring. And, there is also the story of Hanna Heath herself, as she comes to terms with her own personal history.
The book is a fast read. The author is a craftsperson of incredible skill. I loved it but must say that I could never call it a work of art, but rather, a work of journalistic skill. However, I will continue to be a Geraldine Brooks fan and look forward to her next book.
Book Review: An Effective and Fascinating Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
"People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks is a fascinating novel, telling the story of Hanna Heath, an Australian rare book expert, who is given the job of analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, an exquisitely illustrated early Jewish manuscript rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Hanna discovers several tiny artifacts in the book's ancient binding, an insect's wing, feathers, wine stains, salt crystals, and a white hair, and as she works to discover the origins of these items, the book begins to alternate chapters from Hanna working on the mysteries of the artifacts in the present to the historical time when the Haggadah was in the possession of one keeper after another. In subsequent chapters, the insect's wing takes the reader back to 1940, the feathers to 1894, the wine stains to Venice in 1609, the saltwater to Spain in 1492, and the white hair to Seville in 1480, when the Haggadah was created.
The stories taken together reveal an epic historical saga of persecution and survival. Stories from the past of wars and inquisitions and family tragedies are intertwined with a powerful modern-day tale of international intrigue.
Sometimes seeming a bit contrived, Brooks' technique is nonetheless effective in keeping the reader's interest as he moves from one historical era to another, and she demonstrates her powerful gift as a writer of fiction.
Book Review: Valuable Historical Fiction
Summary: 4 Stars
People of the Book: is a novel by Geraldine Brooks. The Pulitzer Prize-wining author, with much historical research, has imagined the various situations and trials and interactions of people who help save The Sarajevo Haggadah, a precious treasure of Judaism. Through hundreds of years, this hand-scribed and lavishly illustrated book, which teaches part of the observances of the Passover celebration of Jewish homes, has been saved from extinction. During periods when books are burned, all other copies of The Book were destroyed, and Jews were killed, the book is hidden by different people, some of whom are not Jewish, even people of Islam and Christian faiths. Each person into whose care the book falls has his or her life endangered if the book were to be found. The real book is discovered and saved through the efforts and sleuth of a young woman called to a library to make a speech and dedicate the new display of the long-lost Haggadah. Although I felt this novel was a bit difficult to read, it is a well-plotted historical fiction that puts the reader in the places of possible persecution. People of the Book made me realize how fortunate I am to live in a time and place where I can read or worship as I choose. The book if very thought-provoking and pertinent to the world's current situation, well-worth a read.