Friday, March 20, 2009

People Of The Book


It flew right by me I did not review People Of The Book.

I liked the premise of the book that goes from present time, when we meet Hannah, a Australian. How about that Geraldine Brooks, is Australian as well. She has written a few books. The author has won a Pultizer prize for March. The author tends to write fiction based on the past.

I really loved the book in the beginning perhaps because it was based on Jewish History. I don't know anything about Medieval Jewish history, only about famous rabbis. Another book I read based on Jewish historical fiction was Rashi's daughter by Maggie Anton. If you want to read a book on French Medieval history I do recommend this book.

I really loved the idea of the book being found. Each piece of evidence a hair, feather, wine stain etc is a mystery how it got in the book. Examined by museum curator, Hannah. Each of these pieces had a mystery how it got in the book as explained by Hannah, the museum curator.

It took you back in time to explain how they got in the book. From the present time, to 1940's to 1890's to 1400's.

I may have liked this book because I have found many articles about the Sarvejo Haggadah and the history in the 1990's in Bosnia very fascinating. There was a story that Senator Lieberman was suppose to come to the Seder when they would show the world the lost Haggadah, but unfortunately he was not able to make it. There is true facts about the Haggadah in Bosnia during the 1940's and how it escaped "death".

I like the symbolism in the book that Hannah was learning about her own history with her mother, at the same time she was learning history of the book.

I did not like the end of the story though. It seemed like it was far fetched and the author wanted to make the story have a interesting ending. It was a downer. The part when Hannah figures out something is amiss that is when the story felt like it went down hill.

For your information there is much on the internet about the Sarvejo Haggadah, google and you will find loads of resources. Including if you go to the author's website.

Our own congregant, that is a rabbi, but not in our shul explained the history of the Haggadah and did loads of research to prepare for our sisterhood meeting had lots to share.

Sorry about the delay in posting.

4 comments:

Maggie Anton said...

thanks for mentioning my historical novel, "Rashi's Daughters." I too thought "People of the Book" started out well, then disappointed at the end. The whole mother-daughter conflict seemed forced and unnecessary to the plot. But I loved the idea of following the Haggadah through time.

Marie Cloutier said...

I loved this book- absolutely could not put it down from page 1! I agree with Maggie about the mother-daughter side of the story- I thought it was better when Brooks stuck to the Haggadah. And the short stories interspersed about the history of the haggadah were little gems.

Elizabeth said...

I completely agree with you about the ending - it just seemed so weird and out of place. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Unknown said...

Maggie thank you for stopping by. I am thrilled that you are reading my blog. If I was blogging when your book was first published I would have posted a review.

 
Imagination Designs
Images from the Glamor Amour by Irene Alexeeva