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Survival of the Exodus Mar 15, 2010
"People of the Book" is the second novel by the Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks (for "March") that I have read. Very well written, this novel did not disappoint me. Although haphazard at times, "People of the Book" gives a comprehensive story of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a book detailing Jewish exodus from Spain.
The book's protagonist, Dr. Hannah Heath, is an Australian book conservationist who is invited to visit Bosnian capital of Sarajevo in order to examine the ancient Sarajevo Haggadah. The Haggadah was lost numerous times through history, and the United Nations want to make sure that the Haggadah is authentic. Dr. Heath is somewhat afraid to travel to the war-torn country, but her professional curiosity takes over, and she makes the journey.
Arriving Sarajevo, Heath is confronted with a nation devastated by civil war: city destroyed, to include its National Library with all its ancient texts. Haggadah called National Library its home before the war, so suspicions of its authenticity are natural, considering that no other texts survived the war. Heath approaches her task with undiluted passion and discovers tiny pieces of the book's history: a tiny fragment of an insect wing, a hair, wine and blood stains. By examining these fragments, Heath is catapulted into the book's past, all the way back to Queen Isabella's Spain of 1492 and her expulsion of the Jews from that country. Brooks describes the history of these Jews as seen through fictional characters' eyes, and does so masterfully. Brooks jumps through different periods of time, all the way to the Jews' (now called Sephardic Jews) arrival in Sarajevo, a predominantly Muslim city, highly tolerant of all religions.
Brooks guides us through WWII and the disappearance of the Haggadah, which resurfaced after the war, saved by a Muslim librarian. Interestingly, the Haggadah presented to Heath was saved by an effort of a Catholic and a Muslim. The Haggadah itself is a styory in pictures, describing Jewish exodus from Spain and their suffering until their eventual settlement in Bosnia.
Brooks is excellent in her historical research and is a master of fictionalized accounts of the past. Often times I couldn't help but feel that I was myself in that time period, seeing through a particular character's eyes. What I didn't like was the character of Dr. Heath. Seemingly always panicky, scared, confused, angry, impatient, she added annoyance to an otherwise fine book. Brooks seemed to insert "common" problems into Heath's character, which never added to the novel itself, but distracted instead. For example, Dr. Heath traveled to Sarajevo after the end of the civil war, and her irrational fear of traveling there was described for far too long, making me imagine Dr. Heath as neurotic and cowardly. Brooks also jumped between historical periods a bit too much. I would have preferred that she stayed with a particular period, only sometimes returning to the present, when necessary.
All in all, I really liked "People of the Book", apart from Dr. Heath's character and excessive jumping between historical periods, which may make the history of Haggadah that much more confusing to the readers no well-versed in history. Even so, I do recommend this novel.
Personal note:
I traveled to Sarajevo in August 2009 and decided to visit Narodni Muzej ("People's Museum" or "National Museum"). The Museum was absolutely empty, which made it a pleasure to explore. After going through all the Roman, Turkish, and Austrian historical remnants, I climbed the stairs to the third floor, to the room where Sarajevo Haggadah is displayed. The room was the only one in the entire Museum completely closed off by bulletproof glass, temperature controlled, and lit with low, ultraviolet light, adding a purple haze to the room. Haggadah is placed, open, on a pedestal in the very center of the room, finally at peace, wine stains and ancient fingerprints still visible, even from afar. I was amazed that such a small book, the size of a paperback novel, had such a turbulent history, and had so much people fight over it. But, finally, it is in peace.
***This review also published on Epinions.
 Missing pages Mar 14, 2010
I was greatly enjoying this book, until I discovered that after page 258, the next page was 195. Hoping I just had extra pages I thumbed forward and found that the second page 258 is followed by page 323. So through the first two hundred and fifty-eight pages Ms Brooks is relating a charming and interesting tale, but what happens to the characters between 258 and 323 is mysteriously omitted -- maybe the people of the book are demanding privacy or the Penguin Books fired their quality control department!! Anyhow, I now have to hope the library has a copy so I can finish the story.
 Fabulous book Mar 14, 2010
Geraldine Brooks is an incredible writer, she creates images and characters that come to life. Very interesting and well developed story spanning generations. You won't be able to put it down. Same with her book, March. Excellent.
People of the Book Mar 11, 2010
The book was fine. The delivery was dreadful. The book arrived 32 days after I placed the order due to the post office delivering the book to Amazon in Whitestown, IN rather than to me. I'm not certain how this delivery error can be corrected but I will not be ordering any more books until I have received some assurance that this delivery problem has been resolved.
People of the Book Mar 02, 2010
People of the Book is masterfully written. Brooks molds her style to each era she writes about, making these odd historical occurrences as clear as can be. Hanna is an interesting character, full of personal demons and a desire to her the things books can tell her. The supporting characters are less interesting and often short lived, but they all serve their purpose.
Some of the books back stories are much longer than necessary and often times I found myself wishing those sections were over, or that there was an abridged version i could skim instead. The "mystery" at the end was unnessisary but didn't ruin the rest of the novel.
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