Hanna’s phone rings in the middle of the night. When she answers it, she is at first annoyed, until she realizes that she is being offered the opportunity to work on the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the world’s most precious medieval manuscripts. On her official visit, she not only re-binds and restores the book but also picks up little clues as to its history, which she then follows across the world. Interspersed with Hanna’s narrative, we get these glimpses of the people in the book’s past, illuminating its purpose and fascinating past.
I love books about books and this is no exception. I enjoyed the intimate description of the book to start off with; now that I understand what quires are and how parchment is made, these things become much richer for me. I think that Brooks pulled off the intertwined narratives very well. If anything, I always wanted to hear more about the historical parts; what happened to these people? Each time, I got drawn in, and I didn’t want the vignettes to end. For the most part, the stories only follow the history of the book. It made me think about all of the medieval books that I have encountered. Most of them do not have a history as exciting as this one’s, but it’s a heady, exciting thought.
That isn’t to say Hanna’s personal story isn’t interesting, though. I doubt it would have worked without the book, but her search for her father and strained relationship with her mother add something that I think may make this more universal than to just those of us who are obsessed with old books. I liked Hanna and I liked the ending. More, though, the overall message got to me. This book survived some of the hardest parts of modern human history and each vignette highlighted something horrific, whether slavery, warfare, or the Inquisition. It saddens me that people can do such things to one another, but I think the fact that this book, this Jewish book with illumination by a Muslim, survived is Brooks’ way of keeping hope alive. I like that. I like that a lot.
Buy People of the Book
This one sounds so interesting that I know I’ll eventually read it. I like books about books too, and I like the idea of keeping hope alive. Nice review.
I too liked the historical parts. Really liked them. But I just didn’t like Hanna or her story. So that pretty much ruined it for me. Great review though and I love the cover you posted. I haven’t seen that one before.
It’s the British cover! I actually like it better than the American one.
I really need to make time to read this!
Jen – Devourer of Books’s last blog post..The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Book Review
I just finished listening to the audio version of this book last night and I LOVED it. I’ll be writing my review next week sometime. After I finished I looked up the details of the story and was surprised to learn how much of it was based on fact – fascinating!
Heather J.’s last blog post..Friday Finds 03/13/09
I got so absorbed in each of the stories in the book. When I was in one of those , I had to read through til the end. The end kind of wrapped up a bit to quickly. A lot happening out of nowhere, but overall so good.
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I’d love to read this one. It sounds so good. Great review.
Kathy’s last blog post..Review: This Is Water
Great review. I just picked this book up the other day. Mine does not have this lovely cover though. I wish it did. I’ve not seen this cover anywhere before.
Darlene’s last blog post..New Giveaway Winner for Hungry Woman in Paris
I loved this book too, a very satisfying reading experience. Good review, I enjoyed hearing your thoughts.
Sandra’s last blog post..Weekly Geeks A Quote a Day
I’ve been wanting to read this ever since I first heard of it. Thank you for reminding me of why I really should.
Nymeth’s last blog post..Sorrow by John Lawson
I’m reading this one right now, so I just skimmed your review (I’ll be back later to compare notes!), but I absolutely adore the UK cover! I love the US cover, too, but the purple on the UK cover is so eye-catching.
I enjoyed this book, nice review!
S. Krishna’s last blog post..North of Beautiful – Justina Chen Headley
This is one of my favorite books this year (so far!). I love the history of “the people of the book” and the lesson it can teach us … how so many people protected what they knew was sacred, even if the book itself wasn’t in line with their belief system. i.e., tolerance! My review is here.
Geraldine Brooks appeared at our local bookstore last month, but I haven’t yet written a post about it. Her personal story about her interaction with the Sarajevo Haggadah is amazing!
Dawn (sheIsTooFondOfBooks)’s last blog post..Official answer to the “unspoken code” of lending paperbacks
I loved the writing and the storyline was intriguing, but I couldn’t get through the book. It was historically inaccurate and incredibly biased against Catholics and favorable towards Islam. No problem if the facts were correct. But half truths stand for whole lies to me. Yes, the Jewish population were expelled from Spain, in 1492 by the King and Queen. There is no excuse for that.
No, the inquisition did not try those non-Catholics, Jews or Muslims,but there were those who pretended to be Catholic, known as cons-versos. Con-versos were considered a threat to the State.
But who sticks with the facts anyway. Spain had just won a 700 battle against the Ottomans in 1492 and they were deeply concerned about maintaining their security.
There are actually unbiased and well-researched accounts of the true Spanish Inquisition, but that would just get in the way of the agenda the author intended.