People of the Book in Around the World

Jan 16, 2017 Shriya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, tome-travelling, sort-of-favourites

If you've loved The Shadow of the Wind, The Book Thief, The Reader, 84 Charing Cross Road here's another book you will enjoy.

Before I begin my review of the Book about a Book, let me talk about how it came to me. Much like the Sarajevo Haggadah, my copy of People of the Book, too, travelled all the way from Montana, USA, to Solan, India: the most wonderful birthday gift from my dear fellow Oxon, Natalia Kolnik, to whom the book originally belonged and who was kind enough to send me her co If you've loved The Shadow of the Wind, The Book Thief, The Reader, 84 Charing Cross Road here's another book you will enjoy.

Before I begin my review of the Book about a Book, let me talk about how it came to me. Much like the Sarajevo Haggadah, my copy of People of the Book, too, travelled all the way from Montana, USA, to Solan, India: the most wonderful birthday gift from my dear fellow Oxon, Natalia Kolnik, to whom the book originally belonged and who was kind enough to send me her copy.

Reading it was, therefore, doubly fun because Natalia had marked her favourite bits in the book and so, when I marked mine, the book began to carry a bit of our own history, a part of our souls. (Talk about The Shadow of the Wind nostalgia!)

I think, after a very long time, I have fallen so much in love with a book. To start with, this book is a perfect part of myself: a bit of history and a bit of literature, love for the past and a passion for stories. No book could summarise the half archaeologist, half literature nerd that I am, as well as this one.

No book has brought back to me Daniel Sempere, Liesl Meminger or Shosanna from Inglourious Basterds and reminded me what I love best about Natalie Dormer, especially her role as Anne Boleyn in The Tudors as this one. Trust me, Lola, Ruti, Zahra, Nura are all fabulous reminders of these other characters
and personally, I am going to treasure them as my fictional friends forever!

Why, then, did I dock off one star, you ask?
Because of Hanna Heath herself! Hanna, the one charcter who could have been me in the book, considering that she's a conservator who loves books, was a sheer disappointment. She's amazingly whiney, self pitying, self doubting charcter whose parts are the most BORING to read. As a result, I dragged through what I had originally expected to enjoy, sometimes even fell asleep or skipped entire bits, only to re-read them later. If the bits about Lola, Ruti and Zahra leave you wanting for more, the bits about Hanna make you wish they had never been written. Add the third rate 'Da Vinci Code'-esque end to Hanna's bit and you're almost tempted to rip the last few pages apart.

However, the merit of the subplots is way too high to judge the whole thing by Hanna Heath and her moping, miserable, maddening nonsense. Hence four stars and lots of good memories taken home from this beautiful book! ...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Kate Z rated it really liked it

I have always wanted to read this book but never pulled the trigger ... I think it was probably because of the terrible title. I know that makes me shallow but I really think that held me back. Turns out it's a totally appropriate name for the novel (still doesn't make me want to pick it up off the shelf though).

For most of this book (80-90%) this was my favorite Geraldine Brooks book (March and Caleb's Crossing being the others that I have read). The basic story involves a rare book historian w I have always wanted to read this book but never pulled the trigger ... I think it was probably because of the terrible title. I know that makes me shallow but I really think that held me back. Turns out it's a totally appropriate name for the novel (still doesn't make me want to pick it up off the shelf though).

For most of this book (80-90%) this was my favorite Geraldine Brooks book (March and Caleb's Crossing being the others that I have read). The basic story involves a rare book historian who is called on to review, authenticate, repair and document the Sarajevo Haggadah (based on the actual book although most of the characters and "provenance" in the novel are imagined by Brooks). If you don't know much about the Sarajevo/Bosnian conflict this book certainly isn't going to make you feel very good about yourself. Brooks was a journalist and war correspondent and wrote this novel well versed in the intricacies of that conflict. It's not necessary for you you to know these details to understand the story but it certainly would make the text richer. Similarly, if you don't have a great understanding of the Inquisition the book is going to leave you feeling a bit inadequate. World War 2 also factors heavily into the book but, like Brooks, I take it for granted that most people have a pretty decent understanding of the primary conflict there.

The narrative of the book alternates between Hanna and the various "people of the book". Hanna discovers various things about the book as she examines it (salt crystals, a piece of hair, a bit of butterfly wing ...) and each of those things helps to shape her understanding of the "provenance" of the book. The other narratives are almost vignettes or novellas, that is to say, stories in and of themselves, which reveal part of the history of the book. The reader is not supposed to understand that Hanna herself was able to figure out these bits of the book's history, it's just being revealed to the reader. Those novellas are wonderful and they are the richest, best parts of the novel. Hanna's narrative serves as more of the framework to tell the stories of "the people of the book" and, as is often the case for me, I would have been fine without that "modern" structure.

I'm reminded of The Paris Apartment here - I absolutely loved the parts of that novel about the Belle Epoch and found the modern drama to be mostly unnecessary to my understanding and appreciation of the story. Hanna's back story (trouble with her mother, love interest) were not important to the main story and although I liked them at the beginning by the end, when the narrative turns back to Hanna, I found it unnecessary and a false "vehicle" for the novel.

Overall, however, I really enjoyed the novel. I thought I was going to end up liking it more than March but, in the end, I think March is a richer story. However, the interspersed narratives of the "people of the book" (which are each quite meaty - they are not just short little chapters) were wonderfully done and fully drawn out and they represent some of the best writing I've experienced from Brooks'. Taken as a whole, however, I enjoyed March more. ...more

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