People of the Book: A Novel Reviews

• "Book burnings. Always the forerunners. Heralds of the stake, the ovens, the mass graves."

  
  By A2MF2QVSCUI27G on 2008-01-01
  
  
  In 1996, as rare book expert Dr. Hanna Heath examines the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated Hebrew manuscript from 15th century Spain, she carefully removes a series of artifacts that, under laboratory examination, will offer insight into the remarkable journey of this unusual text. Having survived the Serb-Bosnian war, the haggadah yields precious clues that allow Hanna to reconstruct the attrition of time: the fragment of an insect wing, an apparent wine stain, a white hair, salt crystals. It requires all of Heath's considerable skills to trace the evidence through the centuries to the book's origin. One of the earliest illuminated Hebrew books to feature figurative art, this haggadah has been repressed by medieval Jews for religious concerns. Perhaps made in mid-4th century Spain, when Jews, Christian and Muslims peacefully coexisted, the manuscript begins its troubled journey in the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
  
  An Australian, Dr. Heath embraces the acerbic wit of her culture, clumsy at the communication skills so easily wielded by others; of a more contemplative nature, she is devoted to the historic value of the volumes she restores. Troubled by a chronic antagonism with her neurosurgeon mother, the young woman has built a life around her work in compensation. Meanwhile, Hannah's romantic curiosity is piqued by the enigmatic man assisting her at the museum in Sarajevo, widower Dr. Ozrem Karaman, his infant son profoundly brain-injured and wife killed in the war's crossfire. Her emotions in turmoil, Hanna's natural impulse is to soothe Ozrem's pain; unfortunately, she cannot forestall the inevitable or alter fate. Hannah turns to her work- for Hanna, books speak to objectifiable history, while feelings are impossible to confine.
  
  The human component of the book's journey brings a particular poignancy to this novel, Hanna's obsession with ancient texts, Ozrem's tragic loss, the passage of the haggadah from hand to hand through years of religious strife, the thoughtful preservation of history's great treasures. The actions of years past speak to the present, a haunting reminder of man's inclination to destroy that which he does not understand.
  
  Extraordinary people drive the story, from Sarajevo to Vienna to Boston, an intense investigation via scientific methods of chaotic times, religious and political unrest. Each era is revealed through the actions of characters circa 1940, 1894 and 1609, the journey of the haggadah and its protectors, the book hidden from those who would obliterate an invaluable artifact: "To be a human being matters more than to be a Jew, a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox." Time's guardians reach through the years to pass the haggadah from one century to another. Hannah's task is to overcome personal defeats, trust her instincts and evaluate the evidence, so that a new generation may learn from the courage of the old. Luan Gaines/ 2007.
  
  
  

• "A book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand."

  
  By AC1K4OQOZ90RS on 2008-01-01
  "The People of the Book," by Geraldine Brooks, opens in Sarajevo in 1996. Under the watchful eyes of bank security guards, Bosnian police officers, two United Nations peacekeepers, and an official UN observer, a thirty-year-old Aussie named Hanna Heath has been hired to perform an exacting task. She is about to examine a precious fifteenth century codex, the Sarajevo Haggadah, "one of the rarest and most mysterious volumes in the world." Hanna's impressive qualifications include honors degrees in chemistry and Near Eastern languages as well as a PhD in fine art conservation, which as she patiently explains, is very different from book restoration. She knows her materials intimately: calf's intestine, pigments, gold leaf, and parchment are some of the tools of her trade. The Haggadah, which was created in medieval Spain, is "a lavishly illuminated Hebrew manuscript made at a time when Jewish belief was firmly against illustrations of any kind."
  
  The book first came to light in 1894. After passing through many hands, it disappeared in 1992, when the Sarajevo siege began. After four years, it suddenly reappears and an Israeli expert, Amitai Yomtov, awakens Hannah at two o'clock in the morning to tell her the exciting news. Most scholars believed that the book had been stolen or destroyed during the fighting. It turns out that the head of the museum library in Sarajevo, Ozren Karaman, placed the Haggadah in a safe-deposit box for safekeeping. "Can you imagine, Channah?" Amitai exclaims. "A Muslim, risking his neck to save a Jewish book." Now, UN officials want an expert to inspect the Haggadah for signs of damage.
  
  Although she is technically proficient and has written many highly-regarded papers in her field, Hanna brings something extra to the table. "It has to do with an intuition about the past. By linking research and imagination, sometimes I can think myself into the heads of the people who made the book." Indeed that is exactly what Brooks does in this meticulously crafted work, with its beautifully realized, three-dimensional cast of characters and its compelling and richly textured plot. As Hanna delves into the history of a priceless text, the reader is transported to 1940 Sarajevo, 1894 Vienna, 1609 Venice, 1492 Tarragona, and 1480 Seville. Along the way, we gain insight into the political, religious, and social turmoil that has beset the Jewish people over the centuries.
  
  The author alternates chapters set in 1996 with those that take place further back in the past. As the story progresses, we come ever closer to the secret of who created this magnificent work of art. The journey is all the more wonderful because of the people who accompany us: Lola is a Sarajevan Jew who joins the partisans during World War II; destiny brings her to an Albanian scholar who will protect both her and the Haggadah from the Nazis. In Venice, we meet a bitter and sick Austrian bookbinder, Herr Florien Mittl. Ironically, this virulent anti-Semite is entrusted with the painstaking job of rebinding the Haggadah. In Venice, an alcoholic priest named Giovanni Domenico Vistorini is a censor of the Inquisitor. He may allow the Haggadah to "pass" or declare it a work of heresy and consign it to the flames. David Ben Shoushan, a poor Hebrew scribe in Tarragona, Spain, fills his mind with holy letters as he prepares to make his own vital contribution to the Haggadah. The final pieces of the puzzle fall into place in Seville, Spain, at the time of the Jews' expulsion.
  
  Against the backdrop of these tumultuous historical events, we observe the vitriolic Hanna soften, mature, and fall in love with Ozran Karaman, whose hidden grief after suffering a series of tragedies may prevent him from reciprocating her affection. An irritated Hanna repeatedly clashes with her aloof and disapproving mother, a highly respected neurosurgeon who has always belittled her daughter's work. In the book's one misstep, the author allows a bit of melodrama to taint her otherwise impeccable narrative when the protagonist uncovers some startling truths about her identity.
  
  Geraldine Brooks shows how the Haggadah's fate illuminates the prejudice and mindless persecution that have too often poisoned communities and nations throughout the world. Ozren wonders why more people do not realize "that to be a human being matters more than to be Jew or a Muslim, [or a] Catholic." This is an engrossing, poignant, and skillfully constructed novel. It is a marvel of storytelling at its best.
  
  

• No spoilers here

  
  By A1VPYQLUYP6HCP on 2008-01-06
  Id been waiting for this book since I read the excerpt in the New Yorker last month. It didn't disappoint. The vignettes of each time period were expertly done, all of the characters well drawn, the history as timely as today. The love of books, history, art come through very well through the entire book. The horrors of the past and how they keep repeating themselves was very well expressed without being hammered into the reader. Given my track record with this author (I didn't care for her other two fiction books, tho I do love her non fiction), I was very very impressed.
  
  Two things that are keeping this from being a five star for me. There was too much about Hanna. Her character obviously is important, but the whole love affair, her problems with her mother, all of that could easily have been taken out. And that last chapter sounded like something from a Mission Impossible movie, and was totally unnecessary.
  
  The other thing was the ommission of Leila's meeting with Sula's son, in Israel. This is described in the article but for some reason was left out of the book. Its a beautiful and moving moment, and needed to be there.
  
  That being said, I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for an excellent read.
  
  

• Lack of Feeling

  
  By A1RMHZSWZ7ZEQO on 2008-02-16
  I was disappointed in this book. It had all the elements I love: an ancient book, the Sarajevo Haggadah, history and a bit of mystery. The format was very promising. A book restorer is commissioned to restore the Sarajevo haggadah, an ancient book with fantastic illustrations used by Jewish families during the seder that tells the story of the exodus from Eqypt.
  
  After the promising format, unfortunately, it is downhill.
  
  The restorer, Hanna, is a cold calculating young woman who elicits absolutely no sympathy. She hates her mother, and when the two meet, it is hard to tell who is worse. However, the restorer's role is only a lesser part of the novel.
  
  As Hanna works on the book (covered in a scant few pages), she recovers bits of "evidence" about the books history - an insect's wing, a crystal, a wine stain among them. These then transport the novel into bits of historical fiction. For instance, the reader is brought to pre-WWII Bosnia where the book is taken by a young resistance fighter where it captures the wing. Like the others, the story is short and not long enough to get into any of the characters before the reader is transporter to another place in history and introduced to new stories and characters who play a role in life of the haggadah.
  
  None of the stories are particularly captivating. Ms Brooks does not have the ability of a good short story writer to get the reader involved in a character right off the bat, so the stories do not draw the reader in. This made them a bit tedious. The best was the last which told the story of the fictitious illustrator.
  
  There is some very good history contained within the stories and this is the redeeming quality of the novel. The stories capture the oppressed experience of the Jews from Spain to Bosnia from 1400 onward. I felt the stories fell short of captivating the reader and the common thread of the restorer was cold and unsympathetic. The "mystery" at the end is contrived and not very interesting.
  
  The message is in the mixing of the Islamists, Christian and Jews. In each story there is some experience of tolerance and mingling among the three, so the ideal is set next to the attending prejudice.
  
  Unfortunately, the very good historical aspects of the book elevate it to a merely mediocre novel.
  
  
  

• superb ftale with a deep underlying message for peace

  
  By AFVQZQ8PW0L on 2008-01-01
  In 1996, Sydney, Australian resident Hanna Heath receives a call from the UN as they want to use her rare book conservator expertise. Apparently the renowned Sarajevo Haggadah, thought destroyed during the Bosnian War, has been found. Harriet is euphoric as she knows the value of this incredible ancient Hebrew tome with its images.
  
  Although a loner whose only love is rare books, when Hanna meets the "savior" Muslim librarian Karaman, they are attracted to one another. Still it is the book that holds her enthralled as she begins to uncover other artifacts of the past buried inside the pages (white hair, insect wing, salt, and a wine stain) and items missing (lost fasteners). Each tells a unique story about who held the precious Sarajevo Haggadah.
  
  PEOPLE OF THE BOOK is an interesting tale that uses the discoveries by Hannah to take the reader back in time to meet those who handled the ancient tome in various eras like 1940 Bosnia, 1480 Seville, and 1492 Barcelona, etc. Each entry provides a historical conflict between a person protecting the book and those wanting to defile the book. Throughout this superb fiction tale is the underlying message that the time for the Jews, Muslims and Christians to unite in peace is now not tomorrow as all have more in common than the differences that divide them.
  
  Harriet Klausner
  
  
  
• No spoiler here either
  By A37AH0GYOD95ZB on 2008-01-04
  This book revolves around a rare book, the Sarajevo Haggadah. The author takes for granted the reader knows the magnitude of this book and its meaning. No suspense or awe is built up and much is lost because of it's not. There are several instances where the reader is alienated and other things are taken for granted. Done in a different order and with it built up this might have been good. My interest waned quickly. In fact, I was downright bored. It's far from a thrill ride.
  
  
• A butterfly, a hair and some salt..........
  By A1XVEK9MPSUTAA on 2008-01-12
  Dull? Boring? A few of the reviewers must have read a different book than I. I was captivated from the first page. Each person involved with the conception and life of the Sarajavo Haggadah is uniquely interesting. Hanna, the rare book expert charged with analyzing the manuscript, is endearing and vital. Her quest to unlock the mysteries she finds within the pages of the book is believable and expertly rendered by the author. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey from Bosnia to Venice to Spain, being entertained, educated and enlightened with every step. Read it...you won't be disappointed.
  
  
• A very atmospheric read .....
  By A23US54A0OILE4 on 2008-01-07
  When Hannah Heath, a rare book dealer, begins her investigation into the Sarajevo Haggadah, an iluminated 15th century text, she has no idea of what the future holds for her. So goes Geraldines Brooks' newest book, People of the Book, a thrilling read that is sure to keep your fingers turning pages.
  
  Written in Spain during the inquisition, the Sarajevo Haggadah has been passed down from one owner to the next. It has served a variety of masters in a variety of ways. Hannah Heath in studying the book discovers hints, a hair, an insect wing, salt crystals, that hint at the books story.
  
  Geraldine Brooks is a marvelous author. I must say that she handles history and historical twists as well a James A. Michener. In fact, reading People of the Book reminded me a lot of Michener's The Source. Different stories in different times to be sure, but the feel of the two books is similar. Brooks' use of characters to enhance and drive her story also reminds me of Michener.
  
  People of the Book is a very good read. I highly recommend it.
  
  
• Librarians can have rollicking adventures too.
  By A1HS3BUBNZJJD6 on 2008-01-19
  Who'd have thought that the story of a book conservator would makes such a fascinating, often harrowing novel? Obviously, Geraldine Brooks did and what a great story she has contrived! Vaguely DA VINCI CODE-esque, but more lavishly and precisely detailed, PEOPLE OF THE BOOK rivets the reader as the pages fly by much too quickly. There is international intrigue, but also tender romance, fierce and uncompromising violence (often upclose and personal). Her characters vibrate and resonate with humanity in all its foible-filled veracity. The book is chocked full of the conservator's process and procedures and stunningly written history. One of the most gripping tales in many years. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys intellectual intrigue and romping good storytelling.
  
  
• `Too many books burned in the world'
  By A1DYMH30TSRONY on 2008-02-14
  This novel is a weaving of lives and events around a ancient Hebrew book: the Sarajevo Haggadah. The novel moves between the present, where Dr Hanna Heath is researching and restoring the Sarajevo Haggadah, and events and people specific to the creation and journey of the manuscript in the past. Along the way, the reader learns something of the creation of such manuscripts and of their restoration.
  
  For me, the story of the book and the people associated with it in the past is far more interesting than the contemporary story of Dr Heath. This is an issue of personal taste rather than any lack of balance in the writing and, if anything, reflects how drawn I was to the travels and travails of this document.
  
  Ultimately, this novel is a triumph. Although it is a work of fiction, Ms Brooks tells us that it is inspired by the true story of the Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. The journeys undertaken by such books over the centuries, and their survival, is something to be marvelled at and thankful for.
  
  Yes, this is truly a `gripping and moving novel about war, art, love and survival.'
  
  Highly recommended.
  
  Jennifer Cameron-Smith
  
  
  
• A Rather Dry Read
  By A16QQ78I8J29PA on 2008-02-07
  I really wanted to love this novel, but I simply didn't find PEOPLE OF THE BOOK to be very engaging. This is pretty much a plot-driven book, dealing with the history of an ancient religious text. Most of the book consists of a series of historical vignettes, all of them with different characters. But most of these characters just aren't very interesting.
  
  In the end, I found most of the writing in PEOPLE OF THE BOOK rather dry and expository. Brooks clearly did a lot of historical research for this novel, but doesn't make much of an effort to make any of the history interesting or accessible to the layperson. I actually found the book's afterword to be more engaging than much of the novel itself.
  
  This book has some interesting moments, but I don't feel they came together in a way that created a satisfying story. So my advice is to give this novel a pass, unless you have a pre-existing interest in the historical matter.
  
  
  
  
• "A book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand."
  By A2F6N60Z96CAJI on 2008-01-14
  Every year at Passover, Jews around the world gather for a festive meal at which they are commanded to retell the epochal story of the Exodus from Egypt. The text for that retelling is known as the "haggadah," the root of which is the Hebrew verb "to tell." Today, it is estimated that there are more than 3,000 versions of this book, a compendium of biblical excerpts, rabbinic commentary, stories and poems. In her emotionally resonant new novel, Geraldine Brooks spins an intricate and moving tale of one of them, the Sarajevo Haggadah, and its stirring, almost miraculous, story of survival.
  
  The true story of the haggadah's narrow escapes from destruction, chronicled in a December 3, 2007 New Yorker article by Brooks (featuring a color reproduction of one of the haggadah's striking illustrations), is so fantastic it seems almost impossible to fictionalize it. But what Brooks does so convincingly is what empathetic historical novelists do best --- offer us rich insights into the interior lives of both real and fictional characters that reveal the human drama behind a fact-based story. As one of the book's characters reminds us, "a book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand."
  
  The novel opens in the spring of 1996, after the Bosnia hostilities have ceased, leaving the city of Sarajevo a shattered remnant of its former self. Hanna Heath, a brash young conservator of medieval manuscripts from Australia, is summoned to the National Museum of Bosnia to restore the 15th century codex, featuring 34 pages of striking illuminations. Her discovery in the manuscript of a butterfly wing, a wine stain, a residue of sea salt and a fine white hair launch the novel's other narrative thread, as Brooks transports us in extended flashbacks to reveal the source of these items and thereby recount the haggadah's history.
  
  Brooks's recreation of five historical epochs --- Sarajevo in 1940, Vienna in 1894, Venice in 1609 and Spain in 1492 and 1480 --- is so rich with period detail, lavishly and yet effectively displayed, that one stands in awe of the thoroughness of her research. In each era the existence of the haggadah is threatened. Most dramatic, and most grounded in historical fact, is the story of how the book --- only moments away from almost certain destruction by the Nazis --- was hidden by the chief librarian of the Bosnian National Museum and then stored for the balance of World War II among Korans and other Muslim religious books in a remote mosque.
  
  The chapter recounting the haggadah's jeopardy in early 17th century Venice is almost as heart-stopping. There, Giovanni Domenic Vistorini, the censor of the Inquisitor whose job it was to consign heretical works to the bonfire, sits with his pen poised above the parchment before deciding to spare it from the flames. All of the novel's historical sections are so packed with vivid detail and complex characters --- princes, rabbis, artists, scribes and bookbinders --- that each time the narrative returns to its contemporary setting we're eager to be transported back in time and, once there, find ourselves longing to linger.
  
  What also sets this novel apart from more conventional works of historical fiction are the sophisticated themes that suffuse the narrative: the persistence of religious persecution, issues of religious and personal identity, and the close relationship between Muslims and Jews among the most prominent. Those ties may seem particularly startling to those familiar only with the Middle East conflict, and offer perhaps a glimmer of hope that someday they can be revived.
  
  Although it doesn't detract unduly from the impressiveness of the novel, the contemporary narrative suffers in comparison to the historical segments. There is a melodramatic subplot describing the fractured relationship between Hanna and her mother Sarah, an eminent but emotionally distant neurosurgeon, from whom Hanna ultimately learns a jealously guarded family secret. And Hanna's love affair with Ozren Karaman, the Bosnia librarian who protected the haggadah at the outset of the Bosnian hostilities, has a perfunctory feel to it.
  
  Geraldine Brooks most likely had herself in mind when Hanna observes, "By linking research and imagination, sometimes I can think myself into the heads of the people who made the book. I can figure out who they were, or how they worked. That's how I add my few grains to the sandbox of human knowledge." Following on her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel MARCH, in PEOPLE OF THE BOOK she continues to raise the bar for practitioners of this literary genre.
  
  --- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg (mwn52@aol.com)
  
  
• Great idea, great bits, doesn't add up - disappointing
  By A1L0SUHFS9LHPA on 2008-02-04
  This is a great idea for a book - two-tracking the history of a significant book through the present day restorer and the historical figures who caused the changes in the book that she researches.
  
  BUT unfortunately the present day life story is cliched (mother-daughter tension, approach-avoidance with overly perfect man, discovery of hidden personal history, etc) and the past-day stuff is not well written.
  
  The book's history as imagined could be riveting. If it were written as well as the present-day stuff and the goopy/butch modern character were made more individual. Or get rid of the present day stuff.
  
  A disappointment from a good author.
  
  
• My Name is Red, Redux
  By AOYMPEJY7SMZO on 2008-01-28
  I don't altogether like reviews (or reviewers) that knock books down from their cultural ledges for lack of creativity. But a tale of an ancient manuscript, interspersed with the accounts of inanimate smudges on its pages or the history of objects used in its creation -- if it sounds intriguing, try checking out Orhan Pamuk's narrative masterpiece, My Name is Red. Written twenty years earlier, Pamuk's work is, to my mind, more suspenseful and more artfully done, too, than this one here. It makes me wonder whether the Pulitzer Prize is trying to play catch up to Pamuk's outstanding international appeal, most of which is decades ahead of our own.
  
  
• dull
  By A37E4USOGFMT04 on 2008-02-05
  This is an extremely disappointing book, especially after having read her first two books. I'm struggling to get through it. there is not enough historical information - just very soap opera like episodes in between the only slightly more interesting 'hannah' sections. The writing style is very simplistic, not poetic like in march and year of wonders. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad!
  
  
• Sure to be a Major Motion Picture
  By A2T1B8LGQRYCEA on 2008-01-17
  Having loved Geraldine Brooks' previous novels; "Year of Wonders" and "March", I was primed to enjoy "People of the Book" and I was not disappointed. The plot is well researched, interestingly told backwards, with just enough exotic locales, action, sex and romance to be a sure thing for a "major motion picture". If the rights haven't been sold already I'd be surprised.
  
  
• Unexpected Delight
  By A17PZCWENZDQ70 on 2008-01-17
  I didn't expect to like this book. I looked it over 3-4 times before I actually purchased it. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. The weaving of the present day with the history of the book is extremely well done. The ending is well thought out and seems like a natural conclusion. I hated to finish it because it's one of those rare, "meaty" good reads. I highly recommend it.
  
  
• Haunting, mesmerizing and beautifully written...
  By A39ABKRS1MKFTW on 2008-02-05
  I think the mark of a good book is that when you finish reading it, you can't get it out of your mind. The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks definitely is a good book, and more. It's a haunting, mesmerizing and beautifully written story about the Sarajevo Haggadah.
  
  A haggadah is a book of Jewish rites and the Sarajevo Haggadah was written in Spain before the exile of Jews from there in 1492. One of the things that makes this particular haggadah so unique is that it is richly illustrated, which was against Jewish beliefs of the time. Also, the fact that it survived at all is no small miracle. It is known that the haggadah went from Spain to Venice, and then to Vienna before landing in Sarajevo. Twice, it was rescued by Muslim librarians--once during World War II and again during the Bosnian War. Brooks fills in the gaps with an incredible tale that combines historical fact, customs of the day, and her moving fictional characters.
  
  People of the Book opens in 1996 when Australian rare book conservator, Dr. Hanna Heath, is tapped by the UN to conserve and restore the famous Haggadah. The things she discovers (an insect wing, a salt stain, a red blotch, a priest's signature, and a hair fragment) will allow Brooks to travel back in history to relate the story of how they came about. Throughout history, the book survives as a witness to the "Inquisition, Nazis, extremist Serb nationalists." Heath is also forced to evaluate and restore her personal life, as she assess the things that are truly important to her and then makes choices that support these values. The combination of Heath's professional and personal revelations provides us with a surprising and heart-warming ending.
  
  I especially enjoyed the history associated with People of the Book. I didn't realize how many times in history, Christians, Jews and Muslims lived in relative peace. When Spain expelled the Jews, Venice and Bosnia gave them a home. The Sarajevo Haggadah is a book that transcends all three religions. The Muslim librarian who saved the book during the Bosnian War tells Heath "the haggadah came to Sarajevo for a reason. It was here to test us, to see if there were people who could see that what united us was more than what divides us. That to be a human being matters more than to be a Jew or a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox."
  
  I became a big fan of Geraldine Brooks when I first read Year of Wonders, and then March. Now, People of the Book just reaffirms Brooks' talents as a writer of historic fiction.
  
  
  
  
  
• Good, but could have been so much better...
  By A2KB11ON28VJCS on 2008-01-27
  For me, one of life's greatest frustrations is a book that could have been great--but wasn't.
  
  "People of the Book" fits this description. Hanna's story is good, and the first vignettte of the Haggadah--set in 1940s Bosnia--is excellent. After that, it goes downhill. Each of the next four stories of the book are potentially great reading, but the author sabotages them with an excess of what I can only call "ugliness."
  
  Granted, each was set in profoundly ugly times. I have no objection to the author's decision to show the horrors of the Inquisition up close (although I skipped most of those passages.) Ms. Brooks' mistake was to make her fictional characters behave as badly as the times they lived in. From the alcoholic priest and gambling addicted rabbi in Venice to the two women who lost their families to the Spanish Inquisiton, the author constantly chose to have people turn on each other rather than help each other, when a simple does of human decency could have redeemd the entire storyline.
  
  If I want to get depressed, I'll read non-fiction. Fiction should at least have moments when people rise above the ugliness around them, not contribute to it.
  
  I also agree with the previous poster who said the last chapter was like something out of Mission Impossible; totally ridiculas.
  
  
  
• not one of the people of this book
  By A21KLSKU8ULE30 on 2008-03-09
  I was so looking forward to this book!! I loved Plague and March. I didn't find the method telling the story very original...seems it's rather a recent trend. I disliked the main character and found none of the others as we passed through the centuries to be very compelling either. I agree with another reviewer about the writing...I so enjoyed Brooks's poetic style in her previous novels, and it was lacking here. I also thought her previous novels gave me something to think about....morality, choices, truth......People of the Book was a little light.
  
  
• Fair read
  By A1QXEYEE4E7IE6 on 2008-01-31
  I have found this book to be a difficult read due to too many story lines going on - and some of those plod along and become tedious. I applaud the author on the "Australian" character but, using Aussie slang could have been left out - as far as I'm concerned. There are other things that caused me to skip over pages due to lack of interest, sadly.
  
  I had read "The Year of Wonder" and was so impressed with it. This book has left me a tad disappointed.
  
  Being a Jew, I thought the Haggadah aspect would reel me in - but instead, I think it kind of took a backseat to Hannah and her turmoil.
  
  Just my opinion.
  
  
• People of The Book: a novel of the mystery of history
  By A1A6Q4UYWALIHZ on 2008-02-14
  Geraldine Brooks creates a book about the mystery of history in her novel, 'People of The Book.' The public is used to the Jews being called the people of the book in relation to the Bible. It is about the Jews, but with a twist, adding Christians and Muslims and showing the interdependency of all three throughout history.
  
  Two main stories entertwine in this historical adventure story, that of the Sarajevo Haggadah and of its restorer, Hannah. As Hannah sets about restoring the 500-year-old Hagganah, and bits of its past come to light, so does her own opaque past. As she restores, she is restored.
  
  A Haggadah is the story of the Passover given at the Seder, the Jewish supper commemorating the great story of the Jewish escape from Egypt under the leadership of Moses.This small, lavishly-illuminated Haggadah was manufactured in Spain 500 years before, rebound in Vienna, Austria in 1894, and has travelled to Sarajevo, survived the 2nd World War destruction of the Nazis of Jews and all things Jewish, and the more recent destructive war between the Bosnians and the Serbs. In 1992, the book was hidden, when museums and libraries became targets in the war.
  It is now 1996 and it is considered safe enough as hostilities die down, to bring the book out of hiding. Brooks talks about an actual book restored to Sarajevo, and her fiction takes over from there.
  
  The Australian-born Hannah is by profession a book conservator of mediaeval manuscripts. Hannah says her job is technical combining science and craftsmanship. But she also has an intuition about the past. She links research and imagination to see into the heads of people who created these great, mediaeval masterpieces, so that she can figure out who they were and how they worked.
  
  The Journey of The Book
  
  There is a bill of sale to the Sarajevo library in 1894, when a 'Kohen' sold the book to the library. During the 2nd World War, the book was saved and hidden by a Muslim. From 1992 to 1996, it was hidden by a Muslim, the director of the library. Hannah finds a wine stain on a page, a fine white hair in a thread fibre, and a tiny wing of some insect in the binding. She also notices that the book has been made to outfit clasps, used to keep parchment flat, and they are missing. With these few clues and facts about these miniscule objects from the world of science, she embarks on a plausible but imaginative journey about the history of the book. The story takes the reader to Spain, Vienna, and Sarajevo, as the history of the Jews is revealed and their interdependence with the Christians and Muslims is explored. It becomes clear that without that interaction the book couldn't have been created at all. Its history is entertwined with all three religious groups, as is Sarajevo, where a mosque, a synagogue and an Orthodox church all face one another in the same square, in a place where religious tolerance has created the unique Sarajevan society.
  
  Hannah's Journey
  
  Woven throughout this historical discovery are Hannah's discoveries about her unknown past. As the Haggadah's past is revealed, so is her own. She is the daughter of a neurosurgeon and a father who totally unknown to her. Her mother is a brilliant, cold, calculating, vain, selfish woman who has rejected her daughter because Hannah did not become a neurosurgeon like herself. She has nothing but contempt for her daughter's chosen field and lets her daughter know this on a regular basis. Hannah finds the courage to reject her mother only when, ironically through the mother, she discovers her past, her father's identity and a warm, loving family who accept her and appreciate her as she is. It is also ironic that the cold relationship between mother and daughter exists when they are both restorers in their own right, Hannah of mediaeval manuscripts and her mother, of the engine of the body. Many a woman will recognize this irreconcilable relationship between mother and daughter and read certain passages of scenes between them with tears in her eyes.
  
  Once Hannah is over her fear of rejection, and is being healed both through her work and the warmth of her new, true family, she discovers love, a love which has been there for some time, actually, but which took her some time to recognize.As the life of the Haggadah awaited discovery, so did this love of her life patiently await.
  
  This is a satisfying novel in that the ending is not a 'happily ever after' event, but one that is full of potential. The Haggadah has been restored and returned to its rightful home. And so has Hannah.
  
  This is not a book meant to be kept on a dusty shelf. It is one, like the Haggadah, meant to be shared. If you loan it and it doesn't come back, you'll feel serene, knowing it has begun its own historical journey.
  
  
  
  
• "A sense of the people of the book, the different hands that had made it, used it, protected it.
  By A3PHF9UV3F177L on 2008-03-18
  The plot of this book is reminiscent of the film "The Red Violin", in that in tracks the history of a fictional object (in this case a 15th century Jewish prayer book called the Sarajevo Haggadah) by traveling forwards and back in place and time. Hanna Heath is an Australian book restorer who is called to Sarajevo in Bosnia to work on the medieval book. As the book progresses, we learn more about the Haggadah's 400 year old history as it journeys across Europe. But this is not a dry or dusty account. At one point Hanna says that she "wanted to give a sense of the people of the book, the different hands that had made it, used it, protected it". These words could have been taken directly from Geraldine Brook's mouth. This is a book about people living through tumultuous times, and the Haggadah serves as both a witness to that and a device to introduce them to us. As a friend of Hanna's comments at one point: "The book has survived the same human disaster over and over again...Inquisition, Nazis, extremist Serb nationalists...same old, same old. It seems to me the book, at this point, bears witness to all that."
  
  I was staggered by the amount of research that Brooks must have done to write this book. The amount of historical detail or information about bookbinding that she has amassed is incredible and she uses it well, to bring each part of the book to life without drowning us in facts. Some of the stories that she describes are heart-breaking. I was particularly moved by the sections about Sarajevo during WWII and the Spanish Inquisition.
  
  Hanna makes an interesting central character: an emotional, impetuous and hot-headed woman who excels in a job requiring extreme patience and discipline. But perhaps inevitably with a cast of this size, many of the other characters felt too simplistic. Hanna's mother felt like a villain straight from Central Casting with no redeeming qualities: she consistently puts her work ahead of her daughter, judges her daughter's choice of career and plays God by making life and death decisions for others.
  
  This is a very good book, but not a great book because ultimately "People of the Book" feels too disjointed. Some of the stories are more compelling than others, so at times I was totally caught up in the book and at other times it dragged for me. Many of the stories lack resolution and leave you wondering what happened next (although sometimes Hanna stumbles on the answers as part of her research). The ending is satisfying on one level but feels inappropriate on another, because it hinges on a major coincidence and requires Hanna to do something that I struggle to believe that she would have done. Still, Geraldine Brooks is a gifted author and this is an absorbing, accomplished and very enjoyable book.
  
  
• Terrible Ending to a Good Book
  By A38IJR8U7JK67O on 2008-03-31
  If Ms. Brooks had ended her novel on page 316 instead of page 368, it would have been a fabulous book. Although I found Hanna an extremely irritating and edgy young woman, I tolerated her in order to learn more about the "fictional" history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, the real main character of this story. The historical chapters that explained how certain external items found their way into the pages of the Haggadah were fascinating and captured each historical period with a considerable degree of accuracy. However, the last 50 pages were absurd and totally unbelievable. I won't give away the ending in this review, but suffice it to say that I could not suspend my sense of reality to accept any of it, most especially Ms. Brooks's political message of tolerance. The writing throughout the book was neither lyrical nor magical, and certainly not Pulitzer quality.
  
  
• Annoying Main Character
  By A2L6U1XA9WQR2M on 2008-04-27
  The main character of the book is "Hanna". If you like a character who is impressed with herself and won't let the reader forget it, you'll like this book. Example: Hanna's favorite phrase is "... when I was at Harvard..." Not: "..when I was studying.." or "..when I was a grad student..." or whatever. After the tenth "Harvard" reminder, it gets a bit tedious.
  
  If you don't like that kind of character, then just skip this book.
  
  
  
• Speaks Eloquently to the Greatest issues of Our Times
  By A3HJGMA4MOO63T on 2008-01-19
  Inspired by her experiences as a journalist in Sarajevo, Geraldine Brooks breathes life into the history of a rare illustrated Hebrew manuscript, the Sarajevo Haggadah.
  
  People of the Book spans centuries and continents to follow the guardians of the Haggadah as they flee war and persecution, often with little but the clothes on their back and their precious artifact. Muslims, Catholics, Jews and atheists take their turns defending the art, literature and culture encompassed in the small, fragile volume.
  
  The religions that set The People of the Book apart have their common roots in the pictures and stories in the Haggadah. Every event in the novel resonates with our news today, as cultural treasures, individuals and ethnic groups are being destroyed by the same ancient divisions and hatreds, and the same greed for power and wealth that endangered the book and its keepers over hundreds of years.
  
  A story of manuscript conservation and scientific inquiry which could easily be dry and boring vibrates with energy and life in this unforgettable novel. The people of the book are fascinating characters living in interesting times and their lives are relevant to ours, their choices and decisions speak to the greatest issues of our times.
  
  
• History repeating itself
  By A1EBJ93E1T50RT on 2008-02-05
  Like many readers, I probably came to "People of the Book" through Geraldine Brooks' December 2007 article in "The New Yorker" about the Sarajevo Haggadah and the people who rescued it from destruction during World War II. I hadn't heard of this Haggadah before, but the story of its existence sparked my imagination. Brooks' fictionalized account of the Haggadah's previous history -- dating back nearly 600 years -- did not disappoint when it finally hit the shelves a month later.
  
  My own family history shares some common elements with the Haggadah. It was thought that my paternal grandmother, and other families in her shtetl, were descended from Spanish Jews fleeing the Inquisition (I'm often asked if I'm Sephardic, and I never have a good answer). More recently, I spent my four years as an undergraduate doing book conservation for work study funds. I was pretty miserable at it, but fortunately I never had the chance to ruin anything as valuable as the Sarajevo Haggadah.
  
  "People" follows the Haggadah on parallel tracks. First, there's the present day story, as Hanna Heath, a book conservator from Sydney, is chosen to preserve the book admist the wreckage of Sarajevo circa 1996. She finds clues in the binding of the Haggadah that leads her on an investigative trail. Along the way, from Vienna to Boston to London, Hanna learns (via some pretty fantastic technology) how the Haggadah may have made its way to Sarajevo from 15th century Spain (Sepharad). Hanna also unravels mysteries from her own past, and her life takes some unexpected turns even as the Haggadah is put on permanent display in a Bosnian musem.
  
  The second and more fanciful track follows the Haggadah back in time, and imagines how it may have acquired each of the scars Hanna uncovered. Especially if the flashbacks are read backwards (in strict chronological order) the book illustrates the turbulent forces buffetting Jewish culture. In each successive time period and place, the Jewish owners of the Haggadah find themself deeper under siege, not only against outside forces who wish to destroy, but against the temptations of assimilation as well. Even Hanna's own journey brings her in touch with the diaspora. By story's end, Hanna finds her own life is inextricably linked with the Haggadah, even though she bears so little in common with the original owners 600 years previously.
  
  Each "flashback" chapter varies satisfyingly in tone, content and prose style. Brooks doesn't flinch from embracing controversy: from alcoholic priests to gambling-addicted rabbies to the forbidden romance of a female Moorish artist, each leg of the Haggadah's journey brings it in contact with some pretty wild history. The acknowledgment of how other cultures helped both create and then later preserve the Haggadah, is another important aspect of the diaspora.
  
  It can be argued that Brooks gets a little carried away with Dan Brown theatrics in the final chapters, but thanks to her marvelous effort in attempting to conserve the past, she's allowed a few excesses. After my own encounter with "People of the Book", I'll be more than a little disappointed to have to turn back to the old standard Maxwell House haggadah next Passover.
  
  
• Loved every page
  By A3H6Z21VUDHZQ9 on 2008-02-28
  I knew I was going to love this book from page one. History, colorful characters, alternating points of view, and a mystery that unravels as carefully and delicately as the Parnassus butterfly emerging from its chrysalis - what more could one ask for? Fluid, sharp prose, thrifty dialog, and fantastic descriptive phrases make this one of those narratives where you'll actually read every line (no skimming needed). Particularly pleasing is Brooks' respectful treatment of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian beliefs and practices. This book could teach us all a lesson about preservation and tolerance.
  
  
• Very, very enjoyable read!
  By A2IM04GDZQ25Y on 2008-02-29
  Completely engaging look into the lives of people in the times of WWII Europe, the Spanish Iquisition, the Jewish ghetto in Venice and more. Several wonderful short stories are incorporated into the primary story to create a captivating effect. I was totally absorbed and entertained.
  
  
• Dayenu
  By A34B2SYZN5Y8FO on 2008-03-08
  As one of the characters in People of the Book says, citing the classic Passover song: "Dayenu" (it would have been enough). It would have been enough if the author had constructed her story almost entirely out of the intriguing historical vignettes that purport to trace the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, and linked them by a just a modest contemporary framework. Instead, an overwrought family drama, a Silhouette-style romance and an international thriller are thrown into the mix. It's all too much. I was drawn to the book for its historical aspects, but put off and distracted by much of the flimsy contemporary story line. The book isn't that long. Why was it necessary to jam in so much present-day plotting? Some of those pages would have been better used to serve up more of the Haggadah's fascinating story. I'm struck by how movie-ready the book is, especially the last pages (and I don't mean that in a good way)--perhaps that was the author's intent.
  
  
  

• March
• The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
• Loving Frank: A Novel
• The Senator's Wife
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society