Puppet (2009)

A powerful fictionalized account of the the last "blood libel" trial in Europe. A revealing portrait of anti-Semitism in late 19th century eastern Europe. ( )

I requested this novel from Early Reviewers because I'd heard about the last "blood libel" trial in the late 1800s and had always been rather curious about what had happened.

As a story supplying that information, [i]Puppet[/i] works well enough: it tells how a rural Hungarian servant girl disappeared one day in 1882, and how her death was somewhat randomly blamed on the new Jewish "butcher priest," thanks in no small part to the coerced testimony of Morris Scharf, a young Jewish teenager. The trial became something of a sensation nationally and internationally, and the result is a matter of historic record, but I won't discuss it for potential spoiler reasons. As far as additional plot goes, Julie, the viewpoint character, a friend of the dead girl, ends up following the trial from small town to big city, all the while seeking to gain independence from her malevolent drunkard of a father and security for herself and her young sister after their mother's death.

Aside from its merits as a retelling of an important historical event, however, the novel flounders. Most if not all of the characters are flat--either cardboard cutouts of villainy or handy expendable figures just to move the plot along. The more conflicted and potentially interesting characters are given psychological profiling characteristics, rather than actually given the chance to become persons in their own right. So Morris Scharf, potentially the most fascinating character, is relegated to the sidelines and set up every so often to be the "puppet" of both the prosecutors and the author. And Esther, the eventual corpse, is a limp caricature of a depressed would-be suicide victim.

Plotwise, the story doesn't fair much better. Julie seems to trail behind the trial from pure plot necessity; her own struggles are only tangentially related and crop up seemingly just to persuade her to be more involved. This leads to some potential reader confusion as Julie becomes an important witness for the defense near the end of the trial. Although the author includes a brief acknowledgement indicating she based her novel on transcripts of the trial, it's not at all clear whether Julie's role in the trial was invented or whether there was such a figure whom the author chose to fictionalize. Actually, an afterword giving more historical context and, if possible, some knowledge of what happened after the trial would have been nice.

However, I can see why the novel did win awards: it does present a comparatively engaging account of a key incident in the history of antisemitism, one that doesn't seem to be over-fictionalized. With its simplicity of perspective and writing style, it could be used in schools quite easily. However, I think this incident deserves richer analysis, fictionally, and hope to come across such a novel at some point.

While I love historical fiction, I wasn't sure after the first few chapters whether or not I wanted to finish the book. The book takes place around an actual event where a number of Jews were arrested for killing a young girl. There was so much antisemitic conversation that it became almost unbearable. In the end, this was obviously a conscious effort to recreate the very charged atmosphere. It wasn't an easy book and it wouldn't be for all YA readers, but it was well written and worth the effort.

While I didn't expect a light read, this one was almost too dark for me. I don't normally read a lot of historical books, but this one was well-written and pulled me in. I will definitely look into other works by this author. ( )

Reason for Reading: Many reasons: this is set within my preferred historical era, I enjoy Jewish history, I enjoy 19th century court/trial cases and finally I've read and enjoyed this author before.

Throughout time immemorial until the not so distant past, parents have kept children under control with stories of monsters, evils or persons who enjoy kidnapping and eating children. When I was young the remnant of this survived in the story of the "Bogeyman". This is a sad and horrific story where that fabled evil turned onto a real group of people in a small town in Hungary when a scapegoat was wanted and the villagers turned with a vengeance a mass racism towards the Jews to explain the disappearance of a local Christian girl.

A riveting, spellbinding story based on a true case. One can hardly believe that such mass hysteria can turn once seemingly placid people into violent racists. The author has extensively made use of the actual trial records giving authenticity to the dialogue found within the book. While no one is innocent of bigotry in this story, we see how an initially small group of instigators easily rile up the masses and the methods they use to fuel the fire until it reaches epic proportions and everyone is beyond seeing reason. Examining this type of case can help one see how modern atrocities reach the frenzy they sometimes do.

A brilliant story, with a fantastic main character in the fictional Julie who though she sometimes has doubts, does see beyond the facade and triumphs even against great harm to herself. A page-turning book, as one keeps muttering to oneself how people could actually behave in this deplorable way (and still do) and yet the rays of hope shine through in Julie and a few other characters. A unique look at historical Jewish persecution, that is not about the Holocaust. Recommended. ( )