People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks
On This Page
Description
In 1996, Hanna Heath, a young Australian book conservator is called to analyze the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless six-hundred-year-old Jewish prayer book that has been salvaged from a destroyed Bosnian library. When Hanna discovers a series of artifacts in the centuries' old binding, she unwittingly exposes an international cover up.Tags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
mrstreme Similar history of how museum workers scrambled to save pieces of art during wartime
71
whymaggiemay Both well written, and both follow an art object from end to beginning, through the hands of those who once owned it.
50
merry10 An imagined history of a 15th Century panel.
Eat_Read_Knit A very different style of book from a very different genre, but an interesting commentary on the corruption/misuse of religious faith which complements this book's treatment of the same theme.
43
oregonobsessionz This one may be a stretch, but anyone who read People of the Book for its historic and "books on books" aspects would probably enjoy The Book Nobody Read, a nonfiction account of an astronomer who seeks to account for all of the first and second editions of Copernicus' de Revolutionibus.
StarryNightElf Epic saga tracing the path of an object connected to those of Jewish descent.
11
darsaster Non-fiction examination of Medieval manuscripts and the people who created them.
Member Reviews
Finishing this and [b:Shadow Without a Name|9695|Shadow Without a Name|Ignacio Padilla|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311985588l/9695._SX50_.jpg|12497] in the same week leads to inevitable comparison. The structure of focusing on multiple people is the deftest way to tell the story of a war or an artifact, the best way to give a story two literal meanings: it is about this thing/world war/haggadah by way of being about these specific people. This is reminiscent of the long volumes we honor: the Bible, the Histories. There’s something about the structure itself which can make other books about individual people seem narcissistic. Your life, your book might be about one person, but there’s a lot show more you miss that way.
After that, I’m hesitant to look too closely at this individual book. (Oh, the irony.) It was unfair to make those comparisons to the Bible and the Histories in that first paragraph. This is a modern novel by a modern novelist, entirely different. It’s a fantastic premise: rare book conservator Hanna Heath becomes obsessed with the past of a famous volume, the Sarajevo haggadah, and the reader gets the real stories behind details she uncovers. The dramas of these historical novelettes are balanced by the sudden amplification of the modern protagonist’s book-related arc at the end. One of Brooks’ strengths as a historic novelist is her ability to research thoroughly and to write this research into her fiction so seamlessly that her worlds and characters come alive without feeling dead or inauthentic.
The problem of this book is the likability of the main narrator, Hanna. Her problems are significant, her life full of drama and travel, and yet she did not become truly interesting until the last segment of the book. The choices she makes, the reactions she has in that section seem more in line with the stakes of those who made and preserved the haggadah.
But books don’t owe us the experience we expect from modern novels, which seems at the moment rather predictable. A book can be good without enthralling us every second, without forcing us to like, relate to, or hate the narrator. Though Hanna is presented to us as a steely and curmudgeonly conservator, sure of herself and her skills, her arc in this book is one of maturation. Her choices and relationships in the first parts of the book are immature, a foil to the other characters involved with the haggadah. The most interesting parts of her sections were the physical explanations of the book itself, the luxury of looking closely at an object as it’s seen by an expert who can explain everything. And giving the reader a “true” story of how these came to be without revealing that to the expert was a brilliant strategic move.
Hanna is bad at being glue. As a modern reader I expected her to tie everything together, to discover everything, to be a singular hero. This was a dumb expectation, and I think I may be getting complacent. The book isn’t about Hanna at all; it’s about the book. Like everyone else who was a part of the book, she’s not more or less of its story for anything she had or lacked. Her expertise showed her the value in the book the same way others could see the art in the illustrations, the delicacy of the silversmithing involved. For her, the book was a very valuable artifact; for others it was leverage, or a religious item, and these change how the characters relate to the book, but none of them change the book itself except through the characters’ actions. Hanna’s skills and shortcomings alternately healed and put the book in danger, just like all the others’ had. She got more air time, but she ultimately wasn’t any more or less important to the haggadah’s fate.
What Brooks is exploring, as far as I can tell, is the relation that people have to a common reality, and if there is such a thing as a common reality, what that might be. Presented with the same book, all the characters who interact with it do so on the basis of their own beliefs, their own need for money or leverage or religious security, and they recognize different things in it. The veracity and location of it are constantly in question. Ultimately, a single entirely true history of the haggadah is impossible—and probably less important than the relations, histories, and discoveries of those who have held it. show less
After that, I’m hesitant to look too closely at this individual book. (Oh, the irony.) It was unfair to make those comparisons to the Bible and the Histories in that first paragraph. This is a modern novel by a modern novelist, entirely different. It’s a fantastic premise: rare book conservator Hanna Heath becomes obsessed with the past of a famous volume, the Sarajevo haggadah, and the reader gets the real stories behind details she uncovers. The dramas of these historical novelettes are balanced by the sudden amplification of the modern protagonist’s book-related arc at the end. One of Brooks’ strengths as a historic novelist is her ability to research thoroughly and to write this research into her fiction so seamlessly that her worlds and characters come alive without feeling dead or inauthentic.
The problem of this book is the likability of the main narrator, Hanna. Her problems are significant, her life full of drama and travel, and yet she did not become truly interesting until the last segment of the book. The choices she makes, the reactions she has in that section seem more in line with the stakes of those who made and preserved the haggadah.
But books don’t owe us the experience we expect from modern novels, which seems at the moment rather predictable. A book can be good without enthralling us every second, without forcing us to like, relate to, or hate the narrator. Though Hanna is presented to us as a steely and curmudgeonly conservator, sure of herself and her skills, her arc in this book is one of maturation. Her choices and relationships in the first parts of the book are immature, a foil to the other characters involved with the haggadah. The most interesting parts of her sections were the physical explanations of the book itself, the luxury of looking closely at an object as it’s seen by an expert who can explain everything. And giving the reader a “true” story of how these came to be without revealing that to the expert was a brilliant strategic move.
Hanna is bad at being glue. As a modern reader I expected her to tie everything together, to discover everything, to be a singular hero. This was a dumb expectation, and I think I may be getting complacent. The book isn’t about Hanna at all; it’s about the book. Like everyone else who was a part of the book, she’s not more or less of its story for anything she had or lacked. Her expertise showed her the value in the book the same way others could see the art in the illustrations, the delicacy of the silversmithing involved. For her, the book was a very valuable artifact; for others it was leverage, or a religious item, and these change how the characters relate to the book, but none of them change the book itself except through the characters’ actions. Hanna’s skills and shortcomings alternately healed and put the book in danger, just like all the others’ had. She got more air time, but she ultimately wasn’t any more or less important to the haggadah’s fate.
What Brooks is exploring, as far as I can tell, is the relation that people have to a common reality, and if there is such a thing as a common reality, what that might be. Presented with the same book, all the characters who interact with it do so on the basis of their own beliefs, their own need for money or leverage or religious security, and they recognize different things in it. The veracity and location of it are constantly in question. Ultimately, a single entirely true history of the haggadah is impossible—and probably less important than the relations, histories, and discoveries of those who have held it. show less
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." 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 a Haggadah, and its stirring, almost miraculous story of survival. People of the Book is a work of fiction inspired by the true story of the Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah.
This chapter contains some very interesting and real facts about the REAL Sarajevo Haggadah. Some people show more may find this boring, or annoying. I found it all terribly fascinating. If you don't care about this, please skip this chapter.
"While some of the facts are true to the S. H.'s known history, most of the plot and all of the characters are imaginary. In real life, only after the war was it revealed that a Muslim librarian, Enver Imamovic, had rescued the codex during the shelling and hidden it for safekeeping in a bank vault. While these heroic rescues were my initial inspirations, the characters to whom I have ascribed these actions in the novel are entirely fictional. Also, the novel’s chapters “A White Hair” and “Saltwater” are entirely fictional. However, there is a saffron- robed, black- skinned woman at the seder table in one of the S. H.'s illuminations, and the mystery of her identity inspired my inventions. (!!!).
By 1609, the haggadah had found its way to Venice, where the handwritten inscription by a (real-life) Catholic priest named Vistorini apparently saved it from the book burnings of the pope’s Inquisition. Nothing is known of Vistorini beyond the books that have survived because they bear his signature. But many of the Catholic Hebraists of the period were converted Jews, and I used that fact in “Wine Stains.” In that chapter, also, the character of Judah Aryeh is inspired by the life of Leon Modena as described in 'The Autobiography of a Seventeenth Century Rabbi , translated and edited by Mark R. Cohen. Richard Zacks provided an invaluable collection of materials on gambling in seventeenth- century Venice. Because Bosnia was under occupation by the Austro- Hungarian empire when the haggadah came to light there in 1894, it was natural that it should be sent to Vienna, hub of culture and scholarship, for study and restoration. For the atmosphere in the city at that time, and especially for details such as the unctuous manners of telephone operators, I am in debt to the remarkable narrative history 'A Nervous Splendour' by Frederic Morton. Similarly, Brian Hall’s 'The Dreamers' and 'The Impossible Country' provided indispensable insights. While it is true that, by modern standards, the rebinding of the haggadah was mishandled in Vienna, the matter of the missing clasps is a novelist’s invention."
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."
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. (I did, and often..!). 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.
The contemporary narrative does not suffer in comparison to the historical segments, as some here at G.r. may think. Some here have also stated that 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. I thought it added to the storyline quite well, and I completely understood Hanna's relationship with her mother. Hanna's love affair with Ozren Karaman, the Bosnian librarian was also a very nice addition to the storyline. The ending was a brilliant piece of misdirection.
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." In PEOPLE OF THE BOOK she continues to raise the bar for practitioners of this literary genre.
This novel was truly brilliant. You do not need a surfeit of knowledge about Jewish culture or practices, in order to enjoy this novel. You do not need to have attended a religious festival to understand their importance and meaning. (But if you can, please do, if just for observance' sake. They are quite beautiful). You don't even need to have a tremendous knowledge of the wars between the factions that are in conflict, during the setting of this novel.
I, on the other hand, need to read more novels by Geraldine Brooks. 5 full stars for this breathtaking novel that had me spell-bound. Truly fascinating. Please give it a try. You might fall in love with it, as I have. show less
In her emotionally resonant new novel, Geraldine Brooks spins an intricate and moving tale of a Haggadah, and its stirring, almost miraculous story of survival. People of the Book is a work of fiction inspired by the true story of the Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah.
This chapter contains some very interesting and real facts about the REAL Sarajevo Haggadah. Some people show more may find this boring, or annoying. I found it all terribly fascinating. If you don't care about this, please skip this chapter.
"While some of the facts are true to the S. H.'s known history, most of the plot and all of the characters are imaginary. In real life, only after the war was it revealed that a Muslim librarian, Enver Imamovic, had rescued the codex during the shelling and hidden it for safekeeping in a bank vault. While these heroic rescues were my initial inspirations, the characters to whom I have ascribed these actions in the novel are entirely fictional. Also, the novel’s chapters “A White Hair” and “Saltwater” are entirely fictional. However, there is a saffron- robed, black- skinned woman at the seder table in one of the S. H.'s illuminations, and the mystery of her identity inspired my inventions. (!!!).
By 1609, the haggadah had found its way to Venice, where the handwritten inscription by a (real-life) Catholic priest named Vistorini apparently saved it from the book burnings of the pope’s Inquisition. Nothing is known of Vistorini beyond the books that have survived because they bear his signature. But many of the Catholic Hebraists of the period were converted Jews, and I used that fact in “Wine Stains.” In that chapter, also, the character of Judah Aryeh is inspired by the life of Leon Modena as described in 'The Autobiography of a Seventeenth Century Rabbi , translated and edited by Mark R. Cohen. Richard Zacks provided an invaluable collection of materials on gambling in seventeenth- century Venice. Because Bosnia was under occupation by the Austro- Hungarian empire when the haggadah came to light there in 1894, it was natural that it should be sent to Vienna, hub of culture and scholarship, for study and restoration. For the atmosphere in the city at that time, and especially for details such as the unctuous manners of telephone operators, I am in debt to the remarkable narrative history 'A Nervous Splendour' by Frederic Morton. Similarly, Brian Hall’s 'The Dreamers' and 'The Impossible Country' provided indispensable insights. While it is true that, by modern standards, the rebinding of the haggadah was mishandled in Vienna, the matter of the missing clasps is a novelist’s invention."
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."
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. (I did, and often..!). 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.
The contemporary narrative does not suffer in comparison to the historical segments, as some here at G.r. may think. Some here have also stated that 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. I thought it added to the storyline quite well, and I completely understood Hanna's relationship with her mother. Hanna's love affair with Ozren Karaman, the Bosnian librarian was also a very nice addition to the storyline. The ending was a brilliant piece of misdirection.
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." In PEOPLE OF THE BOOK she continues to raise the bar for practitioners of this literary genre.
This novel was truly brilliant. You do not need a surfeit of knowledge about Jewish culture or practices, in order to enjoy this novel. You do not need to have attended a religious festival to understand their importance and meaning. (But if you can, please do, if just for observance' sake. They are quite beautiful). You don't even need to have a tremendous knowledge of the wars between the factions that are in conflict, during the setting of this novel.
I, on the other hand, need to read more novels by Geraldine Brooks. 5 full stars for this breathtaking novel that had me spell-bound. Truly fascinating. Please give it a try. You might fall in love with it, as I have. show less
I love how Geraldine Brooks managed to interweave the personal relationships of the modern Australian book preservationist, Hannah, with the tales of the other ancient people of the book she is investigating. The stories were told in a backwards timeline covering over 500 years. Artifacts Hannah finds in the Haggadah become the basis of her research and secrets are revealed from other times and places. Revelations of the negative and/or missing presence of her parents in her life explain Hannah's solitary professional traveling lifestyle. She takes a risk and falls into a brief relationship that becomes her first experience with true love. Lines are crossed and lies are told that change her family and work life. A mysterious attempt to show more return the Haggadah to the proper owner has tragic results for our protagonist. In the end Hannah is able to find out the explanation of the book's heist from the modern library, and an amazing truth about the identity of the illustrator is also revealed as she examines the book one more time in the presence of her former colleague of interest. Audioversion emerses you in a far away old world with diverse vocal variations and accents. If you are a lover of the intellectual study of the look and feel of books, exploring international settings, or meeting the people of various historic timelines you will enjoy this book. The story keeps you engaged in its moderate to slow pace, with just enough of the modern protagonist's real life struggles injected between the travels through the settings of each historic reveal. The strategy of alternating between the ancient and modern plot balances the storylines and prevents the dry intellectual reading experience that some historic fiction novels can become. Another bonus is that each artifact reveals an interesting little story of its own. Although some have compared this book to DaVinci's Code, the intrigue is at a different level, and you will be dissappointed if that is the genre you expect. People have risked their lives for this book, but it remains a sacred treasure. There are no revelations of shocking historic secrets that bend the foundations of world religions. The revelations in this story are more satisfying than shocking. They are about a diverse group of people who became connected through their skills, their beliefs, and their bravery as they rescued the ancient Haggadah codex from those who sought to destroy it. show less
For a book lover and collector with a general interest in history, this story is impossible to resist - as a conservator plays detective with bits of the history of a unique 15th century illuminated manuscript, the reader is told the stories that surround those bits. Ancient texts, illuminated manuscripts, piecing together the bits and pieces of history evinced in the sometimes microscopic clues in the book itself. And what a history - this is the famous Sarajevo Haggadah, which was saved not once, but twice, from war's destruction by Muslim librarians at no small risk of life. And, almost nothing is known of the book's existance before the late 19th century.
Brooks tells a tale that must have been a joy to create, weaving a novel around show more the threads of what is known about the Sarajevo Haggadah. As the reader follows the story of the conservator called in to work with the manuscript at the end of the Bosnian war, the book's detailed 'history' unfolds in reverse chronological order. Some may find this difficult and confusing, but revealing the book's (imagined) history this way turns this historical novel into an enjoyable series of mysteries.
I thoroughly enjoyed Brooks's tale, both the story and the style: memorable characters and heart rending events sprinkled with intriguing clues and the slow blossoming of the book's rich 'history'.
A caution - there are some brutal events in this 'history', and Brooks doesn't hide all of the grusome details. Nor does she overly dwell on them. But the squeemish should be forwarned.
Os. show less
Brooks tells a tale that must have been a joy to create, weaving a novel around show more the threads of what is known about the Sarajevo Haggadah. As the reader follows the story of the conservator called in to work with the manuscript at the end of the Bosnian war, the book's detailed 'history' unfolds in reverse chronological order. Some may find this difficult and confusing, but revealing the book's (imagined) history this way turns this historical novel into an enjoyable series of mysteries.
I thoroughly enjoyed Brooks's tale, both the story and the style: memorable characters and heart rending events sprinkled with intriguing clues and the slow blossoming of the book's rich 'history'.
A caution - there are some brutal events in this 'history', and Brooks doesn't hide all of the grusome details. Nor does she overly dwell on them. But the squeemish should be forwarned.
Os. show less
Enjoyed this book for a few reasons:
the depth of the main and secondary characters' lives. Their challenges on the historical timeline emphasized human commonalities despite originating in very different countries.
The hunt for the truth, and Hanna's dedicated and passionate focus on scientific protocol, integrity companioned with her creative wit and naturally inquisitive mind made her and her work compelling.
The most powerful take-away is the global diversity and serendipity that went into creating each part of this precious, beautiful and important artifact. The thoughts, hearts and souls, fears and dreams each creator (from around the world) brought to this project demonstrate that every action we take, and choice we make has show more small and large effects, good and bad, in the present and potentially in the future.
Very good read! show less
the depth of the main and secondary characters' lives. Their challenges on the historical timeline emphasized human commonalities despite originating in very different countries.
The hunt for the truth, and Hanna's dedicated and passionate focus on scientific protocol, integrity companioned with her creative wit and naturally inquisitive mind made her and her work compelling.
The most powerful take-away is the global diversity and serendipity that went into creating each part of this precious, beautiful and important artifact. The thoughts, hearts and souls, fears and dreams each creator (from around the world) brought to this project demonstrate that every action we take, and choice we make has show more small and large effects, good and bad, in the present and potentially in the future.
Very good read! show less
In a year in which I've been more than usually lucky in finding wonderful books to read, I add this one to the list. Geraldine Brooks is a fantastic writer; the scope of her learnedness and the emotive excellence of her writing make her an author to seek out. People of the Book is the third book I've read by her this year, and the time I've spent reading her novels was time well and happily spent.
The Book that the title refers to is a Haggadah, which is a book guiding the Passover Seder: a learning and cultural experience in addition to being a good meal. It tells the story of the first Passover, when the angel of death spares the Hebrews. In the novel, the Haggadah is written on parchment and wonderfully illuminated in a manner more show more reminiscent of an illustrated Christian prayer book, than a Jewish tome of any sort.
The crux of the story follows Hanna, a highly skilled and sought after repairer and appraiser of books. She has been asked to fix a somewhat damaged Haggadah, and her eagle eye spots little trinkets in it that help along the knowledge base of this prized work. She finds a white hair, part of a moth's wing, a few grains of salt, and an interesting stain. All of them take us into the various stories of the book's history. Brooks takes us to medieval Spain, to 17th century Venice, among other times and places, and shows us the passage of the Haggadah through time.
The book is incredibly intelligent, and I must admit that it made me sad. I could have had a life like Hanna's, a doctorate, a fascinating job, international respect. I have the brains, but the brain also sported severe mental illness, and now I am an unemployed sixtiesh woman, dependent on the kindness of others. This book hit hard in the "could have beens".
It's a remarkable book that I'm glad I've read. I gave it four stars because there was torture in the scenes of medieval Spain, which I cannot tolerate, and because it made me feel bad about myself (entirely unintentionally), which I did not enjoy. Still, it gave me a few days of great reading pleasure. show less
The Book that the title refers to is a Haggadah, which is a book guiding the Passover Seder: a learning and cultural experience in addition to being a good meal. It tells the story of the first Passover, when the angel of death spares the Hebrews. In the novel, the Haggadah is written on parchment and wonderfully illuminated in a manner more show more reminiscent of an illustrated Christian prayer book, than a Jewish tome of any sort.
The crux of the story follows Hanna, a highly skilled and sought after repairer and appraiser of books. She has been asked to fix a somewhat damaged Haggadah, and her eagle eye spots little trinkets in it that help along the knowledge base of this prized work. She finds a white hair, part of a moth's wing, a few grains of salt, and an interesting stain. All of them take us into the various stories of the book's history. Brooks takes us to medieval Spain, to 17th century Venice, among other times and places, and shows us the passage of the Haggadah through time.
The book is incredibly intelligent, and I must admit that it made me sad. I could have had a life like Hanna's, a doctorate, a fascinating job, international respect. I have the brains, but the brain also sported severe mental illness, and now I am an unemployed sixtiesh woman, dependent on the kindness of others. This book hit hard in the "could have beens".
It's a remarkable book that I'm glad I've read. I gave it four stars because there was torture in the scenes of medieval Spain, which I cannot tolerate, and because it made me feel bad about myself (entirely unintentionally), which I did not enjoy. Still, it gave me a few days of great reading pleasure. show less
I read this for an April book club. People of the Book is beautifully written, deeply researched, and a hard read, as it relates the horrors that the Jewish people have endured over a 500 year span in relation to the Sarajevo Haggadah, a rare medieval illustrated Jewish work. While the book is real, the events described are largely fictionalized. It is, nevertheless, a harrowing and hard read at times, even as it is fascinating because of the unique historical vantage points.
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ThingScore 83
While peering through a microscope at a rime of salt crystals on the manuscript of the Haggadah, Hanna reflects that “the gold beaters, the stone grinders, the scribes, the binders” are “the people I feel most comfortable with. Sometimes in the quiet these people speak to me.” Though the reader’s sense of Hanna’s relationship with the Haggadah rarely deepens to such a level, show more Geraldine Brooks’s certainly has. show less
added by DieFledermaus
Brooks' novel meticulously, lovingly amalgamates mystery and history with the personal story of its heroine, rare-book expert and conservator Hanna Heath.
added by DieFledermaus
If Brooks becomes the new patron saint of booksellers, she deserves it. The stories of the Sarajevo Haggadah, both factual and fictional, are stirring testaments to the people of many faiths who risked all to save this priceless work.
added by DieFledermaus
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Author Information
15+ Works 39,625 Members
Geraldine Brooks is the author of two acclaimed works of nonfiction, "Nine Parts of Desire" and "Foreign Correspondence." A former war correspondent, her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. (Publisher Provided) Geraldine Brooks was born in Sydney, Australia on September 14, 1955. She show more attended Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney. She worked as a feature writer with a special interest in environmental issues for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years. In 1982, she won the Greg Shackleton Australian News Correspondents scholarship to the journalism master's program at Columbia University in New York City. She later worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. She has written both fiction and non-fiction books including Year of Wonders, Nine Parts of Desire, and The Secret Chord. She has won several awards including the Nita Kibble Literary Award for Foreign Correspondence, the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for March, the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Christianity Today Book Award for Caleb's Crossing, and the Australian Book of the Year Award and the Australian Literary Fiction Award in 2008 for People of the Book. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Has as a student's study guide
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- People of the Book
- Original title
- People of the Book
- Original publication date
- 2008 (1e édition originale américaine, Viking Penguin) (1e édition originale américaine, Viking Penguin); 2008-08-14 (1e traduction et édition française, Belfond) (1e traduction et édition française, Belfond)
- People/Characters
- Hanna Heath; Ozren Karaman; Lola; Serif Kamal; Stela Kamal; Amitai Yomtov (show all 24); Werner Heinrich; Razmus Kanaha; Dr. Franz Hirschfeldt; Florien Mittl; Giovanni Domenico Vistorini; Judah Aryeh; Dr. Sarah Heath; David Ben Shoushan; Ruti Ben Shoushan 'Ruth'; Joseph Ben Shoushan; Reuben Ben Shoushan / Renato del Salvador; Rosa del Salvador; Zahra bint Ibrahim al-Tarek 'al-Mora'; Amalie Sutter; Isak; Ina; Reyna de Serena; Aaron Sharansky
- Important places
- Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia; Australia; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Granada, Andalusia, Spain; Jerusalem; London, England, UK (show all 13); Massachusetts, USA; Northern Territory, Australia; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Seville, Andalusia, Spain; Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain; Venice, Veneto, Italy; Vienna, Austria
- Important events
- World War II (1939-1945); Bosnian War (1992-1995); Holocaust; Expulsion of the Jews in Spain
- Epigraph
- There, where one burns books,
one in the end, burns men.
-- Heinrich Heine - Dedication
- For the librarians
- First words
- I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job. -Hanna, Sarajevo, Spring 1996
- Quotations
- The words stuck to his tongue like...the ashes that had fallen in a warm rain after the last book burning.
I wanted to give a sense of the people of the book, the different hands that had made it, used it, protected it. I wanted it to be a gripping narrative, even suspenseful.
Amitai's voice suddenly seemed a bit husky. “Can you imagine, Channa? A Muslim, risking his neck to save a Jewish book.”
But a haggadah is used only at home. The word is from the Hebrew root ngd, “to tell,” and it comes from the biblical command that instructs parents to tell their children the story of the Exodus.
“I've always kind of admired Sarajevans for being so surprised by the war,” I said. It had seemed the rational response to me. Who wouldn't be in a state of denial when your next-door neighbor suddenly starts shooting at ... (show all)you, casually and without remorse, like you're some kind of unwanted introduced species, the way the farmers at home eradicate rabbits.
Of course, you don't have to be stupid and primitive to die a stupid, primitive death.
Anti-Semitism has never been part of our lives in Sarajevo. Look where the synagogue is: between the mosque and the Orthodox church. I'm sorry, but Palestine is the Arabs' home, not yours. Certainly not mine.
“That you, Muslims, should help a Jew—” “Come now!” Serif said, realizing that she was about to cry. “Jews and Muslims are cousins, the descendants of Abraham.
Reading incomplete French words backward was tricky.
Kaddish had always been one of Aryeh's favorite prayers—the prayer for the dead that did not mention death, or grief, or loss, but only life and glory and peace. The prayer that turned its face away from burial plots and mo... (show all)ldering remains and set its eyes on the firmament: “May a great peace from heaven—and life!—be upon us and upon all Israel, and say all, amen! May he who makes peace in his high places make peace upon us and all Israel, and say all, amen!”
“Well, from what you've told me, the book has survived the same human disaster over and over again. Think about it. You've got a society where people tolerate difference, like Spain in the Convivencia, and everything's humm... (show all)ing along: creative, prosperous. Then somehow this fear, this hate, this need to demonize ‘the other'—it just sort of rears up and smashes the whole society. Inquisition, Nazis, extremist Serb nationalists…same old, same old. It seems to me the book, at this point, bears witness to all that.”
The door opened on a dozen or so loud voices, all talking at once. Someone handed me vodka in a shot glass. Somehow, I hadn't pictured shivah like this. I guess that was the Russian part of Russian Jewish.
The art world in England is an absolute magnet for the second sons of threadbare lords, or women named Annabelle Something-hyphen-Something who dress in black leggings and burnt orange cashmeres and smell faintly of wet Labra... (show all)dor.
The wishes and desires of the powerful can be fickle things. I knew this. But I knew it in that deep place where one hides knowledge that is inconvenient, or too painful to admit, even to oneself.
I have spent many nights, lying awake here in this room, thinking that 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 divid... (show all)ed us. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)This time, I didn't pull away.
- Publisher's editor
- Stern, Molly
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.914
- Canonical LCC
- PR9619.3.B7153
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 11,101
- Popularity
- 829
- Reviews
- 524
- Rating
- (3.93)
- Languages
- 15 — Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmål), Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 76
- ASINs
- 20