People of the Book: A Novel (A&R Classics)

by Geraldine Brooks

The bestselling novel that follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war, from the author of The Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called “a tour de force” by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—only begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultranationalist fanatics.

• ISBN10: 0143115006
• ISBN13: 9780143115007
• Publish Date: 30 December 2008 (first published 1 January 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Penguin USA
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780143115007

Reviews

[pamela]

After reading the travesty of Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker, Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book was a breath of fresh air. It was intelligent, visual and entertaining. It is a book that has found a place close to my heart as it ties in with my own chosen career path (curator), and my love of history.
The novel follows the story of a book conservator from Sydney who is called to stabilise a very rare Jewish Haggadah rescued from a bombed library in war-torn Sarajevo. As the book is studied, certain marks and objects are found within its pages, each telling a story which shows how the book came to be, and how it came to be in Sarajevo at that time.

The novel is perfectly paced, with just the right amount of technical detail. The reader is able to understand the work of a book conservator without being inundated with too much technical knowledge. The relationships as conveyed in the book are real, not romanticised, and the characters are well rounded although, especially toward the end of the book, their motivations are not always as clear as they could be.

This book is rife with wit, intelligence, tragedy, and hope. Each new story the book unfolds tells us something about our own history, and makes the reader think about their own objects, and how each of the events in our lives helps shape us.

My only gripe with this novel is the ending. It felt a little forced, almost as if Brooks had tried to put a plot twist in for the sake of one. It was completely unnecessary, and in my opinion cheapened a book that up until that point had such integrity. It was by no means a terrible ending, I just didn't feel it was in keeping with the tone of the rest of the novel.

While not part of the novel, the acknowledgements is where this book had it's one true down point. Geraldine Brooks thanks her advisers for helping her determine whether a book conservator was a realistic career choice for an Australian. Really Geraldine? Really? Brooks is from Australia and yet even she thinks that we are so backward and small that we couldn't possibly have conservators? My best friend is a conservator! Do we not have history worth conserving? Do we not have top notch universities who teach chemistry and accurate conservation practices? Do we not have world class museums who have both curators and conservators on staff? The answer to all this is of course, yes we do! We are not so backward that we are unable to protect our heritage, in fact we are one of the world leaders in heritage and conservation. There we are. Rant over.

All in all this book was fantastic. Without a doubt one of the best books I have read in a long time. It was intelligent without being pretentious, and fast paced without being formulaic. Perhaps it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but as a lover of history this novel really spoke to me.

[Eve1972]

What an intriguing little read this book was! I think Geraldine Brooks is fast becoming one of my favorite authors! This was a remarkable story about the history of the priceless medieval Jewish prayer book, the Sarajevo Haggadah. Jumping back and forth in time and giving us beautiful and painful insights into the history of the book, the author does a wonderful job of wrapping facts with fiction and creating a very spellbinding read. This is definitely one to add to you own "to read" list!

[empressbrooke]

People of the Book is a fictionalized account of the Sarajevo Haggadah's journey from its creation to the present. The point-of-view flips back and forth between Hanna, the modern-day conservator who is restoring the prayer book, and various people who once possessed it. Each historical short story is centered around things that Hanna finds in the book - for example, an insect wing, and a white hair.

It's a disturbing read, since each short story comes from a time and place in history where the Jewish people are being driven out of the country or killed by the masses. My favorite thing about Jewish history is how it spans so much time and land. The book demonstrates how there are so many different Jewish experiences, depending on the era and the country and the policies of rulers who found either accepting or scorning Jews to their political advantage. I can only trace my ancestors back to recent-Austria, and the book left me wondering, in ways that nonfiction doesn't, where they were before that.

Hanna gets more face-time than any of the other characters, but her story really seems like an afterthought. It's the glue that binds the other stories, but it doesn't feel like it's part of the same book. The thriller-ish bit that's thrown on at the end of Hanna's story is sort of random, and I'm not sure yet why Geraldine Brooks added it (maybe she foresaw the not-so-accurate comparisons to The DaVinci Code). I didn't dislike getting to know Hanna, but it's like my reaction to having chicken in an otherwise creamy soup - chicken is good, but the textures just don't match.

Overall, a very worthy read.