First book down, and what a cracker! I thoroughly enjoyed People of the Book, not all the time, but ultimately: unputdownable! Part-Dan Brown, part-Margaret Atwood, part-Peter Carey, its a surprising and thought-provoking book that really gets under your skin. I was a bit non-plussed by it at first - maybe a bit too Dan Brown at that point - but as I eased into her style and the conceit she employs in the storytelling, the layers and resonances of this book, and the book it describes, started to affect me deeply. Brooks is a recent convert to Judaism, and there is an obvious deferential awe of therituals of her religion in many of the episodes in her book, but I found it all really interesting as I don't know a whole lot about Judaism and its practices. Christians, and Muslims to some extent, are presented as the bad guys for the most part in the novel, their religious persecution of the Jews a central feature in the 'historic' chapters.
And about the chapters. Brooks juxtaposes chapters of a modern story detailing the experiences of a manuscript restorer and the centuries-old religious book she is employed to study with a series of backwards-chronological chapters providing the dramatic background for what she discovers. It is an effective approach, and the stories grow in their potency, perhaps by design, or perhaps through the reader becoming more used to the device. By the time of the penultimate story - outlining the original purpose of the book and the imagined circumstances surrounding its creation - I was quite moved by the characters and the emotional, almost hypnotic writing.
This perhaps allowed me to forgive Brooks for the pedestrian nature of the modern story. It is not without its surprises, but the whingings of a thirty-something book nerd seem to fall flat when compared to the lives of her "people of the book". I think this is conscious, the modern tale uses much vernacular and descriptions of trappings a la mode that are seemingly dull when in contrast to turn-of-the-eighteenth-century Vienna or medieval Spain.
Whatever her reasons, and despite some clunkiness in the plotting, this is a very powerful book that amazes and resonates. I particularly liked her use of female protagonists in each time period as well as taking the main character. This is feminist writing without the rhetoric - women are placed firmly in the centre of things, making important decisions, creating and adding to art and culture, making history. In this way People of the Book gives a voice to figures receding from history; like the journey of the Jews themselves, it begs further reading into a history beyond kings and wars.
The wrap-up:
Australian themes - Only a few, main character ends up working on Aboriginal cultural sites.
Australian characters - Main character and her mother are upper-class Aussies.
Australian settings - Some scenes at a beachside suburb, final chapter set in outback.
Australian voice - Some (embarassing) discussions of Australian usage and customs.
Australian focus - Much of the book is centred on European events but Australia is held up as a place of sanctuary and peace: home.
