Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7899 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-07
• Binding: Hardcover
• 356 pages

Independent on Sunday
'This illuminating novel, like its predecessor, is well worthy of both Pulitzer and prime-time approbation.'

Scotsman
'Brooks's extensive research is evident throughout.'

Times Literary Supplement
'Compelling..."People of the Book" is a powerful account of individual resistance...It is also a gripping story.'

Customer Reviews

A book that needs quality time set aside for it
There are different kinds of novels, those you read and can't put down, those you wish you'd never started, and those where you think you should be enjoying it more but can't decide if that's down to the book or you.
So when I say I didn't much care for this book I'm afraid it comes with a caveat: it says more about me than it does about the book.
In fact, this is one of those rare occasions where I've decided I'm going to put the book away until later in the year and give it another go. The fact I'm going to do that should say a lot, I hope. I have a feeling it's worth giving another shot but that this is certainly a book that needs time and attention - not a beach read by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it a bedtime 'few pages each evening' read. Instead, it needs several hours over a weekend and I hope that's taken as praise.

There aren't many books that make you question yourself as a reader, and this is one of them! I'll revise this review when I've had another shot.

The life of a book
You may be forgiven for thinking you're in postmodern territory when faced with a book telling, in essence, the life story of a book. What you actually get is a wonderfully written historical tale that presents you with a text and then strips open the pages to reveal the people and events that shaped the writing. There's more than enough for your brain to feast upon for a long time. Extremely rewarding.

A compelling walk through history
A novel about a book, and about the people whose lives are intertwined down the centuries because of it, Geraldine Brooks has created a memorable and magical tale that dips briefly into the lives of a wide range of people who came into contact with the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illustrated book of Jewish prayer that was saved from the conflict in Bosnia as it had been saved so many times before.

The present-day book restorer's exploration of the object she has in front of her opens up windows into the past thanks to small signs and markings she finds: a curious stain, a moth's wing, marks where clasps once were, which the author then spins into tales of what might-have-been, spanning the years and many walks of life. This is a book to spend time over, and the imagery is stunning, little breaths of history coming alive and making this a book within a book.

Its difficult to convey the sense of wonder you get as each layer of the mystery of the Haggadah's past is unfolded, as you go back in time and meet men, women and children who've lived, and sometimes died, and whose interaction with the book have left these tiny marks.

Truly a compelling read, and the insight into the restoration work and the clues mere paper and ink can leave were fascinating, although I was less interested in Hanna's life and loves than in the rest of the tale. Everything was drawn together beautifully in the end however.