I own a few books that are around 100 years old. They came to me in different ways - from teachers, family members, that kind of thing. One really interesting book was written by the US ambassador to England in 1915 and is a letter to his grandson. It is very short - only 15 pages with an introduction and small sized. It was traded into the used bookstore where I worked in Fairbanks and because I was a history buff someone set it aside for me to see before it was shelved. I bought it for $1. The pages had not even been cut on it - it had never been read. It was clearly published in a very small run (by "Doubleday, Page and Co." in 1924 - it's marked as a first edition) and who knows where this book started from to end up where it did. It's a very moving letter; very human. I have always wondered where it was before it came to me and who the people were that held it (unread) over the years.
Can you see why I majored in history?
Geraldine Brooks takes this whole idea of objects buffeted about by history and in People of the Book she explores it in wonderful style. The book came out last year to a ton of good reviews (after winning the Pulitzer for March she gets all the heavy hitter attention) but if you skipped it in HC now is a chance to scoop it up in PB. If you like literary history, especially European history, then you will find this one irresistible. It zips along with two parallel plot lines: the modern day story of rare book expert Hanna who is studying the "Sarajevo Haggadah" an early Jewish illuminated book, and then every other chapter follows up on a clue Hanna discovers like an insect wing or wine stain from the book. Slowly, the story goes back in time until the reader learns who first wrote it and Hanna picks up those clues as well, never knowing the why and who as much but at least discovering the what which helps her chart the book's geographic course.
In the contemporary storyline Hanna has a lot of issues separate from the Haggadah. As she chases its clues (don't think this is Da Vinci Code territory though - the chase is mostly academic) she also uncovers some startling secrets about herself. They are not revealed through contrivance or linked to the Haggadah - it's just that as she goes into archives, meets with specialists, wanders in and out of great cities to see what she can discover, Hanna also has a meeting or two with her mother and stuff does get revealed. Major stuff. Huge stuff. And so just as the book has been at the center of many personal crises in the past, it is there again as Hanna's world blows up and she has to reconsider everything she ever thought she knew about herself both professionally and personally.
The contemporary storyline is solid and Hanna is a good protagonist. I wasn't as drawn to it as the historical characters however - the romance, while not cloying, still seemed a bit forced but it's not the point so don't worry about that. In the historical passages there are a lot more reasons for drama and fear so it's easier for readers to get caught up in them. Hanna's worries don't involve getting shot or tortured though, so the pacing is a bit of a jolt from time to time.
Brooks takes the book through all manner of horrors - from slavery to the Spanish Inquisition (whoa) to discrimination in 17th century Venice and the nightmare that was Sarajevo in 1940. (That section is the most compelling I think, as you can juxtapose it against the recent Balkans War.) The historic characters are incredibly vivid and honestly written; no matter how far removed you might be from their reality it still comes down to basic human desires to live a good life, love the people you love, worship as you choose. In many ways People of the Book is a reminder of how little we all change, no matter what time we live in. Our dreams are always for the most basic of freedoms; the most basic of hopes. (And parents do not, of course, always know best.)
People of the Book is one of those titles that I'll send to my mother because I know she's going to love it. We cross on a lot of books but particularly those that focus on the human condition. The best sort of history books make the past come alive and that is certainly what Brooks has done here. She takes a literary mystery and makes the book at its center matter purely because of the human story that is attached to its covers - not the book's contents but it's ownership; it's protectors. She has an excellent afterword in the US tpb edition about the real Sarajevo Haggadah (which dates to the 14th century) and the actual people some of the fictional characters are based on. She has made me want to learn more about that city during WWII and most certainly about Dervis Korkut, an Islamic scholar, who risked his life to keep this Jewish volume safe. Why aren't these the heroes that we learn about in school? Why aren't profiles in this sort of courage common knowledge?
You can read several interviews with Geraldine Brooks online - here's a bit of one on People of the Book:
Kelly: There are of course some parallels between your main character in People of the Book, Dr. Hanna Heath. You're both Australian, have traveled the world and are historians of a sort. You have been clear, however, that you do not have never had a bad relationship with your mother. How else do you and Hanna differ?
Geraldine: It’s a shorter answer if I tell you how we’re alike: we both like the intellectual hunt of research and bringing the past back to life. We both enjoy spicy food. We’re both Aussies who use a lot of colorful Oz idioms. And that’s about it. The fun of fiction is making up a character who is different, thinking yourself into a different life, mind, world view.
The "intellectual hunt of research" - how cool of a description is that? Love her, and highly recommend People of the Book.
[Post pic of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the book's US edition, the UK edition (which I think is way more appealing) and Dervis Korkut.]
