My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I found this book to be particularly interesting about halfway through when I made a realization. Often when one read books (at least this is true for me), if its not an action/mystery/thriller where you are reading to solve the puzzle, you are reading to engross yourself into the characters. To learn more about them, figure out their unique personalities, their unique histories, everything that gives them depth and make them appear to be real life people. Well, I was somewhat disappointed with this book for the first half because I felt like I wasn't getting that type of in depth character portrayal. The novel is a story about a book known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, a real 15th/16th century book and its recent re-discovery in Bosnia in 1996, during the middle of the conflict taking place there at the time. The novel then traces the history of the book backwards, which means that while the primary arc of the story is the "present day" of the initial narrator, the book expert charged with conserving/preserving the Haggadah for display in a museum, the reader is given multiple stories going backwards through time, taking the reader through the events of WWII in the Bosnian territory, to Vienna at the turn of the 19th Century, along with Venice and southern Spain even further back. As such, its hard to develop consistency with any one character set, and the reader is left hanging somewhat as to what happens to the characters involved with the Haggadeh once their path no longer crosses the path of the book.
But, the realization hit that the novel was not about "people" characters, and thus a story about them, but the story of this book, and the amazing journey it took from its unique and conflicting creation to surviving hundreds of years of antisemitism throughout Europe. I believe, that once read from that perspective, focusing primarily on the book's story and journey, as opposed to the plights of the people throughout the novel, "People of the Book" becomes a fascinating story of a unique journey through history, and results in an interesting and entertaining read.
I think the book also makes one reflect on the history of discrimination towards "others" that have existed in our world. As I mentioned above, this book highlights the discrimination prevalent in Europe towards Jews, simply on the basis of their religion. More to the point, the discrimination often occurred because of a competing religion's (be it Christianity or Islam) views towards another faith. As you read about the history (or fictional history as it may be) of the Sarajevo Haggadeh, and how it survives despite this bigotry, its inspiring and upsetting. Its amazing that such a precious work of art that is contained in this Haggadeh has survived centuries that saw increasingly antisemitism evidenced by continent wide pogroms and culminating in the horror of the Holocaust. Its disappointing to reflect at how little has changed. The Holocaust is still less than a century ago. There is constant tension between the three major monotheistic religions in the Middle East today. In the United States, there is a rapid growth of prejudice against individuals of the Muslim faith. I can't help but wonder if such prejudice is inherent in these faith systems; and regardless of that answer, why individuals cannot avoid acting in such violent and disrespectful ways upon such systems.
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