Remarkably Aggravating!

This longish novel is based on a medieval Jewish manuscript that somehow survived through the vagaries of history to reappear in Sarajevo after the late 20th century civil war.

The author Geraldine Brooks swiftly moves through cultures and centuries to explain the book’s current peculiarities, not chronologically but through multiple flashbacks. The number of characters and sub-plots is dizzying, as if she were above all intent on displaying the extent of her imagination. In fact, many components, such as the Australian expert’s dismal relationship with her mother, have nothing to do with the manuscript. The result, far from any verisimilitude, is of little interest to the reader. The final twist is particularly appalling!

In the audio version, the aggravation is compounded by the fact that characters speak with a foreign accent when they are conversing in their own tongue (Bosnian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, etc.). Some of the chapters are set in the first person, but reading is done in the narrator’s own Australian accent … except for the dialogues. Though she must be commended for her efforts, she by no means succeeds in being convincing with all the inflections she is asked to deliver.

Overall, it appears best to pass over this offering.

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