I had no real interest in Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book—although I have read and enjoyed her previous work—until someone on his thread said it was good. (Mellow perhaps?) So I read it and mostly enjoyed it. First, it appealed to my inner schoolmarm because one doesn't often run into the "envelope" structure these days.
"OK, show-off, what's the 'envelope structure'?"
"A group of stories fitting into an over structure, specifically the 'envelope.' Canterbury Tales is probably the most famous example."
And here I have to hand it to Brooks. Chaucer's envelope is the trip. Brooks' is yet another story with an interesting twist at the end. She wins—IMHO, of course.
The one problem I found with the book lies in the stories themselves. Each is fairly long, and with every one of them, once I was totally involved, the story ended. Grrrrrrrrr
I did dog-ear a few pages, although none contain what Mellow is illustrating in her earmarks thread. The ones I found in People of the Book are primarily interesting thoughts.
1) Start of the envelope. "To restore a book to the way it was when it was made is to lack respect for its history. I think you have to accept a book as you receive it from past generations, and to a certain extent damage and wear reflect that history." (page 17) Brooks' envelope then contains fictionalized stories of the people who have damaged or added to the wear of the book. Cool, huh?
2) "How could a people leave its dead untended." (page 251) Apropos of absolutely nothing else in this book, this sentence sent my mind skittering. Many years ago I read a history of the Donner Party and one of the author's contentions was that how that group of people treated their dead indicated how far outside the bounds of civilized behavior they had moved. Are there other works that treat this issue? Inquiring minds want to know.
3) During a story set in 1480 Brooks makes mention of a character "Hakim, who had been a calligrapher. He boasted that he had copied twenty Korans in his career, and that the holy words were etched on his heart. If so, they had not softened it. The only gentle words that came from his pursed mouth were his prayers. The rest of his speech was an endless stream of bile." (page 284) Interesting how one can find similar adherents to religious writings today.
Do I recommend? Yes.
Gray panther, if you're checking out this thread and haven't read People of the Book, I think you'd really like it.
Last edited by humphreysmar; 11/23/09 03:51 PM. Reason: change Gwendolyn to Geraldine
