Review: The Triumph of Deborah

The Triumph of Deborah

by Eva Etzioni-Halevy

This book had me changing my mind about it several times. First I was impressed by the true-to-life complexity of the characters. Then I was disappointed in the sensational turn the story took. I was grateful for the sparsity of details in regards to war without glossing right over it; then I was turned off by the sheer volume of s*xual encounters, giving the story a romance novel feel. I appreciated the love story and its affect on the characters but soon found it straying into the realm of non-reality. In short I found it to be somewhat engaging as an historical novel with a pinch of the absurd.

The book opens with the gradual introduction of three very different women: Deborah, the current Judge and Prophetess of Israel; Asherah, the daughter of the Canaanite King Jabin, enemy of Israel; and Nogah, the illegitimate daughter of King Jabin and an Israelite slave. I was drawn in to each of their stories and curious as to how the author would develop them beyond what I already knew from reading Judges 4 & 5 in my Bible(where the story of Deborah is originally told). I was particularly glad to see strong female characters that were not filtered through the sieve of modern day feminism. But as soon as Barak entered the picture with his eternal bed of splendor I began to have some concerns.

I think the book highly imaginative and not your average religious fiction. In fact, the religion part only appears in its historical context. I appreciated that. It gives the book a wider appeal for those from many different faiths or no particular religious sway. I am curious to read another of her books entitled The Garden of Ruth but I am leery of more of this same tendency toward romantic titillation. If the story had been taken more seriously it could have been phenomenal but as it is it is a worthy alternative to the average Christian romance novel.

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A Big Book Givaway

I don't usually post about blog contests, mostly out of laziness, but this one is too big to pass up. Jenn at Devourer of Books is giving away 15 books to celebrate her 100th book review. 15 books will be divided among up to 5 lucky winners. The more people who enter the more winners there will be, up to 5. All you have to do is leave a comment naming your top 2 choices from the 15 books offered. I've made my selection. Which 2 did you choose?

Great Books for Fall

Wanna know what great books are being released this fall? Check out this list from The Seattle Times.

Review: My Father's Paradise

My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq
by Ariel Sabar

"...we are who we come from as much as who we make of ourselves."

For many hundreds of years the small village of Zakho in Iraq was a quiet, unassuming place to raise a family. It rarely made its way into the annuls of history and nothing of any significance ever gave it a reason to change its primitive ways. Jews lived in harmony alongside Christians and Muslims. Until a war broke out in the 1950s that was so big Zakho couldn't hide in its corner of Iraq any longer. When the Kurdish Jews were offered a chance to escape to Israel, they left behind their previous lives to pursue paradise. Except Israel was anything but the promised land these Jews sought. To be a newly immigrated Kurdish Jew in Israel was to be the lowest of the low. It was at this time in history that Yona Beh Sabagha was coming of age. This displacement shaped the boy into a man. Determined to make something of himself in the face of difficult odds Yona invented himself in Israel(quite literally with the changing of his last name to Sabar), then reinvented himself in America as a renowned linguistics professor at UCLA.

Fast forward to the dawn of a new century. Ariel Sabar has spent his every moment rebelling against and distancing himself from his father, a man inconsistent with his fashionable L.A. surroundings; until the birth of his own son causes him to step into his father's shoes. It becomes the impetus for the journey to discover his roots and to understand the man his father is apart from being the father of Ariel Sabar.

This eloquent family history combines factual details with just the right amount of storytelling flare. I admire the way the author honors his father, a man of quiet dignity. And I am a little jealous of the rich family history he has to ground himself in. I sometimes got lost in the details about war and politics but these were not heavy nor did they at all detract from the story of this remarkable family. It is very readable. I highly recommend it.

I leave you with this wonderful quote from an interview with the author:
"America makes it possible to be who you want to be. That is its genius. But a consequence of that freedom and acceptance is that it's easy to forget where you came from. Striking the right balance is a daily struggle, a daily negotiation, and one that I am still very much working on."

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The Sunday Salon

When my daughter asked that her 11th birthday party be a small tea party I was pleased. I was not in the mood to throw a big bash with everyone we know. Five girls eating sandwiches and working on a craft sounded blissfully low key. Um, yeah right. The guest list may have been small but the preparation was not. There is a lot of work involved in creating that English Tea feeling. And the girls ranged between ages 5 through 12. Throw in a couple of games and you've got yourself a noisy, messy house. It was a lot of fun despite the chaos and I even joined in on the game of Mouse Mouse Cat(it was a tea party with a cat theme so Duck Duck Goose got a makeover). Now that the house is back in proper order and quiet again I am exhausted.

In my reading life things have slowed down. I am just about finished with My Father's Paradise and can't wait to review it. I'm hoping that I can finish The Triumph of Deborah this week too. I received a few more books in the mail I want to get to soon such as The 19th Wife, Tomato Girl, Plum Wine and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. These all look so good. What book is next on your nightstand?

Review: The Complete Persepolis

The Complete Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi

After my lofty rave review of The Complete Maus I was immediately told to check out Persepolis being a similar graphic novel/memoir but this time of a girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Actually I knew it was a memoir but nothing else. To be honest, if I'd known it was about Iran I might have avoided it for a while longer because I am already steeped in the war-time history of the middle east in My Father's Paradise, finding it hard to follow all the political maneuvering. Not being a history buff (I do find it fascinating but it's not my passion) I am doing well to keep a very basic understanding of one geographic historical period at a time. I fear it suffers in my estimation because of poor timing.

Persepolis has often been compared to Maus, a book still fresh in my mind. I would not consider Persepolis to have the same sympathetic appeal as Maus, nor the humility, but Satrapi brings the reader into her world and shows the similarities and differences to our own. She is open about her childish emotions, not softening them in retrospect to make herself look better; though you can almost see her shaking her head, laughing at her precocious self, her desire to be a prophetess, her games of torture with her schoolmates. She is then equally open about her immature and ill-thought out adolescent choices that cause her to run back home to a war destroyed Iran. With the eyes of an adult with a little more experience in the world she is able to judge her surroundings better; enough to determine that she no longer fits in her old world. She must find her own place.

In a way Satrapi's story reminds me of The Namesake. She is so isolated from her homeland but she doesn't fit anywhere else either. She is left to find her own place in a world that doesn't welcome her. But she is a strong individual who knows her own mind. She is courageous and honest. These are the traits that will pull her through.

I wouldn't call Persepolis a must read but it wasn't a waste of time. I got a glimpse of life from a different prospective and am more aware for it.

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The Sunday Salon

This week began deceptively calm and leisurely. At the conclusion of our first day of homeschool on Tuesday I thought how easy our week was going to be. I am grateful that school was so easy because it left room for recovery from the other part of my week that was downright traumatic. You see, I was attacked by a pit bull.

No, I am not joking. I wish I were. I have the teeth marks to prove it but you'll never see them. It is not hard to imagine where a medium-sized dog is likely to bite a fleeing woman of average height. Right in the tokus.

I mention quickly that I am alright; I required no stitches. I've learned that the backside is in fact the best place to be bit if one has the choice. It is difficult for the dog to get his teeth into the flesh there. As Mom said, "So it's good to have junk-in-the-trunk." (First of all Mom, it's a little disturbing to hear you use such a term. Secondly, just what are you trying to say about the size of my butt?)

Seriously, I am fine. The neighbor feels just as bad as can be. She has replaces the fence already and assures me that the dog (Murphy) will never be in the yard without a leash again. My knees have scabbed over and the bruises are already starting to fade; that is, they have gone from black to purple-ish with green around the edges.

And now, onto books. I read aloud to the kiddos from the ARC of a new series called Something Wickedly Weird. I received the second book in the series so I'm holding off on my review until I can read the first. Both books will be released simultaneously at the end of the month.

I also read and reviewed the short story collection Down to a Sunless Sea. The book left me bewildered. The author places you inside the mind of a damaged person to experience their struggles, then abruptly ends the story. This leaves the reader stranded with the character's feelings of helplessness. It can be disorienting.

I have also been slowly making my way through The Triumph of Deborah. I have read more than I care to admit of cheesy Christian novels but this one does not fit into that category. It is well written and plausible. I have a few qualms, because that is my nature, but I will save them for my full review.

For the upcoming week I will be reading My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq. I'm not sure what to expect but that is often the best way to come to a book. Have a good week all, and stay away from hungry pit bulls.

Review: Down to a Sunless Sea

Down to a Sunless Sea
by Mathias Freese

I am not sure what to think after finishing this award winning collection of short stories. They are "case studies" of physically and mentally broken people. The author uses his background as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist to get into the minds of each of his characters. (edited: Here's an interesting fact the author shared with me: he wrote half of the stories before he was a shrink.) Some of the stories are clear and others are enigmatic. They range in emotion from regretful to frustrating, angry to morose. Though we would and do normally laugh at some of the situations presented, the reader feels that laughing would be highly inappropriate. There is nothing humorous about the damaged mental health of these people. They feel like real people struggling with real issues that they may never be able to overcome. A man with Cerebral Palsy suffering from natural urges, an old woman lamenting the loss of her youth to Auschwitz, a boy traumatised by his father's callous sink or swim technique of teaching him about life, a man too absorbed in himself to form any lasting relationships. You could easily run into these people on the street. You could secretly be one of these people.

One of the things I struggled with while reading was a sense that it was way above my level of understanding. If I had had a dictionary handy I would have consulted it frequently. And several times I wanted to ask the author what was going on. Someone with a history in the mental health community might pick right up on the various dysfunctions but I was at a loss a couple of times. The author's intellect, education and experience are far beyond my own. While I am not sure of my feelings for this work I can recommend it as a well written example of character driven and "less is more" writing. If you love people, especially those in need of compassion, you may be interested in reading Down to a Sunless Sea. It will give you a deeper understanding of how they think and why they act the way they do.

Check out this Allbook review. Then head over to the author's blog.

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Review: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
by Kate Summerscale

It almost seems redundant to summarize this investigative case study yet again as so many bloggers have reviewed this one in recent weeks but I can't say it any better than the first sentences of the introduction:

"This is the story of a murder committed in an English country house in 1860, perhaps the most disturbing murder of its time. The search for the killer threatened the career of one of the first and greatest detectives, inspired a 'detective-fever' throughout England, and set the course of detective fiction."

What you will find between the covers is a vastly well researched account drawn from newspaper articles, court records, correspondence and published accounts written after the tragedy. The notes and bibliography sections alone are 40 pages worth. Every detail that could possibly be found out about this case, the people involved and public opinion at the time were drawn out and redrawn into a chronology meant to give the reader a chance to see it from all angles. The sheer volume of details could be overwhelming at times but I believe this to have been intentional. Overwhelmed is exactly what everyone involved with the case was; everyone except Mr. Whicher who had such confidence in his assessment from such an early point and never wavered from it that the public considered him dangerously arrogant, determined to destroy an innocent youth. There was a point when I thought there was some extraneous detail but it soon proved to be of importance to Ms. Summerscale's purpose. All I can say is, "Very well done."

One of the elements that held my interest throughout was the inclusion of excerpts and background from popular detective fiction that the case inspired. I now have small list of books I want to read right away but with an eye for connections to this story:

• Lady Audley's Secret


• The Woman in White


• The Moonstone


• Bleak House


• The Mystery of Edwin Drood


• The Turn of the Screw

Two of these titles are in my RIP III "pool" (along with this book) making them my enthusiastic choices for reading, at least for today.

While the presentation is full and unadorned I wouldn't call it dry. I wanted to keep reading to find out what else there was to discover. And there are new revelations in each chapter, including the five paragraph Afterword. I highly recommend this title.

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