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3.11 AVERAGE
3.11 AVERAGE
This novel is an interesting exercise in weaving history, legend, fact and memory as Nomi Eve composes her own midrash from her father's family history research. He records births, marriages, and migrations; she constructs secret desires and personality quirks. Each chapter gives a fleeting glimpse of a couple or an individual in the family from 1837 to the author herself.
I'm afraid the premise is at times more interesting than the execution. Sometimes Eve's flourishes and embroideries are a bit too much. Miriam's ability to sew stories and emotions into clothing is meant to be an earthy, vivacious example of magical realism but it falls flat and feels like an inexplicably major shift in tone. And the author's musings about the stories we tell each other --to amuse, to make sense of our lives, to keep sadness at bay, to rationalize, to forget, to save, to prove our existence, to create-- can feel heavy-handed. These musings are most eloquent when used within the stories themselves (Avra's thievery, the golem, the mosaic tile).
I'm afraid the premise is at times more interesting than the execution. Sometimes Eve's flourishes and embroideries are a bit too much. Miriam's ability to sew stories and emotions into clothing is meant to be an earthy, vivacious example of magical realism but it falls flat and feels like an inexplicably major shift in tone. And the author's musings about the stories we tell each other --to amuse, to make sense of our lives, to keep sadness at bay, to rationalize, to forget, to save, to prove our existence, to create-- can feel heavy-handed. These musings are most eloquent when used within the stories themselves (Avra's thievery, the golem, the mosaic tile).
The prose and images in this book were really beautiful. I liked learning about a family through the years but sometimes it skipped around too much and I wasn't sure what they were talking about.
I tried starting this book several times and could never get into it. I finally gave up.
wasn't into it, stopped reading it before the end. maybe i'll try it some other time.
As of p. 72, this book is pretty much just about sex. Not bad, but thus far it is definitely not a family saga following the history of Israel. It's a sexy romance novel with a slight plot.
I've gotta stop choosing my reading from the discard cabinet.
After about half way through, a story begins to develop with a little history and some stuff about caring for orchards. I liked it better then. Still, it was with a sense of relief and accomplishment (not enjoyment) that I turned the last page.
I've gotta stop choosing my reading from the discard cabinet.
After about half way through, a story begins to develop with a little history and some stuff about caring for orchards. I liked it better then. Still, it was with a sense of relief and accomplishment (not enjoyment) that I turned the last page.
This was a good book, not a great book. It was beautifully told but I guess I felt it made more of an impact than it did.
I re-read this book after about 10 years because I thought it had a quote that's been floating around in my brain. It didn't.
The early parts of this book were good. Quick. Focused. Compelling. The closer the author got to the present day, the more meandering and less interesting the characters became. Meh.
The early parts of this book were good. Quick. Focused. Compelling. The closer the author got to the present day, the more meandering and less interesting the characters became. Meh.
1.5 STARS
"A magical, multigenerational saga encompassing two hundred years in the life of an unforgettable family--a book of love stories, ill-fated and blessed, sensuous as a dream, unfolding in a time and a place where fable is more potent than fact, where the imagination is more powerful than any truth, where the line between myth and history has all but dissolved: Jerusalem, from the early years of the nineteenth century to the present.
They left Eastern Europe for Israel and emerged, six generations later, in America: Esther, the family matriarch, who was lured by the smell of baking bread into the baker's arms; her granddaughter, Avra the thief, who stole a cow's tongue and married a man with strong fists and very fast feet; Miriam, a seamstress who sewed spells into her cloths and whose mesmerizing beauty inadvertently transformed Kovna's House of Study into a container of pure carnal frustration; the twins Zohar and Moshe, who ran across the walls of the Old City as boys, and as men faced a tragedy that would haunt their family for generations to come; Eliezer, Zohar's son, who once tried to conjure a golem in his father's garden; and Eliezer's American-born daughter, who would one day take his stories and cast a spell of her own." (From Amazon)
The only thing I remember about this novel is the cover...which is pretty.
"A magical, multigenerational saga encompassing two hundred years in the life of an unforgettable family--a book of love stories, ill-fated and blessed, sensuous as a dream, unfolding in a time and a place where fable is more potent than fact, where the imagination is more powerful than any truth, where the line between myth and history has all but dissolved: Jerusalem, from the early years of the nineteenth century to the present.
They left Eastern Europe for Israel and emerged, six generations later, in America: Esther, the family matriarch, who was lured by the smell of baking bread into the baker's arms; her granddaughter, Avra the thief, who stole a cow's tongue and married a man with strong fists and very fast feet; Miriam, a seamstress who sewed spells into her cloths and whose mesmerizing beauty inadvertently transformed Kovna's House of Study into a container of pure carnal frustration; the twins Zohar and Moshe, who ran across the walls of the Old City as boys, and as men faced a tragedy that would haunt their family for generations to come; Eliezer, Zohar's son, who once tried to conjure a golem in his father's garden; and Eliezer's American-born daughter, who would one day take his stories and cast a spell of her own." (From Amazon)
The only thing I remember about this novel is the cover...which is pretty.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No