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A review by jacki_f
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
3.0
I liked this book but didn't love it. The setting is genuinely fascinating: Masada, 70 AD where a final cluster of Jewish rebels and their families are holding out against the Romans. The story centers on four women who work in the settlement's dovecote. Each takes turns to narrate part of the story and to explain her upbringing and how she came to Masada, as well as picking up the story of their life inside the stronghold.
As the author explains in her acknowledgements at the end of the book, the story is based what is known about historical events, including some real people. Artifacts that have subsequently been recovered by archeologists have also been woven into the story.
So I found the book interesting, but it takes a very long time to get to the siege (it's in the final 100 pages) and until then the pace is quite uneven. Every time a new character picks up the narration we have to backtrack through her back story and adjust to her point of view, though all four have a very similar way of talking and they all say rubbishy things like: "What was between us had grown until it was a flower, the red blossom of the flame tree, which stains your fingers when you pick it, twisted onto a vine that pricks your skin". They all struggle in the desert and attract men to them like moths to a flame. There are various love affairs in the book, none of which have even a skerrick of truth to them.
There is also a strong magical element which I disliked intensely. I had a similar reaction to Philippa Gregory's White Queen books. Magical powers in novels seem like a lazy way to make things happen when the author can't find a rational way to incorporate stuff into the plot. Plus I felt like it was undermining the strong religious beliefs that the characters supposedly have. Perhaps the beliefs may be historically accurate, but that doesn't mean the powers need to have been.
A couple of friends of mine have raved about this as their favorite book from last year. It's very easy to read, well researched and as I've mentioned above, the setting is fascinating, but the story itself? Perfectly okay, nothing more.
As the author explains in her acknowledgements at the end of the book, the story is based what is known about historical events, including some real people. Artifacts that have subsequently been recovered by archeologists have also been woven into the story.
So I found the book interesting, but it takes a very long time to get to the siege (it's in the final 100 pages) and until then the pace is quite uneven. Every time a new character picks up the narration we have to backtrack through her back story and adjust to her point of view, though all four have a very similar way of talking and they all say rubbishy things like: "What was between us had grown until it was a flower, the red blossom of the flame tree, which stains your fingers when you pick it, twisted onto a vine that pricks your skin". They all struggle in the desert and attract men to them like moths to a flame. There are various love affairs in the book, none of which have even a skerrick of truth to them.
There is also a strong magical element which I disliked intensely. I had a similar reaction to Philippa Gregory's White Queen books. Magical powers in novels seem like a lazy way to make things happen when the author can't find a rational way to incorporate stuff into the plot. Plus I felt like it was undermining the strong religious beliefs that the characters supposedly have. Perhaps the beliefs may be historically accurate, but that doesn't mean the powers need to have been.
A couple of friends of mine have raved about this as their favorite book from last year. It's very easy to read, well researched and as I've mentioned above, the setting is fascinating, but the story itself? Perfectly okay, nothing more.