People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Like a lot of the books I've read recently, People of the Book grabbed my attention because of the possibility of finding a story like The Shadow of the Wind. Some disappointed (351 Books of Irma Arcuri) and some provided similar entertainment, like People of the Book.

The premise of the story is nothing short of amazing, especially when you consider that it is based on a true story. A Jewish haggadah--a religious book that sets the order of the Seder--makes its way from Spain to Italy to Bosnia to Israel, with mishaps and large chunks of its history missing. It is illuminated--that is, it has illustrations--which is unheard of for Jewish texts. Also, it is saved multiple times not only by its Jewish owners but also by Muslims who recognize its beauty and importance.

Brooks tells it in a reverse order, with the Bosnia scene first and then working back to Spain. Interspersed in all of these histories is the story of Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator who is called to Sarajevo to restore the newly rediscovered text. Five trace clues (a butterfly wing, a white hair, wine stains, silver clasps, and salt crystals) drive Hanna's multicontintenal investigation into the history aspect of the book. For Hanna, what ensues is a pretty predictable, rather unimaginative love story and finding of herself.

All in all, People of the Book is a good story that had great possibility. The telling of the story and the language used in that telling just fall short. Hanna's voice is just fine; it is straight and to the point, much how you would imagine Brooks' own journalistic voice. Unfortunately, that voice carries over to all of the historical parts too so that a story that is supposed to be told in the 1500s sounds like it is told today. Thus it loses a lot of the magic it could have held. That voice worked when Brooks was writing her article for the New Yorker on this very subject, but it doesn't work for the novel. While I don't expect her to change language or change her writing style, some sort of differential writing would have made the book a lot stronger.

The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

As promised, I've finally read The Angel's Game, the sequel/prequel to The Shadow of the Wind. I frankly couldn't stop raving about The Shadow of the Wind, but I don't have too much to say about The Angel's Game.

It's not that I didn't enjoy the book. On the contrary, I enjoyed it nearly as much as The Shadow of the Wind. However, had I not known it was written by Ruiz Zafon also, I might have just written it off as a (very good) imitation.

For the most part, it follows the same general outline of Shadow. A poor young man from Barcelona without a mother stumbles into a literary career through the benevolence of a rich man. This poor young man then falls in love with a beautiful but tragic woman, and such romance creates tension with the rich man. Angst and pain follow with a bittersweet ending and a touch of supernatural.

In The Angel's Game's case, this young man's name is David Martin and he writes bestselling crime novels, though he longs to write a magnus opus far different from his CV. Enter Andreas Corelli, a man (who may or may not be Lucifer) who commissions Martin to write a book creating an entirely new religion complete with a slew of myths. This deal between Martin and Corelli requires past promises to be cut, and people start being mysteriously murdered for that very purpose.

While this dark devil/religion/murder plot unfolds, so does one that is more personal to David. After moving into a decrepit yet beautiful old home, he uncovers a new tantalizing mystery involving the old typewriter that resides in his study as well a mysterious locked room with a false wall. As he begins to investigate, he finds himself pulled into a dark history that leads him right back to the business with Corelli.

And amidst all of this hullaballoo, David faces two female problems: The love of his life, Cristina, marries his benefactor and proceeds to lose her mind, and a pesky but bright aspiring writer named Isabella hires herself to be his assistant.

All in all, these elements add up to be a far more internal drama than the plot-driven Shadow of the Wind. So while I still contend that the two are quite similar, The Angel’s Game holds its own as a more other worldly drama.

For enthusiasts of The Shadow of the Wind, the role of the Sempere & Sons bookshop within The Angel’s Game is enough reason in itself to read, as well as the reappearance of the beloved Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Oh how I long to go there...

351 Books of Irma Arcuri, David Bajo

There are very few books I truly dislike. (I’ll avoid “hate.” My mother taught me better than that.)  Every novel reflects, for the most part, the hard work and imagination of the author, and thus usually possesses many redeeming novels. But this is one of those few. 

So first, how I came to it in the first place.  I was coming off the high of The Shadow of the Wind.  Having already read most of Arturo Perez-Reverte and Matthew Pearl, I was in dire need of some sort of dark and ominous mystery with some crazy book(s) at the center. 

Enter bookstore coworkers who assure me that David Bajo’s 351 Books of Irma Arcuri is the perfect prescription.  I in turn blindly recommend it because of their recommendation to fellow Shadow of the Wind-loving customers.  Then I crack it open...

...and it is just awful.  I make it a rule to always finish books (with the exception of Bolano's 2666) so I stuck it out.  Bottom line? It reads like a grocery list of sex scenes. Now, I am no prude but if Bajo wanted to write a romance novel, he just should have called it what it was. There was almost no concentration on the actual books of Irma, except how they were made (which was the one redeeming aspect of this novel).

The basic premise is that this man’s on-again, off-again lover disappears and leaves her books to him.  The story lineshould then follow him on some literary journey as he finds more clues in all of the books, following the penciled-in clues alluded to in the narrative. There is some of that, but not enough.  Or there should be extensive, lit-based travels to find this elusive beauty.  Again, some but not enough.  There is just a lot of running, having sex, and filling space.

Like Umberto Eco’s The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, it is based on a novel concept (pun intended) but it falls short of its potential.

The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz-Zafon

I hesitate to even write this review. I just don’t think my ramblings could possibly do any justice to Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind.

But I suppose I’ll start with my reluctance to read it. About a year ago my best friend’s dad Twoey recommended it, but I just brushed him off and figured we wouldn’t have the same literary tastes. But when I started as a bookseller at BookHampton, people (and most importantly, co-workers) were still talking about it. So I made the leap and committed… to the paperback.

At about page 10, I was completely and utterly hooked. It came with me in the Long Island Sound and basically everywhere else short of the driver's seat of my car (when I was listening to A Mercy) until I finally stayed up ‘til 3 a.m. to finish it up. (Confession: I had a related nightmare that night.)

Ruiz Zafón winds his reader through the dark and windy roads of Barcelona, weaving together a plot that is as intricate and interesting as the arhictecture of the city itself. Its parallel love stories and mysteries between two sets of characters in two different times could have entered to the realm of cheesy, but Ruiz Zafón keeps them on the right side of literature. Not a detail spared and not a beat missed.

I’m going to stop there. Just read it. And (inevitably) fall in love. With Spain. With Julian Carax. With the Cemetary of Forgotten Books. With Daniel. But if I told you any more, I’d be robbing you of the chance to experience it in all its gothic glory.

And now I can’t wait to read the prequel/sequel Angel’s Game. Keep an eye out for the review!