MAKE NOISE, MAKE MERRY: The Story and Meaning of Purim

by Miriam Chaikin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 1983

Almost everything that distinguished Chaikin's Light Another Candle (1981) as a presentation of Hanukkah works against her new book as a treatment of Purim--plus, not insignificantly, the shift from red-and-black line drawings to all-lavender. (The rather deft illustrations simply function now as decorative schemes.) There is a great deal of historical background, much of it incidental to the story of Esther: to explain Mordekhai's possible role--as ""a gatekeeper, a scribe, or a translator""--we learn that ""the kingdom of Persia consisted of more than one hundred provinces,"" where different languages were spoken. The story of Queen Esther and King Ahasweros, is itself much amplified with the noble Mordekhai and the evil Haman (in Chaikin's spellings), ""the conjectures, or guesses, of various scholars. . . along with fictional elements such as dreams."" But unlike the Jewish history that's the basis for Hanukkah, and worth ingesting at some length, more about Haman's perfidies does not add to one's appreciation of Purim--which even Chaikin deems ""a minor Jewish holiday."" Similarly, the history of the Hanukkah celebration, and local variants, doesn't begin to be matched by past and present observations of Purim. For most purposes, Howard Greenfield's bare-boned Purim will suffice.

Pub Date: April 18, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983

Categories: NONFICTION