A clever but unnecessary project.
Though witty and erudite, these tales could have been left “untold.”
In a new collection that springs from his participation in the esteemed Gotham Writers Workshop, Rothstein takes stories from the Hebrew Bible and tells them from new perspectives in modern language. The author hopes to provide a fresh context for oft-told biblical tales, infusing them with life by allowing readers to see the material with new eyes. He succeeds to a certain extent. His retellings are detailed and scholarly, as they should be given the author’s doctorate in Jewish History from Harvard. The problem, however, is the same one that bogs down most attempts to elaborate upon the Biblical text, including those of Joseph Heller, Zora Neale Hurston and, more recently, Anita Diamant. Literary critic Erich Auerbach identified the greatness of the Bible in its sparseness, famously describing the text as “fraught with background.” It is as notable for what it does not say as for what it does. Efforts to fill in the Bible’s narrative gaps–no matter how well intentioned–disseminate the sublime sense of mystery. Thus Cassandra was doomed from the start, but the book is also flawed. Rothstein’s efforts to modernize the Bible often come off as flip–too superficial for such a foundational text. One first senses the encroaching campiness when a young Israelite, fresh out of Egypt and wandering the wilderness after the Passover, asks his mother, “Oh, and could you pass more manna, please?” By the time readers come upon the story of the minor prophet Hosea from the mouth of a literary agent, they may have had enough.
A clever but unnecessary project.Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4392-0825-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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