An engaging novel of ancient Israel with some ungainly writing.
Israelite generals and judges organize their people against the threat of the Canaanites in a novel drawn from biblical history.
Sennett (Nicholas Rowe and the Beginnings of Feminism on the London Stage, 2005) turns to fiction in this novel based on part of the Old Testament. After the village of Beth-Tahor is destroyed in a Canaanite attack, soldiers-turned-farmers Barak and Ramor realize that their only chance for survival is to organize their fellow Israelites into an army that will fight back and end the threat of Sisera, the general who is determined to wipe out the Israelites. Although some of the tribal leaders are reluctant to fight, Deborah, one of the most respected judges of the tribes, organizes a resistance and appoints Barak to lead the army. Barak faces both military and personal setbacks as he becomes a leader with the view: “I do not want to be a savior or general or even private. I only want God to intervene and stop this persecution of His people.” He accepts leadership as his duty, however, and conceives strategy that defeats the larger and more powerful opponent. Sennett presents well-rounded and complex characters, from Deborah and her husband, Lapidoth, who does not object to his wife's leadership role, to Barak and his struggles with confidence and conscience. The battle scenes are fast-paced, giving the reader a sense of the horrors of war without dwelling on excessive violence. At times, the writing is clunky, with too much characterization crammed into a single sentence. (“While she worked her way from hut to hut, Sarah's tears flowed as this twenty-five year old woman with long, dark brown hair that reached her waist recognized the lifeless bodies of her friends and neighbors strewn across the ground like rubbish as she made her way through the devastated streets of what used to be her home town.”) The story also has jarring reminders of its historical setting: “Since there was no police force or basic infrastructure intended for area defense in the thirteenth century BC, each family and village had to provide for its own protection.” Many readers, however, will be willing to overlook the awkward prose as they get caught up in one of the lesser-known episodes of early Jewish history.
An engaging novel of ancient Israel with some ungainly writing.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1490818092
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.
Written with quiet dignity that builds to a climax of tragic force, this book about the dissolution of an African tribe, its traditions, and values, represents a welcome departure from the familiar "Me, white brother" genre.
Written by a Nigerian African trained in missionary schools, this novel tells quietly the story of a brave man, Okonkwo, whose life has absolute validity in terms of his culture, and who exercises his prerogative as a warrior, father, and husband with unflinching single mindedness. But into the complex Nigerian village filters the teachings of strangers, teachings so alien to the tribe, that resistance is impossible. One must distinguish a force to be able to oppose it, and to most, the talk of Christian salvation is no more than the babbling of incoherent children. Still, with his guns and persistence, the white man, amoeba-like, gradually absorbs the native culture and in despair, Okonkwo, unable to withstand the corrosion of what he, alone, understands to be the life force of his people, hangs himself. In the formlessness of the dying culture, it is the missionary who takes note of the event, reminding himself to give Okonkwo's gesture a line or two in his work, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 1958
ISBN: 0385474547
Page Count: 207
Publisher: McDowell, Obolensky
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1958
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
