ANOTHER REVIEW of Geraldine Brooks, The People of the Book, in the Sydney Morning Herald:

[...]

The survival of the Sarajevo Haggadah, as this fragile illuminated volume is called, from its creation in Spain 600 years ago until today, is a tale to stir the most irreligious, war-hardened heart. Geraldine Brooks is a savvy, almost shrewd storyteller. As a former journalist, she knows she's onto a good story here: an illustrated codex, created in mysterious circumstances in Spain to be read at the table during Passover, miraculously threading its way across southern Europe over centuries to end up safe and sound, the treasured possession of a museum in Bosnia. And there are mysteries as well.

[...

This polyphony, amplified by myriad voices from the vast supporting cast, is satisfying, at times even enthralling. Occasionally there is a whiff of the costume drama about these historical scenes: people "tarry", "mislike" and protest that "no, I cannot speak of it". On the whole, though, these richly imagined cameos are engrossing and, thanks to Brooks's meticulous historical research, convincing.

So exhaustive, however, is the research on everything from neurosurgery to recent Bosnian history, so vividly imagined every detail of the significant stages in the Haggadah's journey, so densely spun the web of relationships and events around every character, that the reader can do little other than admire the performance.

As a result, there is something peculiarly American about this novel, for all the colourful Australian expressions squeezed into it. It comes not just from the religion and violence but from the sense of people constantly acting out redemption rituals for the approval of God or, if He's not looking, a mass of spectators whose job is to sit, be moved and applaud. Towards the end the pace becomes frenetic, as if the saga had mistaken itself for a crime thriller. There's a heist, a lost father is redeemed, love blossoms, we dart between Boston and Sydney, Sarajevo and Jerusalem, and even drop in on Arnhem Land where Hannah (and why is this unsurprising?) has switched to conserving Aboriginal rock painting. The frenzied final pages are not unenjoyable but have a manipulative edge to them that is disenchanting.

The redemptive symbolism of the Sarajevo Haggadah is obvious: a Jewish religious text, illustrated according to the Christian model of a Book of Hours, saved by Muslims in a city almost destroyed by ethnic hatreds. Despite its overeager desire to be a crowd-pleaser, People of the Book reflects this breadth of spirit in compelling and inventive ways. This novel has everything. If it has a fault, that's it.