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Friday, May 25, 2012

The Bookseller's Sonnets: A Book Review


As I started reading the book, I did not remember anything from the cover.. I had no idea what the book was about or what to expect. I just assumed from the title that it was something to do with middle east.. perhaps hoping for an Iranian flavor somewhere ..

Boy was I wrong!! As I read through the pages, it became evident, it was anything but middle eastern.. the completely fictional story takes place in post sept 11 timeframe.. exploring the complex world of a jewesh curator of Holocaust Museum in Manhattan.  As you get through the first chapter, you think you know the theme .. ah! A love story about a jewish woman with orthodox background in love with a non Jewish American.. and then! the plot manages to surprise you.. in comes that mystery book, from an aynamous person…. And a story within a story begins to unravel. It weaves a complex yet fine thread of pain, joy, love and suffering. The forbidden love between the catholic and a jew in Tudor times and the pain and suffering of holocaust…. just keeps you tied in.

Predictable? Yes perhaps, but the story is told in a rather engaging manner… when a new born had to be killed to protect the family from Nazi’s I found my eyes fill up , just imagining the horror of killing ur own child made my heart ache.. the inner agony of the main character, the Jewish curator to come clean about her relationship with her family… had your understanding…

To be warned, the ending of the book, is along the expected lines, however, there is something to be said of the expected.. sometimes the expected can give you as much pleasure as the expected.

A definite one on my list.

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