annebrooke's review
3.0
This book starts very slowly and is rather clunky but the plot soon settles down and we run through the story of the Biblical King David happily enough. I particularly enjoyed Nathan the Prophet as the narrator, but I never really felt that King David came to life which was a shame. I ended up really disliking him in fact! I also felt sorry for all the women and how the King treats them here - they all have a pretty rough time. Brooks is no Mary Renault for sure! Still the writing is beautiful once it gets going, so three stars for that.
mishamir's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
moogen's review
4.0
Not one for the squeamish or for those who like their biblical figures squeaky clean but a terrific read once I settled into the voice of the prophet/narrator.
erykahjoy's review
3.0
i really wanted to love this book. her other books, especially "people of the book" , are some of my favorite books of all time. for all of the care she gives the history of tje Jewish people in "people", this one treats the history as geounds for personal political agendas. she crafts a father of Judaism as the perfect modern liberal.
bourbonandabook's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ariel_noire's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
islandkate763's review
1.0
Ugh. Halfway through and I'm struggling. It's not that the story is boring per se, it's about the life of King David of Israel so there is a lot of drama and action. But it's the way Brooks has structured the narrative, with an outsider, first person POV narrator (David's prophet Natan) setting out to record David's life story. Except, David wants him to get the story from other people so there a bunch of people retelling bits of the story to Natan, which we then must view through Natan's reactions. There are so many layers between David and me, the reader, that I just don't feel connected or invested into anything that's happening to him. I keep getting small glimpses of what this story could have been with a different narrative approach (David's relationships with Yonatan and Mikhal for a start) but am just left wanting more.
I'll finish the book because I'm already this far and I want to use it for my BookRiot 2016 challenge, but its just so disappointing. Geraldine Brooks has been one of my favorite authors for a while now, but this is the second book in a row of her's that didn't resonate with me. Maybe it will get better in the second half when Natan is more of a key player... we'll see.
I'll finish the book because I'm already this far and I want to use it for my BookRiot 2016 challenge, but its just so disappointing. Geraldine Brooks has been one of my favorite authors for a while now, but this is the second book in a row of her's that didn't resonate with me. Maybe it will get better in the second half when Natan is more of a key player... we'll see.
kittykornerlibrarian's review
2.0
Didn't finish it... and I'm finally just going to admit that. This is a very manly-man book... lots of sweat, lots of war, lots of blood. I found the narrator's voice to be too detached to be really engaging for me. I just always feel like I'm looking up at a statue of David the whole time; and I don't enjoy looking at a statue for that long. Intellectually I get it that it's well-written and has an interesting spin on the David story, but I just can't respond to it. I've been telling myself for far too long that I'm going to make myself finish it; but it's been six weeks and I'm not going to.