A review by micaelamariem
Jezebel by Megan Barnard

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
I'm back with another review! This was an ARC so kindly sent to me by Penguin publishers (thank you! and many thanks to the author as well!) This will probably be my last ARC of 2023; I'm taking a hiatus from them so I can focus on my TBR. 
Megan Barnard, the author, is a former literary agent from Maryland. Her debut, Jezebel, tells a story from the perspective of the infamous women from many religious texts. Disclaimer: this book is historical fiction. I loved this book but my review here is not trying to say it should supplicate your religious books, if you follow one of the faiths that mention Jezebel. As someone who studied Christian theology, there are things that strayed far from the original text as well as things that would've made sense--and this made me appreciate this creative approach more and even still build empathy for everyone involved. 
Many people compare Jezebel to Circe by Madeline Miller, though I find this to be even more reminiscent of Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel. What these three works have in common is that they take a women who was portrayed a villain in the original mythology and show the reader a new feminist perspective. The writing styles in all three are also similar, following the life stories of these women from birth to death, giving beautiful lyrical prose to depict some ugly events. 
In Jezebel, a big theme is that women are doomed to be forgotten, only remembered by the sons they can produce. Jezebel always wanted to be remembered, and she did find a way to be, even if it was not how she imagined. We also see how the cost of trying to produce heirs can be a great toll. Jezebel suffers from some postpartum disorders and other complications that we would be able to identify now, but would only be considered madness in that time. As readers, the author pulled at my emotions, seeing what a woman was called to suffer just to be worth something in this world.  
Another theme is the tolerance and intolerance of religions. In the Christian Bible, we can read about how God is angry at Jezebel for bringing foreign gods to Israel. But this book showed me how young Jezebel was, how she'd only ever known her Cannanite religion, and how it would've been the one thing that reminded her of home. While some awful things happened and Jezebel did some awful things that are not excused, even within this story, I like the way the narrative can help us build empathy for all people and see the women we were taught about with a new perspective. 
I really liked the way the characters were portrayed, as well. It didn't seem like anyone was purely evil--it was more like everyone was trying to do what they beleived their god called them to do, what they thought was best. And no one really won in the end. 
I don't want to give too much of the book away, so let me just leave with this: Jezebel is a wonderful biblical retelling, that is purely fictional but can help us build empathy for others, understand the plight women have had, and understand a deeper persepctive of others. The book is enjoyable, tragic, has beautiful writing, and wonderful characters. It was a four star read for me and I highly recommend it! 
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