A review by islandkate763
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks

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.