A review by jcpdiesel21
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

3.0

There is a lot to admire in Hoffman's epic tale of interwoven female-centric narratives set within Masada during its tragic, violent period. I like the way that Hoffman used a historical event as a story backdrop, one that I was previously unfamiliar with but was curious to learn more about. Each of the women's stories is compelling in a different way, although I preferred the ones centered on Yael and Revka the most. Hoffman sets the stage nicely and paints vivid pictures with words within each narrative and scene, but at times the description gets to be a bit too much, especially during the violent climax, and I found myself skimming paragraphs often. The book is very slow to take off, which led to it taking a lot longer than anticipated to finish. Ultimately, the events of the book are too depressing for this to be a completely enjoyable read, although I am glad that I stuck through it to the end.