The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman 1-9-14
RATING 4.5 STARS
Hostess: Emily Ellingwood
Attendees: Michelle, Lori, Cheryl, Nan, Susan, Myra, Janna, Amy, Pam
The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets — about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and who they love.
In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean, desert, Masada. Only two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman weaves a spellbinding tale of four extraordinary bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom comes to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by their own witness. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power.
Discussion was robust. Characters were very well developed. Very descriptive imagery - we decided Amy would have been able to smell these characters. Susan said it was a "scratch 'n sniff book".
Although these women were very strong, it was obvious that there was a difference between men and women in the battle - men can be more removed from the horrors of the situation, while Aziza struggled because she had a woman's heart. Hearing the women's perspective on the details of the story gave a lot more insight into the feelings and emotions they were going through (as opposed to a man's view would have been more fact based).
There were many complex character and story lines in this book that required a lot of attention to detail. And as if that weren't enough opportunity for confusion, we had Nan adding in character from other books to our discussion (the woman with the lost money???).
We had trouble ascertaining who was or was not a good mother given the horrific circumstances these poor women were raising their children in and the fact that the "mothers" were 12-14 years old when they gave birth. Michelle felt it was a loaded question - "they didn't have alcohol or antidepressants".
We agreed with Channa's dying confession to Shira that it would it would have been better if they had just been sister wives rather than enemies all these years. Emily said she would just want to make sure she wasn't the "sex wife" and she would prefer to be the "coffee in the morning wife".
We all discussed that we enjoying learning about history from this book and other historical fiction books we have read. Myra summed it up perfectly: "historical fiction fluffs it up so we can learn something".
Quote of the night from Cheryl: "These dysfunctional books make me feel so good about my own family - Oh, my daddy wasn't an assassin!"
MASADA
