I usually love to spend a rainy weekend with a fat, juicy historical novel, but I just couldn't "get into" this book. My attention kept wandering and I found myself reading the same sentence over and over again. I think part of it was the profusion of names and place names to try to remember. Needless to say, I did not finish it. ( )

NO OF PAGES: 797 SUB CAT I: Jewish Heritage SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: In 70 A.D., when Roman forces sack Jerusalem, the scribe Abraham flees the city carrying little more than the scroll that documents his family history. For the next 19 centuries, one member of each new generation inherits this scroll along with the admonition that the record must be kept up to date. From Alexandria to Toledo, from Strasbourg to the Warsaw ghetto, Halter provides a moving account of Jews in exile. Abraham's descendants continue to work as scribes and eventually as printers. Since they are loyal to the word, it serves as their defense against oppression and solace in time of pain. This novel, much celebrated in Europe, has been aptly compared to Roots since it is based on records of the Halter family dating back to 1480 and on detailed historical research for the earlier centuries.NOTES: Purchased from the Amazon MarketPlace. SUBTITLE:

Pas facile de "rentrer" dedans, mais une fois qu'on se fait au style de ce récit, qui est différent des autres écrits de Marek Halter, on a envie d'aller jusqu'au bout. ( )

I really enjoyed his other books, but just couldn't get into this one. Not a big fan of the way it was written. ( )

Perhaps it got better. I only read about half before getting totally bored and returning it. I borrowed it from the library thinking it would be a rich historical novel, but instead it seemed like an episodic, repetitive, shallow series of stories. Very disappointing. ( )