The Triumph of Deborah
The Triumph of Deborah
by Eva Etzioni-Halevy
368 pages
Historical Fiction
Plume (February 26, 2008)
Deborah is a woman who rises above the deep sadness in her life, that her husband just decided to dissolve their marriage, and gives all she has within her to protect her people, the Israelites. The Israelites are God's chosen people, but because of their lack of faith and obedience they are forced to wander throughout the desert and hope that they will be provided for, for rulers during this time they had a series of judges, Deborah being one of those judges.
It was her duty to make the major decisions for her people as well as to resolve conflicts and make settlements amongst them. In a society where women were not educated, her father believed that she deserved the education just as much as her brothers did and she was taught the Torah at an early age. Even as a youth people would come to her from far away places after having heard of her wisdom and fair hand.The Triumph of Deborah is about love and war and most everything in between. Deborah suffers from the choice of her husband and is torn when a young dashing warrior beckons to her. It would be acceptable by law, but she still feels tied emotionally to her husband.
I ended up enjoying this read more than I thought. I fell in love with Deborah, and I think if I had been a little older I would have loved her even more, she is strong and true and really gets things done. Of course, like all women she is riddled with emotion, but who can count that as a fault since we are all plagued by it!? I felt that Eva Etzioni-Halevy did a pretty good job with the writing, it isn't dazzling in its artistic appeal but it is still alive and fresh to read. The storyline had me intregued and involved. This is certainly a great book for any reader, but I specifically recommend it to those who enjoy a good Historical Fiction read. The Triumph of Deborah will be sure to please!
Immortal
Title: Immortal
Author: Traci L. Slatton
Pages: 528
Yearly Count b: 67
Immortal,the story of Luca, Luca Bastardo. This is not a tale for the faint of heart, as it begins after Luca's parents have disappeared, while he is living on the streets and then shortly after captured and lives in a brothel in Florence in Renaissance Europe. And it goes much darker than that. Luca is also blessed (or cursed?) with an extraordinarily LONG lifespan. He will tell you his own secrets, if you read Immortal, but he is not like the rest who age and die, when he is 30 years old he still holds the youthful look of a 13 year old!
Enjoyable as this historical fiction novel was, it seemed just too dark and too full of gloom. I did enjoy it for long segments of the book, and then the story, the writing, and the characters seemed to drag on. It seemed slow, or too long, too many words that didn't say enough. Yet I did enjoy much of it, I was interested in the concepts and Luca, who could not love Luca!?
The last 50 pages or so locked me in and kept my attention and kept me hopping. Luca, oh beautiful Luca! What a life he lived! I was mesmerized by his resiliency, and his good heart. Despite all that happened to him, he still walked on. The idea of living forever, of the "gift" of the fountain of youth or immortality is an interesting one. Would immortality be a blessing or a curse? You would live, and live and all those you knew would die, and the generation after that would die as well. You could love, marry and bare children, but you would outlast them all...still looking youthful, you could start all over. But would the pain of all that you have seen be too much to let you love anymore? What do you think, is death the curse, or would the be curse being immortal in a world of mortals?
I read this book as part of the Literate Housewives book club (THANK YOU literatehousewife!!)
Traci L. Slatton author website
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Other blogger reviews of Immortal:
Dar
Medieval Bookworm
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