Book Report Monday: The Dovekeepers

Title: The Dovekeepers

Author: Alice Hoffman

Genre: Fiction

Synopsis: Blends mythology, magic, archaeology and women. Traces four women, their path to the Masada massacre. In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean desert, Masada. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived.

Four bold, resourceful, and sensuous women come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father 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 twin 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 another soldier. Shirah is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The four lives intersect in the desperate days of the siege, as the Romans draw near. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets — about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.

(from Goodreads)

Why did I pick it  up?: If Alice Hoffman writes a book, it's on my To Be Read list. She's my go to comfort read.


Favorite Lines: “He wanted pain, I saw that in him, and what a man wants he will often manage to find.”


My Review: I have so many things to say. I have no idea why I took so long to read this. The prose alone was enough for me to love this story, but of course Hoffman delivers more. Yael and the other Dovekeepers are strong.

As a Ravenclaw it's in my nature to crave knowledge and I loved learning about Masada and the religions practiced in 70 CE. I found the Essene, a religious group believing that the apocalypse is coming, fascinating as every generation seems to have at least one group of end of days zealots.

Each of the four women has her own story but they are joined together not because they are kindred spirits but because they are women struggling without husbands. They are shunned by the society of most because of their independence and whatever led them to be alone. In the Dovecote they are free. Free to be who they are without the rules of society or judgement of their neighbors.

Ghosts haunt them. Magic is prevalent not only in the form of Shirah's practice but in Hoffman's signature style of storytelling. The desert is unforgiving and one thing I love about Alice Hoffman's writing is how often she highlights the extreme. Kisses so passionate they cause lips to blister and that sort of thing. Days so hot, parked cars have melted tires. The desert climate and living conditions during the siege of Masada offered up plenty of opportunity for the Hoffman prose I enjoy.

Masada, Israel

Recommendation: If you liked The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, you will probably like this too.

For Next Week: Magic or Madness trilogy by Justine Larbalestier

Book Report Monday: The Voyage Out

Title: The Voyage Out

Author: Virginia Woolf

Genre: Literary Fiction

Synopsis: Woolf’s first novel is a haunting book, full of light and shadow. It takes Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose and their niece, Rachel, on a sea voyage from London to a resort on the South american coast. 

“It is a strange, tragic, inspired book whose scene is a South americanca not found on any map and reached by a boat which would not float on any sea, an americanca whose spiritual boundaries touch Xanadu and Atlantis” (E. M. Forster). 

(From Goodreads)

Why did I pick it up?: I have a collection of her novels and short stories on my nook and I intend to make my way through them all eventually. The Voyage Out was first.

Favorite Line: "Did love begin that way, with the wish to go on talking?”

My Review: After living a sheltered life with her Aunts in England and occasionally on board her father's ships, Rachel Vinrace journeys to South America with her Aunt and Uncle. At twenty-four she's in danger of becoming an old maid and every man she meets is evaluated as a potential husband. 

While still on the ship Rachel is kissed by an excited Mr. Dalloway. At first she's excited believing, "something wonderful had happened" and feels that all the possibilities are laid out before her for the first time. But later the memory of the passion disturbs her and causes nightmares of barbarian men hunting for her. It's not clear to me whether it was guilt for given herself over the the baser instincts which women should not do or from anxiety the physical intimacy of her future which she seems to only just realize. 

Afterwards Rachel continues to approach the idea of love and marriage without much passion or thrill. Once she has a suitor, she considers marriage and decides it is not for love, but so the couple can renounce the real world and essentially hide in their marriage. 

It's worth noting that Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out, has much less stream of consciousness narratives and dream-states which she is known for in her later works. So if you've ever read a novel of her's and that frustrated you, you might enjoy this one.

Recommendation: If you liked To the Lighthouse, you should like this too. There are a lot of parallels. 

For Next Week: Allegiant by Veronica Roth