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ranked #154,798 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★☆
A Fine Literary Work, but Challenging
There are long passages in this book, letters written by Ester to the philosophers of her day, in contemplation of the likely impossibility of the existence of God. At one point, Aaron Levy, the present-day scholar, wonders if he is even able to understand her missives.
And this is my problem with this good book. The writing was beautiful, but dense and often cryptic; I sometimes had trouble understanding it, and many of the letters and scenes went on for too long.
And yet I highlighted 27 excerpts, whether for the beauty of the writing or its resonance.
On the very first page, describing Helen Watt: "Hope against reason: an opiate she'd long abandoned." What great characterization. As was the subtle yet plainspoken paragraph alerting us that Watt is very ill. The writing was so beautiful at times, I read it aloud to my husband, savoring the work of a true craftsman.
The story progresses along three lines: that of Ester Velasquez, who lives in London, c. 1660; and of the modern-day scholars Watt and Levy. One theme of the book could be "how will you use your life? Will you live it fully or squander it?"-- in self-containment (Watt); the cowardice of the late-maturer (Levy); or by accepting cultural repression of women (Velasquez).
As Levy learns about Velasquez having to hide her intellect, and the degree to which she suffers isolation because of her mind, his understanding grows in regard to the woman he loves, and women in general. This is a coming-of-age story. Levy is twenty five, beautiful, gifted with women, and stuck. He's unhappy and unsure of himself.
Watt, gravely ill but persevering at the unlocking of the mystery of Ester, also examines her own life, with a lengthy flashback to when she was a young woman in love. Her fear of that love shaped her entire life, and it's only at the end and through her work with Levy that she achieves clarity in this regard.
So, good character arcs, incredibly rich historical details, lots of good in this book, but overall, too long, opaque, and subtle for me. My apologies to the author, who must be a gifted scholar herself to have completed this work.
