06/17/2013
The latest novel from Horn (All Other Nights) is actually several books in one. One strand, a historical narrative set in 1896, depicts Cambridge professor Solomon Schechter’s discovery of the Cairo Genizah, a repository of thousands of documents in an old Egyptian synagogue; while another, set in 1171, recounts how the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides wrote The Guide for the Perplexed, a book attempting to reconcile divine providence and free will, after the drowning death of his brother David. Lastly, the novel explores sibling rivalry, taking the biblical tale of Joseph and his brothers as a foundational case study. Josephine “Josie” Ashkenazi—the inventor of Genizah, a software program that comprehensively archives moments from its users’ lives—is encouraged by her envious sister Judith to accept a consultant position at the Library of Alexandria. Soon after Josie arrives in post–Arab Spring Egypt, however, she is kidnapped. When a video appears online of Josie being hanged, Judith moves in with her sister’s family, sleeping with her brother-in-law and caring for her six-year-old niece. If this sounds melodramatic, that’s because it is. Worse yet, there is something profoundly unlikable about all the characters involved. Still, Horn raises intriguing questions—including some of the eternal variety and others very much of this moment. Agent: Gary Morris, David Black Agency. (Sept.)
A Guide for the Perplexed
Narrated by Carrington MacDuffie
Dara HornUnabridged — 10 hours, 35 minutes
A Guide for the Perplexed
Narrated by Carrington MacDuffie
Dara HornUnabridged — 10 hours, 35 minutes
Overview
A thrilling new novel exploring how memory shapes the soul, by “an astonishing storyteller” (Financial Times)
Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented a program that records everything its users do. When an Egyptian library invites her to visit as a consultant, her jealous sister Judith persuades her to go. But in Egypt's postrevolutionary chaos, Josie is kidnapped-leaving Judith free to usurp her sister's life, including her husband and daughter, while Josie's talent for preserving memories becomes her only hope of escape.
A century earlier, Solomon Schechter, a Cambridge professor, hunts for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. What he finds will reveal the power and danger of the world Josie's work brings into being-a world where nothing is ever forgotten.
Interweaving stories from Genesis, medieval philosophy, and the digital frontier, A Guide for the Perplexed is a spellbinding tale sure to bring a vast new readership to the acclaimed work of Dara Horn.
Editorial Reviews
"Wondrous…riveting and suspenseful…A novelist at the height of her powers."
"Riveting…This is extraordinary material, emotionally resonant and intellectually suggestive, and Horn’s portraits of the sisters are wonderfully ambiguous…[Horn] interweaves historical and contemporary tales to create intriguing echoes and layers of metaphor…Horn’s searing family drama easily encompasses whole worlds of political, philosophical and moral conflicts…Beautifully written and overwhelmingly sad."
"It’s not every day you come across a genuinely page-turning kidnapping story that is also replete with historical, psychological, and interpretive insights into Maimonides, envy, and motherhood, not to mention replicating the narrative structure and central themes of the biblical story of Joseph. A Guide for the Perplexed is Dara Horn’s most ambitious, audacious, edifying, and entertaining novel yet."
"Horn moves seamlessly back and forth in time."
"Intricate and suspenseful, A Guide for the Perplexed is both learned and heartfelt, an exploration of human memory, its uses and misuses, that spans centuries in a twisty braid full of jaw dropping revelations and breathtaking reversals. An elegant and brainy page-turner from a master storyteller."
"[Within A Guide for the Perplexed] beats the living heart of a very human drama, one that will have readers both caught up in the suspense and moved by the tragic dimensions of the unresolved dilemma at the core of the story."
"So beautiful, so mystical, so exciting…I really urge you to read Dara Horn."
"[A] humane, erudite novel."
"Horn is embracing her own, livelier brand of Jewish history, embodied in the joys of discovering—and creating—the past anew."
"Computer science and medieval philosophy mesh in Dara Horn’s accomplished novel about digital dangers and the nature of memory."
"A Guide for the Perplexed is a richly layered book that leaves a reader…grateful and impressed."
"Dara Horn's fourth, and best…. [A] humane, erudite novel."
"[Within A Guide for the Perplexed] beats the living heart of a very human drama, one that will have readers both caught up in the suspense and moved by the tragic dimensions of the unresolved dilemma at the core of the story."
"[An] intense, multilayered story… Horn's writing comes from a place of deep knowledge…"
Horn's latest after The World To Come is part thriller and part philosophical rumination on family and memory. Josie and Judith Ashkenazi have a long history of sibling rivalry that has intensified over the seven years Judith has worked for her younger sister. Josie's company produces Genizah, a Facebook-like digital archive that catalogs life in real time via cell phones, computers, cameras, and other personal technology. While working in Egypt as a software consultant for the Library of Alexandria, Josie is kidnapped. As the family deals with the aftermath of the kidnapping, the narrative travels back in time to Solomon Schecter's expedition to Egypt to investigate the Cairo Genizah. This enormous and unsorted archive was filled with both religious and secular documents dating back as early as 870 CE. Both the real and fictional genizahs raise questions throughout the novel about how and why we choose what to remember or forget. VERDICT Readers will be taken in by this literary thriller's fast-paced plot and complicated but well-imaged characters. Recommendations for readers interested in learning more about the Cairo Genizah include Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole's Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Genizah or Mark S. Glickman's Sacred Treasure: The Cairo Genizah; The Amazing Discoveries of Forgotten Jewish History in an Egyptian Synagogue Attic. [See Prepub Alert, 3/18/13.]—Pamela Mann, St. Mary's Coll. Lib., MD
Alternating between modern-day siblings who are locked in rivalry well into adulthood and the hunt for sacred texts a century ago, this novel offers many rich layers of history. Dara Horn has created a remarkably interwoven tale, which shifts between the past and present, as well between continents and religious points of view. Narrator Carrington MacDuffie capably handles the multiple shifts in time periods, settings, and characters. Furthermore, her character depictions capture the humanity in the story’s wide cast. Happily, MacDuffie's use of accent, tone, pitch, and pace creates enough variety to keep the listener fully engaged in this twisting, mysterious tale. M.R. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
Horn (All Other Nights, 2009, etc.) is nothing if not ambitious in concocting this stew of Middle East politics, computer sci-fi, Jewish philosophy and romantic melodrama about a Jewish techno-entrepreneur taken hostage in post-Mubarak Egypt. The wonderful title comes from the 11th-century work by Maimonides rediscovered in the 1890s by Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University, who found pages of Maimonides' writing in an Egyptian synagogue storeroom called a genizah. Interwoven with a less than effective re-telling of Maimonides and Schechter's history, Horn's present-day fiction concerns the beautiful if geeky genius Josie, who borders on autistic in her lack of empathy for others. California-based Josie has invented a software program, not coincidentally called Genizah, which tracks and stores the moments a person is experiencing in order to turn them into a full memory of her/his life. Her company is thriving, and Josie is happily married to handsome Israeli Itamar. She chooses to ignore her 6-year-old daughter Tali's worrisome emotional quirks, perhaps because her own childhood memories include being an outcast among her doltish peers, including her older sister Judith. Judith's memories differ from Josie's--she is haunted by her mother's favoritism toward Josie and her inescapable role as the lesser sister. Employed by Josie's company, she is lonely and jealous that everything comes so easily to Josie. Then Josie is kidnapped while consulting with the Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Believing Josie has been killed, Itamar and Tali depend increasingly on Judith, who blossoms into the loving person she always wanted to be. But Josie is not dead. She is busy creating a genizah so her Egyptian captor can recreate the life of his dead son. The philosophical questions raised are intriguing, if faddish: Is God omniscient? What is memory, and can it be trusted? What is the relationship between past and present? What is time dilation? The psychological plot concerning the characters is less captivating, although Judith is a standout. A work marked by brilliant conceits and clever plotting.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169836424 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 09/09/2013 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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