13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, Moving, and Timely, September 4, 2005
This review is from: Guardian of the Dawn (Paperback)
The San Francisco Chronicle recently gave this novel a rave review, telling readers that they "couldn't find a more timely book for their summer reading" because of how it explores the evils of fundamentalism in an "eloquent and moving" way. I couldn't agree more. This brilliant novel has been a huge bestseller in Portugal, where I live.
"Guardian of the Dawn" brings readers to 16th-century Goa, the glorious capital of the spice trade, but also a city terrorized by the Portuguese Inquisition. I was particularly drawn to Tiago, the young Jewish narrator of the book, who eventually ends up a prisoner of the Inquisition, like his father. Tiago is complex and conflicted, and it is fascinating to follow his evolution over the course of the novel. Through him, this book asks the difficult question: how far can one bend one's own moral code to fight intolerance and evil? I also loved two of the minor characters, both of whom are amazing creations: Nupi, the warm-hearted and charismatic Hindu cook who works for Tiago's family; and Phanishwar, the Jain snake-dancer who shares Tiago's prison cell. For attentive readers, there is a bonus here: Zimler re-tells the story of Othello from before the action of Shakespeare's play. In other words, he brings Iago and Othello back to their childhoods (though they are called Tiago and Wadi in this novel), and shows us what might have gone wrong between them. The last quarter of the novel runs parallel to the action of Shakespeare's play and becomes a tragic page-turner. I read the last 150 pages of the book in one sitting, completely enthralled by the story and the superb writing. "Guardian of the Dawn" is a very ambitious and exciting novel. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in literary fiction, Indian history or Jewish history. I would also highly recommend Zimler's "The Search for Sana"
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Briliant, Moving, and Timely, September 3, 2005
This review is from: Guardian of the Dawn (Paperback)
The San Francisco Chronicle recently gave this novel a rave review, telling readers that they "couldn't find a more timely book for their summer reading" because of how it explores the evils of fundamentalism in an "eloquent and moving" way. I couldn't agree more. This brilliant novel has been a huge bestseller in Portugal, where I live.
"Guardian of the Dawn" brings readers to 16th-century Goa, the glorious capital of the spice trade, but also a city terrorized by the Portuguese Inquisition. I was particularly drawn to Tiago, the young Jewish narrator of the book, who eventually ends up a prisoner of the Inquisition, like his father. Tiago is complex and conflicted, and it is fascinating to follow his evolution over the course of the novel. Through him, this book asks the difficult question: how far can one bend one's own moral code to fight intolerance and evil? I also loved two of the minor characters, both of whom are amazing creations: Nupi, the warm-hearted and charismatic Hindu cook who works for Tiago's family; and Phanishwar, the Jain snake-dancer who shares Tiago's prison cell. For attentive readers, there is a bonus here: Zimler re-tells the story of Othello from before the action of Shakespeare's play. In other words, he brings Iago and Othello back to their childhoods (though they are called Tiago and Wadi in this novel), and shows us what might have gone wrong between them. The last quarter of the novel runs parallel to the action of Shakespeare's play and becomes a tragic page-turner. I read the last 150 pages of the book in one sitting, completely enthralled by the story and the superb writing. "Guardian of the Dawn" is a very ambitious and exciting novel. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in literary fiction, Indian history or Jewish history. I would also highly recommend Zimler's "The Search for Sana"
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Suspenseful...and educational, January 26, 2007
This review is from: Guardian of the Dawn (Paperback)
This book is not a light, feel-good kind of book. The story is very heavy and dark, relating the cruelty, suspicion and betrayal of the Inquisition and how it tore friends and families apart.
Half of the book is narrated in a split-time period, going from the present where Tiago is in jail, to the past, where he had a childhood with a loving, but somewhat troubled, family, leading up to the events that put him in jail and continuing in the present.
His childhood describes his relationship with his father, as well as his sister, his uncle, his deceitful-yet-charming cousin, and his vain, prissy aunt. His father is surprisingly tolerant of a lot of things, including his relationship with a Hindu, and in saying that the many gods in Hinduism are facets of the one god in Judiasm, his views are extremely modern. I don't know if such a thought ever occurred to people back then, but it may have in this diverse culture. This book brought up some subjects (such as Tiago having a crush on his cousin) that were a surprise to me.
He sees his father arrested and has to make a very difficult choice in following his father's wishes. He also ends up in jail and you see the misery of the conditions in prison as well as the impossibility of escaping from the Inquisition. One of the things that struck me the most was his cellmate Phanishwar, a Jain who hardly knew anything of Christianity. He was tricked into coming to Goa and he didn't even know what he was being persecuted for, nor did anyone explain to him. To me, that was the saddest part of the book.
There are scenes of Tiago meeting with an Inquisitor, and you see how difficult it is to give the right answers and manage to break free. Even when Tiago manages to escape being burnt to death, he still is put in jail for six years, and that's the best possible outcome, apparently.
While in jail, Tiago is motivated by his desire for revenge. His first act of revenge, against the person who lured Phanishwar into prison, was cleverly devised and had me cheering. At least one act of justice was done.
When he gets out of jail, he continues his quest for revenge, and unfortunately, that's where he goes overboard. He makes some assumptions based on his experiences, and makes up a plan as he goes along, losing his perception of consequences. I can't really say much more of that, but there are a lot of twists in this story (sometimes I had to re-read it to get the story straight) and a surprise ending.
What I really liked was that this story taught me about Goa, a place that most Americans are not even aware of. I am married to someone from Goa and have been there, but even in Goa I had difficulty finding out about the period of Portuguese rule. The Goans mostly adore St Francis Xavier (who brought the Inquisition over, I learned) and talk as if the Portuguese were benevolent. Rarely is the interaction peaceful when two cultures meet, and I thought this was too good to be true. For the reviewer that says Europeans should write about Europeans and Indians should write about Indians...well, the problem is most Goans don't even know about most of this history (I'm sure the Portuguese, during their hundreds of years of colonization, made themselves look good in the history books.) This book was a lot better than The Ghost of Hannah Mendes, when it comes to historical fiction, but I have respect for anyone who actually does research to write a book and has the imagination to put themselves into a perspective so different from their own.
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