Reviews

The History of Soul 2065 by Barbara Krasnoff

karenteacher's review

4.0

The History of Soul 2065 is a series of short, semi-historical fantasy stories that follows the families of Chana and Sophia across multiple generations, beginning just before WWII, and ending about 60 years in the future, compared to the publication date. It’s rare to see fantasy so clearly grounded in history, and rarer still to see fantasy so grounded in Judaism.

ammonite's review

4.0

First off: I received this as a Goodreads Giveaway in ebook format, so thank you to all responsible for getting it to me.

This book has been described as a mosaic novel and helpfully, there are family trees for the families of the two characters who are the originators of their family lines as relevant to the stories. Unfortunately, in ebook format, it's not as easy to go bank and forth to these trees when I want to refer to them (which may speak more to my lack of skill in fully using the features found in ebooks), so I perhaps wasn't as always appreciative of their precise relationships as I should have been.

But the stories themselves are wonderful and beautifully tie together at the end. Honestly, Jane Yolen's introduction says everything that I feel I want to express here, so I recommend reading her excellent and heartfelt introduction.

I will be keeping an eye out for Krasnoff's work and look forward to seeking out other stories that she's written.

lfs's review

4.0

This was...weird, but kinda great. Its been a minute since I read a book so physically engaging; I found myself frequently flipping pages, retracing my steps, referring back to the characters' family trees, looking at how all of the pieces fit together. Some of the individual stories were more interesting than others, and there were some I would have liked explored in some more depth, but overall I enjoyed this as a weird, magical retrospective on life, death, family and the interconnectedness of things.

templecat2's review

3.0

3.5. Some of the stories I liked more than others (and there was definitely some repetition of themes/personal situations in ways that got a little tiring), but the stories I liked, I really liked, and I really liked following all the stories of two Ashkenazi families and their brief moments of inter-connectedness. (Also one of the families had a long, colorful history of Jewish radical collective action, which I Had Feelings about due to my own family history). This last thing isn't the author's fault so much, but I would have *killed* for this book to have been properly proofread - most of the stories were published as separate pieces over the course of many years and were only just now revised to fit together as one mosaic novel, and there are some details that don't add up (particularly concerning years of births in relation to other time settings that mathematically don't make sense), and it was *so* *aggravating*. And it's such a disservice to a lovely, touching book. (/end rant)

craftysilicate's review against another edition

funny hopeful sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5