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A review by librarygurl
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
3.0
I have been to Masada. I have gone up and down on foot. I was raised Jewish. I grew up with the stories of what happened. I knew how this would end. I enjoy Alice Hoffman. I know not to judge her books on summaries and movies. This book was not my favorite. I listened to the audiobook.
The story itself was solid, but took quite a while to become interesting. A lot of time, as other reviewers have said, was spent describing things and places in intricate detail. Given the number of people who left reviews saying they knew nothing about Masada, I can forgive the depth of detail. I just didn't find myself engrossed with the story until the last half. Yael and Revkah were not engaging stories compared to Aziza and Shirah. I really wanted just to hear Shirah's story. Hoffman's magical realism didn't really come into play with anyone other than Shirah. It just felt it was much longer than it needed to be.
The audiobook had some good qualities and some bad ones. First, each narrator got her own voice. There were different readers- at least three. I wasn't able to identify which reader did 2 narrators. What I didn't enjoy was what often happens with audiobooks: the drone. I appreciate and understand that it is not easy to do audiobooks. I have heard some phenomenal audiobooks where readers use their voice to engage the listener. It is like they are telling you the story rather than just reading it. I have heard very few like this. Most readers begin to drone on with little variation in vocality. They read in the same tone most of the book. This book had the drone. I fell asleep more than once while listening. All of the narrators were guilty of this.
I gave this 3 stars because it was a solid book, just not for me.
The story itself was solid, but took quite a while to become interesting. A lot of time, as other reviewers have said, was spent describing things and places in intricate detail. Given the number of people who left reviews saying they knew nothing about Masada, I can forgive the depth of detail. I just didn't find myself engrossed with the story until the last half. Yael and Revkah were not engaging stories compared to Aziza and Shirah. I really wanted just to hear Shirah's story. Hoffman's magical realism didn't really come into play with anyone other than Shirah. It just felt it was much longer than it needed to be.
The audiobook had some good qualities and some bad ones. First, each narrator got her own voice. There were different readers- at least three. I wasn't able to identify which reader did 2 narrators. What I didn't enjoy was what often happens with audiobooks: the drone. I appreciate and understand that it is not easy to do audiobooks. I have heard some phenomenal audiobooks where readers use their voice to engage the listener. It is like they are telling you the story rather than just reading it. I have heard very few like this. Most readers begin to drone on with little variation in vocality. They read in the same tone most of the book. This book had the drone. I fell asleep more than once while listening. All of the narrators were guilty of this.
I gave this 3 stars because it was a solid book, just not for me.