The Ghost of Hannah Mendes

Rating:
Summary: Hot & Cold
Review: I couldn't put down the book during the historical sections. However, the transition the modern day themes did not ring true at all. Imagine, two young, enchantingly beautiful sisters falling in love with & two impossibly handsome, wealthy men. In all cases it's love at first sight, without exchanging more than a handful of sentences. Sorry, I prefer a bit more reality, even in my recreational literature. An OK read, but it's definitely on it's way to the second hand book store.

Rating:
Summary: Family Trees and Strength
Review: I couldn't put this book down. I am a Catholic and found it to be very enlightening about the Jewish History in Spain. I especially like the image of the family history being like a jeweled necklace that is passed down from one generation to another. It's a wonderful book. However, I did find the romance part of the modern granddaughters to be unbelievable. I am now reading another one of Naomi Rage's books. Her vision about the Jewish faith is truly inspiring. I am envious of the feeling of daily closeness with Our Creator.

Rating:
Summary: the ghost of hannah mendes
Review: I expected a well written Jewish history novel like the books by Lion Feuchtwanger, instead I got a badly written love novel, were everything is very predictable from the beginning to the end. The heroin and historical figure of Hannah Mendeds stays fragmentory and if you have the slightest idea about sephardic jews, their history and their customs this book is not going add anything. The best this book did for me is getting me interested in Hannah Mendes and I'm going to read her biography by Cecil Roth next. One of the figures in the book, the dying grandmother reflects upon her life and how much time of her life she spend unwisely with many different things one of them being "reading a false, poorly written but amusing book". This is how I felt and I'm not even sure that the book was amusing giving its lack in creativity and literary style.

Rating:
Summary: NAOMI RAGEN DIDN'T LET ME DOWN
Review: I love Naomi Ragen's books, and The Ghost of Hannah Mendes was no exception. My only complaint is that I can't put her books down and then I have to wait to long until her next book is published. I am a Christian and I enjoy reading books that educate as well as entertain and I have enjoyed so much learning a little about Jewish culture and the different Jewish sects that Naomi Ragen has written about in her books. I throughly enjoyed The Ghost of Hannah Mendes.

Rating:
Summary: Historical Romance
Review: I really enjoyed the sentimentality felt throughout this book...
The characters all seem to explore themselves and their humanity while their historical background brings them to to enchanting places all over europe... It was an education, a romance novel, a travel log and most of all entertaining and enjoyable..Read it, you won't be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: Appreciate family
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I do not agree with the 2 & 3 star reviews!! This book is about appreciating your family history. It is based on a Jewish family and their struggles, but you do not have to be Jewish to love this book. I am a "sucker" for books with love of family and faith--- and adding a little romance never hurt anything!

Rating:
Summary: Naomi Ragen Writes To The Heart...
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed every page of Hannah Mendes, as did the countless others including family and friends both Jewish and not, whom I have passed this book onto. Naomi Ragen is at her best as she entertains us with the stories that intertwine the past and present as they impact the future. I learned so much about the history of my own ancestors and the Spanish Inquisition, as well as reaffirming my awe regarding the strength of the Jewish people. I know others may criticize Ms. Ragen for her storyline that emphasizes the importance of the granddaughters to marry in the Jewish faith and to carry on the religious beliefs, traditions, and values so carefully guarded by their ancestors. Personally, I appreciated this thread. I am married to a wonderful non-Jewish man who thankfully respects my strong need to pass our heritage on to our children with pride. My 19 yr old daughter LOVED Hannah Mendes as much as I did and saw in it, her own responsibility to carry on our faith and traditions. I don't think Naomi Ragen is proselytizing but rather attempting to share with us, all that is at stake if intermarriage causes the loss of Jewish heritage. Thank You Naomi Ragen for taking me on this beautiful and moving journey into the past where the decisions we make shape more than our own futures.

Rating:
Summary: The Ghost of Hannah Mendes
Review: I was disappointed in this book. I had expected an historical novel juxtaposed with a present day moral crisis from a Sephardic Jewish perspective. While the storyline follows this format, the character development is extremely weak and the romantic relationship development reminds me of a Danielle Steele novel. The story centers on two sisters and a grandmother. We are not even told which sister is older, and are given limited insight into their childhood. I am almost finished the book, and am still waiting to get to know and to care about these characters. I had hoped for much more.

Rating:
Summary: mixing history and contemporary romance is not always good
Review: like many other reviewers, i found the history of the expulsion of jews from spain and portugal extremely interesting. having recently married into an american reform jewish family, learning about jewish history is something i'd like to take up. having also recently given birth to our first son, i also appreciated some of the aspects of the novel dealing with family and tradition. this particular topic is something our family will have to deal with as our son grows up in a biracial, bicultural family.

however, i found the modern day romance aspect of the story too cliche-ish, and the conclusion much too convenient. i had hoped the female characters would be strong and inspirational -- as hannah mendes supposedly was -- but instead i found there to be no character development, or real challenges for the women. one of the modern-day characters, suzanne, continually questioned what was wrong with interfaith marriages, yet her character conveniently fell in love with, and married, someone of her own faith, and all of a sudden this life-long question of hers ceased to exist. i felt the author did nothing to realistically deal with this question.

this book would've been far better had the historical sections been expanded upon and we learned more about hannah mendes; perhaps i will read a non-fiction book about this instead. it's too bad this book was brought down by the all too predictable romantic plot when there was something so good waiting to be written about.

Rating:
Summary: A good try
Review: Ms Ragen is an enormously talented writer and in her previous works has succeeded in giving us a window into the hidden world of the ultra-orthodox Jews.

This novel is ambitious in another way. She has looked into another inadequately explored area of Jewish life, the period of the Spanish Inquisition, and attempted to bring it to life. A second theme of the book is the continuity of family tradition in general, and Jewish tradition in particular. Each of these ideas are worthy, however the presentation is not good enough.

The character of Hannah Mendes is truly a fascinating one, all the more so because she was a real person. I would welcome a fictionalized or more modern biography of Hannah/Gracia that would satisfy our craving for more details and provide a deeper look into that period.

I agree with several other readers that the modern story is to superficial and contrived. There were moments when I could get involved with the characters but only a few. The feeling I had was that the writer had only second hand knowledge of people like Francesca and Suzanne. The men were just props from the outset.

Some Ragen fans will be disappointed and some will love whatever she writes. If you know nothing about the Spanish Jews and are interested AND don't mind some superficial romance go ahead and enjoy this book.

Readers may find The Last Kabbalist in Lisbon a better choice.