Rating: 
Summary: A Mormon Midrash
Review: An easy to read story. Don't expect it to be quite Biblical, as it certainly has a generous smattering of Mormon theology thrown in. "Abraham even knows the name of the star where God lives". Give me a break! As if the Hebrew God can be bound by space! If you can get past those little subterfuges, it's a pleasant read.
Rating: 
Summary: It's hard to write fiction based on the Bible
Review: and yet if anyone can, Orson Scott Card can. I was very impressed when I found the book one day in a drug store and bought it. To write fiction based on the Bible is dangerous because it leaves one open to intense critism and also because God must then become a character. Card has done a remarkable job telling a real story of drama with characters who have real lives and motivations. He uses the Bible and yet shows so many new ways of looking at the events and the people. His own theology must of course be in it, how could he tell a passionate story while ignoring the things that speak to him in it? I thought he did a surprisingly good job letting the theology be that of the characters and not his own. If you read books of this sort written by many evangelical-style Christians they will not allow any drama into the story- in trying to protect the prophets of God from critisism, they dry the wonderful stories up. Card is certainly a Christian, but it is almost not noticable in this and his other book so far in the series. I think anyone can get something useful out of the book. Even if you don't care for the religious aspect, the qualities of the women in both stories are wonderful to read about. Card's women have passion, fire, but also a beautiful sense of duty and love.
Rating: 
Summary: Names and Brains
Review: I have read both the books in this series, and I LOVE them. I've always been a fan of books that show alternate perspectives, but I particularly enjoyed these because they give biblical women voices and minds, rather than the occasional name and distinction of being someone-or-other's wife/sister/mother/etc.
Rating:
Summary: Names and Brains
Review: I have read both the books in this series, and I LOVE them. I've always been a fan of books that show alternate perspectives, but I particularly enjoyed these because they give biblical women voices and minds, rather than the occasional name and distinction of being someone-or-other's wife/sister/mother/etc.
Rating:
Summary: Human biblical figures wow!
Review: i haven't quite finished the book yet but this is the first time i have read anything that makes Biblical figures seem human. i'm not a really religious person but i do attend Catholic school but this was my first encounter with someone of Orson Scott Card's talent and writing style tackling biblical figures. before i never really pictured these people as having frustrations and real feelings because all i really know is from the Bible and textbooks and those are full of deadpan prose like, "God said to do this and so he did." this book gave Rebekah a soul i didn't realize she had, and her trials and frustrations are very real. but i must say i'm rather dissappointed with Isaac and Abraham, but only in their ignorant veiw of Jacob and Esau and who should get the birthright and things like that. i fully understood Rebekah's frustrations cuz i'm sure it felt like beat one's head against a stone wall. but Isaac desperately needs some self esteem!! but i can see how one could turn out that way with a father like his. so overall it was very believable and very entertaining. i won't pretend to know how accurate it is but i though that it took an interesting look at the whole biblical story, especially by taking Rebekah's point of view! well i hope u enjoy it!!
Rating: 
Summary: What the heck is going on?
Review: I just finished reading this book this morning, and was disappointed. If you read this with any expectation of the depth, nuance and creativity that Card usually pours overflowing into his books, skip this book. If you want a read that fleshes out this Biblical account, even if shallow and forced, it won't disappoint. I understand the constraints of historical fiction which obviously place limits on where a book can go, but Sarah was a much better book created under these same constraints. That being said, I do appreciate aspects of this potential and "humanized" version. It does bring up some interesting theological and philosophical dilemmas to ponder. It is just so weak, simplistic and shows such frankly unbelievable behaviors compared to his normal writing I give it a 2 for a rating. I've read everything by Card I can get my hands on and think of him as one of the best authors I've ever read, no matter the genre, and he does span a few. I glanced at a review for his newest Ender book that I haven't read yet and was amazed to hear someone else echo what I was thinking about THIS book, that it wasn't very good, that it was preachy and that it felt like Card wasn't being himself, as if the book was ghost or co-written, or that he was being stifled or reigned in from his usual style. Mr. Card, please come back!
Rating:
Summary: What the heck is going on?
Review: I just finished reading this book this morning, and was disappointed. If you read this with any expectation of the depth, nuance and creativity that Card usually pours overflowing into his books, skip this book. If you want a read that fleshes out this Biblical account, even if shallow and forced, it won't disappoint. I understand the constraints of historical fiction which obviously place limits on where a book can go, but Sarah was a much better book created under these same constraints. That being said, I do appreciate aspects of this potential and "humanized" version. It does bring up some interesting theological and philosophical dilemmas to ponder. It is just so weak, simplistic and shows such frankly unbelievable behaviors compared to his normal writing I give it a 2 for a rating. I've read everything by Card I can get my hands on and think of him as one of the best authors I've ever read, no matter the genre, and he does span a few. I glanced at a review for his newest Ender book that I haven't read yet and was amazed to hear someone else echo what I was thinking about THIS book, that it wasn't very good, that it was preachy and that it felt like Card wasn't being himself, as if the book was ghost or co-written, or that he was being stifled or reigned in from his usual style. Mr. Card, please come back!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: I love this type of book, and Orson Scott Card does it so well! I read "Sarah" before I read this one, and I plan on reading "Rachel and Leah" as soon as it is released in paperback. Both "Sarah" and "Rachel" cover the lives of their respective biblical characters in such depth and understanding. For a man to penetrate so deeply into a woman's mind who lived so long ago is truly inspiring. I really enjoy Card's interpretation of events. It seems to match my own fairly well. He sticks to what's in the Bible, but adds and interprets based upon his knowlege of human behavior. Buy this book and read it over and over! Prepare to go on a journey into the characters, with the characters, and outside of the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: I love this type of book, and Orson Scott Card does it so well! I read "Sarah" before I read this one, and I plan on reading "Rachel and Leah" as soon as it is released in paperback. Both "Sarah" and "Rachel" cover the lives of their respective biblical characters in such depth and understanding. For a man to penetrate so deeply into a woman's mind who lived so long ago is truly inspiring. I really enjoy Card's interpretation of events. It seems to match my own fairly well. He sticks to what's in the Bible, but adds and interprets based upon his knowlege of human behavior. Buy this book and read it over and over! Prepare to go on a journey into the characters, with the characters, and outside of the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: I love this type of book, and Orson Scott Card does it so well! I read "Sarah" before I read this one, and I plan on reading "Rachel and Leah" as soon as it is released in paperback. Both "Sarah" and "Rachel" cover the lives of their respective biblical characters in such depth and understanding. For a man to penetrate so deeply into a woman's mind who lived so long ago is truly inspiring. I really enjoy Card's interpretation of events. It seems to match my own fairly well. He sticks to what's in the Bible, but adds and interprets based upon his knowlege of human behavior. Buy this book and read it over and over! Prepare to go on a journey into the characters, with the characters, and outside of the characters.
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