A Remarkable Kindness by Diana Bletter- 391 pages
Book Blurb:
It’s 2006 in a seaside village in Israel, where a war is brewing. Lauren, Emily, Aviva and Rachel, four memorable women from different backgrounds, are drawn to the village. Lauren, a maternity nurse, loves her Israeli doctor husband but struggles to make a home for herself in a foreign land thousands of miles away from her beloved Boston. Seeking a fresh start after a divorce, her vivacious friend Emily follows. Strong, sensuous Aviva, brought to Israel years earlier by intelligence work, has raised a family and now lost a son. And Rachel, a beautiful, idealistic college graduate from Wyoming, arrives with her hopeful dreams. The women forge a friendship that sustains them as they come to terms with love and loss, and the outbreak of war. Their intimate bond is strengthened by their participation in a traditional ritual that closes the circle of life. As their lives are slowly transformed, each finds unexpected strength and resilience.
My Review: 3 stars
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A Remarkable Kindness is a book that I expected far more than it gave me in return. Seriously folks, what an amazing premise to learn about the Burial Circle, an ancient Jewish tradition that prepares the bodies for burial and why the women who do this holy task volunteer for it.
Instead, I got a chick-lit version of these four women and never got to know them except for what they told me and way to many minor characters than were necessary to build this story. It also became far fetched that almost every man they met became a potential or realized hook-up.
The end of the book was by far the best and most interesting part of the book. Along the way there were some beautiful quotes and tender moments of loss and love, but all in all, this book didn’t deliver what it could have.
I checked out the author’s Blog, and I know she can write incredibly well. Her entry about her mom’s death the day before Yom Kippur (the holiest Jewish holiday) had me in tears. It was smart, funny and touching. Perhaps her forte is in non-fiction.
Quotes I liked:
Had we not been in the darkness, we could not have seen the light.
Because tears were liquid prayers.
The dead are always heavy. That’s because the soul has gone, and it’s the soul that carries the body.
Each person’s soul is like a candle bringing light into the world.
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