Review: The Secret Chord

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by my brother-in-law.

Whatever I ever knew about the story of David has long been forgotten, and I didn't even know this would be a biblical retelling. It becomes pretty clear pretty quickly, though. I don't know if my ignorance was a blessing or detriment in my appreciation for the book, but I prefer not to know anything about books before reading them, so my guess is that I liked the book more for it. It also "helped" that Brooks uses the Hebrew transliteration of names, which distanced the characters even more from the familiar.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. I grossed out my husband when reading this out loud, and he got upset that he had to hear it. There are tales of battles and graphic depictions of sexual assault.

I'm still not quite clear on what is secret about the secret chord. The ending reference to music seemed a little hokey.

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