Literature -- 2 stars
This family saga begins in the mid 1700s when Amschel and Gutie Rothschild marry and Amschel begins his life's work, dedicated to becoming a wealthy man. Born into and working from Frankfort's Jewish ghetto, the Rothschild family grows and prospers through wars and Christian prejudices that test their resilience and ingenuity. Told through the eyes of Gutie as she fills journal after journal the book is a textbook on financial laws and restrictions covering 80 years of Jewish history.
----- I love family sagas like this. I love the chance to step into a family and live their trials with them, rooting for the successes, dispairing over the failures. Unfortunately, I never felt like I had joined the Rothschilds. The family members themselves, other than Gutie, never reached any depth of personality leaving me with flat-surfaced people I never really cared about. The journal entries focus on Amschel's financial successes while passing over family happenings--the real meat of a family saga--as simply side notes. There was a feeling of Gutie's love for her many offspring, but it all seemed wrapped around the protection of their value to the family business. I wondered in which trunk she stored her mother's tenderness.
No comments:
Post a Comment