An exceptional translator of ancient Hebrew into contemporary English, Robert Alter brings the historical King David to life in a story of 3000 years ago. As the book's blurb says: "the greatest single narrative...in antiquity of a human life evolving... shaped by pressures of political life, family, the impulses of body and spirit, and the eventual sad decay of the flesh." It is a shock to have to have to review a book of the bible with so much adultery, murder, revenge, the gore of wartime, betrayals, and deadly familial rivalry - but it is all in here. This is an account of a "historical personage" and a "full-blooded imagining". The commentary supplied by the author is generally useful but entirely secular in nature and tone.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
The review of this Book prepared by Michael JR Jose