Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Secret Chord
Geraldine Brooks
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Secret Chord
Geraldine Brooks
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Secret Chord, by Geraldine Brooks is narrated by Natan of King David of Israel. Natan is the prophet and David’s loyal servant. They have fought together in many bloody wars, and Natan has never faltered. Author Brooks describes the blood and guts of their most recent battle. Avishai, Voav’s warrior brother, had deflected a spear intended for David and David is humiliated that he had been protected by another man. Natan points out that their enemies now fear them. David plays on his harp, which is always nearby. David wants to be known as a man in the future, not as a monument. David gives Natan permission to record his history. He sends Natan a tablet with three names on it, of those who will tell him of David’s childhood and his youth.
Natan had met David when he was herding his father’s goats. David had asked Natan’s father for provisions, but the father denied David’s request. Two days later, a youth comes to ask again. Denied again, David comes and kills Natan’s father, not for the dates he’d requested, but for the denial of his permission. He takes Natan into his service. It was necessary, he says. That becomes the motto. Natan sees the future and tells David of the empire that will be his for generations. David believes those words, and so do his followers. For now, however, he has nothing, no land, and is a wanted man. Decades later, David would be crowned King of Israel and the tribes of Name would be one nation. But that is in the future.
To write David’s history, Natan must see David’s mother, Nizevet. David’s brother, Shammah, is not happy to see Natan, he does not trust the idea of writing David’s history. But his mother feels David has a reason. She tells Natan that David’s father hated David from his birth and his brothers were cruel to him. His father sent him away to tend the sheep in the hills at age six. This helped David become a good listener, important in a leader and a negotiator. David was declared the “unwelcome one," even though he was smart, quick, lively, and sweet. His father thought he was the product of a one-night stand, but he was wrong. The two women had switched places during the night.
When Shmuel came to their home to find a man worthy of being King, he looked at their sons and rejected them. When David came in, unkempt and filthy with a lion’s skin around him that he had killed, Shmuel anointed him with oil. This boy was the leader to be. Author Brooks has Natan tell his story in first person, to make the reader believe him. He is sincere and honest-sounding. The next day, Natan interviews David’s brother Shammah. He tells Natan David was a clever little fraud and today is a cunning charlatan. But Natan knows better. When the Plishtim champion yelled for a man to fight, David came out to face the giant Goliath. He yelled the name of the Lord, and slung stones at him. Goliath stumbled in his armor. One stone hit the giant in his forehead and blood ran into his eyes. David lifted the giant’s sword and sliced off his head. David became the King’s armor bearer.
Natan makes predictions, although he cannot hear them and David doesn’t understand them. But he acts on them and does “whatever is necessary.” David sleeps with the wife of Uriah, one of his principal fighters. This was unlike him as he is devoted to his men. But he fell in love with her passionately.
Natan goes to see Mikhal, David’s first wife, to add to his historical tale. She is Yonatan’s sister and loved David. But he had been in love with her brother. David brought joy into her house after her father went mad. David played his harp and sang, and no one had heard better. There was “one chord,” sublime and pure. Her father bartered her for one hundred dead Plishtim men and David slaughtered them in less than a week, while singing songs. When David fled for his life, her father married her to Palti who was kind to her. David went on a rampage of thievery, death and terror, even onto the priests who guarded the sword that had killed Goliath. David married again, to Avigail and David’s first son, Amnon, was born. David tells Palti, Mikhal’s husband now, that he wants her back. Palti follows Mikhal’s litter as she is carried to David. She dresses in mourning and will not embrace him. She loves Palti now, not David.
Battles follow battle and David is crowned King of Israel and Yudah. How much is based on truth? Author Brooks is a master of weaving fact with fiction. Natan becomes Schlomo’s teacher and friend and guide to how to be a wise and just King. Author Brooks immersed herself in Jewish culture in Israel and readings of the Bible. Find this fascinating historical novel in the fiction room of your Mendocino Community Library when it re-opens.
Natan had met David when he was herding his father’s goats. David had asked Natan’s father for provisions, but the father denied David’s request. Two days later, a youth comes to ask again. Denied again, David comes and kills Natan’s father, not for the dates he’d requested, but for the denial of his permission. He takes Natan into his service. It was necessary, he says. That becomes the motto. Natan sees the future and tells David of the empire that will be his for generations. David believes those words, and so do his followers. For now, however, he has nothing, no land, and is a wanted man. Decades later, David would be crowned King of Israel and the tribes of Name would be one nation. But that is in the future.
To write David’s history, Natan must see David’s mother, Nizevet. David’s brother, Shammah, is not happy to see Natan, he does not trust the idea of writing David’s history. But his mother feels David has a reason. She tells Natan that David’s father hated David from his birth and his brothers were cruel to him. His father sent him away to tend the sheep in the hills at age six. This helped David become a good listener, important in a leader and a negotiator. David was declared the “unwelcome one," even though he was smart, quick, lively, and sweet. His father thought he was the product of a one-night stand, but he was wrong. The two women had switched places during the night.
When Shmuel came to their home to find a man worthy of being King, he looked at their sons and rejected them. When David came in, unkempt and filthy with a lion’s skin around him that he had killed, Shmuel anointed him with oil. This boy was the leader to be. Author Brooks has Natan tell his story in first person, to make the reader believe him. He is sincere and honest-sounding. The next day, Natan interviews David’s brother Shammah. He tells Natan David was a clever little fraud and today is a cunning charlatan. But Natan knows better. When the Plishtim champion yelled for a man to fight, David came out to face the giant Goliath. He yelled the name of the Lord, and slung stones at him. Goliath stumbled in his armor. One stone hit the giant in his forehead and blood ran into his eyes. David lifted the giant’s sword and sliced off his head. David became the King’s armor bearer.
Natan makes predictions, although he cannot hear them and David doesn’t understand them. But he acts on them and does “whatever is necessary.” David sleeps with the wife of Uriah, one of his principal fighters. This was unlike him as he is devoted to his men. But he fell in love with her passionately.
Natan goes to see Mikhal, David’s first wife, to add to his historical tale. She is Yonatan’s sister and loved David. But he had been in love with her brother. David brought joy into her house after her father went mad. David played his harp and sang, and no one had heard better. There was “one chord,” sublime and pure. Her father bartered her for one hundred dead Plishtim men and David slaughtered them in less than a week, while singing songs. When David fled for his life, her father married her to Palti who was kind to her. David went on a rampage of thievery, death and terror, even onto the priests who guarded the sword that had killed Goliath. David married again, to Avigail and David’s first son, Amnon, was born. David tells Palti, Mikhal’s husband now, that he wants her back. Palti follows Mikhal’s litter as she is carried to David. She dresses in mourning and will not embrace him. She loves Palti now, not David.
Battles follow battle and David is crowned King of Israel and Yudah. How much is based on truth? Author Brooks is a master of weaving fact with fiction. Natan becomes Schlomo’s teacher and friend and guide to how to be a wise and just King. Author Brooks immersed herself in Jewish culture in Israel and readings of the Bible. Find this fascinating historical novel in the fiction room of your Mendocino Community Library when it re-opens.