Geraldine Brooks has never let me down, and this one is a winner, too. She has this way of weaving setting into story that makes you forget where you are, and live only in the world she's writing.

The Life of King David has always fascinated me. The Secret Chord is a book I started many times, it was a struggle to grasp what was going on and even who he pov was from. I even switched to the audio book thinking that might help. But alas it didn't. After being on my shelf for many years I am finally calling this a dnf. I tried but it was confusing and hard to follow.

I will not be sharing this on social or reviewing it on GR or amazon.

We read this for my library book group in 2018 and honestly, although a few group member enjoyed it, I was not one of them. I've enjoyed this author in the past but, this story was not one I ended up enjoying, probably because of the subject matter.

So sorry - this book is not for me. I was unable to enjoy it as the dialogue just seems to go on and on. I feel quite sure that if I didn't know David's story I would not be able to understand the story line. I also like my biblical stories to be fairly realistic and the mentions of David with man and sheep just did not strike me as particularly realistic and fair.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Books Viking for the chance to read this title. This is my honest review. So sorry this is late! I am determined to catch up with the backlog!

This review appeared in the Fall 2015 issue of The Englewood Review of Books...

Review by Leslie A. Klingensmith

(Note: Throughout the novel,
the author uses the Hebrew
spelling for names that are
familiar to many readers
in English. The Hebrew
spellings are just different
enough from the English to
confuse a reader that is not
aware. Examples include:
“Natan” for the prophet we
know as Nathan, “Shlomo”
for Solomon, “Shaul” for
Saul, and “Batsheva” for
Bathsheba. Out of deference
to Brooks, I have written the review with the Hebrew
names.)

Many of us of a certain generation who grew up
in the church laugh about some of our memories
of children’s Sunday School. It is common to hear
people reminisce about felt boards and cardboard
cutout Bible characters with flannel backing that
our teachers used to tell us Bible stories. They
would arrange the figures on the board and move
them around as they narrated a Bible story. Even
though we make fun of them now, and refer to
“paper doll Jesus,” I don’t remember disliking the
flannel board stories at the time. They were a low-tech
way of telling our stories in a medium to which
children could relate. As someone who teaches
Bible classes now, I understand more how hard it
can be to remember that so many of the people in
the Bible stories were real people with dilemmas
and emotions and relationships. At least the flannel
board gave a bunch of squirmy kids something to
look at while we tried to take in the most important
narratives of our tradition.
One problem, however, is that even as adults we
have not moved beyond the cardboard cutouts. I
have to be intentional about meditating on Moses,
David, Amos, Mary, Elizabeth, Jesus, and so many
more unnamed persons in the Bible as real, flesh
and blood, flawed, searching, redeemed people. If I
do not, these critical ancestors of our faith tradition
become nothing more than stock characters with no
individual traits and no life. It is necessary for the
Bible and its stories to be familiar to us, but there is
also a potential trap there. If we are too complacent
about the stories, we can read even the most intense
parts (think of David’s lament for Absalom, Mary’s
Magnificat, or even Jesus’s cries from the cross) in
a rote manner, utterly forgetting to internalize their
beauty, their truth, and their power.
Geraldine Brooks’s The Secret Chord will not
let us relegate the characters in David’s saga to
cardboard paper dolls. Whether or not every word
is factual, she has given life to the characters of
Natan and David. David is presented with all of his
talent and wisdom as well as his tragic flaws. The
relationship between David and his prophet Natan
is imagined in all of its complexities. Brooks shows
how we can continue to love even the ones who
disappoint us the most.
The gift of historical fiction is that it invites the
reader into the scenes as they unfold, and we see new
possibilities and different facets even in biblical texts
that we have known all our lives. I care much less
about factual truth than the truth that the narrative
communicates, but it is clear that Ms. Brooks has
done thorough research and made an effort to stick
to the timeline of the kingships of Shaul and David.
She presents all the wars and the reunion of the
Southern and Northern kingdoms with a clarity that
is hard to tease out of the Old Testament.
As always, Brooks writes beautifully, creating
descriptions that the reader lingers over and goes
back to read again just for their poetry. And beware
- just as she can craft pictures that are startling in
their beauty, she also can establish scenes that
haunt with their ugliness and horror. The rape scene
between Amnon and Tamar is as upsetting as any
such depiction I have ever read. As terrible as it is,
though, I appreciate her bringing to that story the
vividness that it warrants. I’ve known for most of
my life that Tamar was raped – by her half-brother,
no less – but did not grasp at an emotional level
the terror of that experience and the ripple effect
it had on so many of David’s family. After reading
the depiction in The Secret Chord, one has a deeper
understanding of Absalom’s pain and his desire to
avenge his sister. Our ideas of justice have changed
(thankfully), but Brooks truly gets us inside the
culture and mindset of the times and helps us see the
havoc to which a cycle of vengeance and retribution
leads.
The fulcrum on which the whole book turns is the
relationship between David and his prophet Natan.
Although Brook’s attention to detail taken from the
scriptures is amazingly accurate with most of the
other characters in the story, with Natan (and his
relationship with David), she allows herself some
imaginative license. She depicts Natan as a prophet
who actually can see visions of the future and who
knows specifics of what will happen to those who
displease God. Such a portrayal is more in keeping
with what we think of as a seer, and not what we
understand as prophetic witness. Nevertheless, it
works for this story. We follow Natan from boyhood,
when David kills Natan’s father in a raid on their
village, and then as Natan is overcome with his
first vision of David’s future. David is stunned by
Natan’s prophecy that David will be the king who
reunites Israel and Judah and that his line will rule
for generations. He immediately takes Natan (even
though Natan is still a child) as part of his retinue to
be his prophet and a chief adviser. Natan remains
in David’s service for the rest of their lives and
becomes Shlomo’s tutor and mentor. Although there
is no biblical basis for those events, it is a plausible
set up for the events of I Kings 1, when Natan plays
a significant role in David’s decision to have Shlomo
anointed king ahead of his older brothers.
Brooks’s writing is so compelling that The Secret
Chord brings David and Natan’s story to vibrant
life even for people who well know the historical
“facts” laid down in the Bible. Her treatment of
David, giving equal attention to his intelligence
and talent as well as his hubris and utilitarianism,
turns him into an ancestor with whom we identify
as a fellow human being. Likewise, the artful way
that she weaves Natan into David’s reign, serving
as the king’s conscience and calling him on his sins,
makes Natan into someone we root for even when he
is the carrier of unhappy tidings. Her even handed
depiction of these characters (and others as well,
especially Batsheva) has so much more depth than
the typical cloying and moralistic junk that usually
passes for “Christian” or “spiritual” fiction. Anyone
who enjoyed Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent or Marek
Halter’s Sarah and Zipporah:Wife of Moses should
not miss The Secret Chord. If you find yourself unable
to remember the chronology of David’s life and the
purpose of so many of the Old Testament wars, you
also should read it. Anyone who normally loves
Geraldine Brooks and appreciates her imaginative
and truthful treatment of human history will not be
disappointed with The Secret Chord. It is another
near perfect offering from one of the best writers in
America.

What an interesting retelling of the story of King David! I always enjoy Geralide Brooks' writing style, and this title did not disappoint. While I struggled a bit to get into the story, after about the midway point I was drawn in and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Secret Chord is the story of Old Testament King David. While Brooks is a brilliant writer, this is my least favorite of her books. She brought King David and the Bible passages to life, but not always in a manner that I enjoyed. I felt bogged down a few times, and David did not come across as any sort of a great king. I feel like if her characterization of him were accurate, the Bible passages about him would be much different. She portrayed him as very self involved, callous, and insensitive. I found nothing redeeming in her version of David.

My least favorite from this author. Took me several tries to get into it and ended up not finishing.