Title: The Dovekeepers

Author: Alice Hoffman

Publisher: Scribner 2011

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 504

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 21st Century Women Authors; Read Your Freebies; A to Z - D; New Author

Nearly 2,000 years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path.
The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love. The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s masterpiece.

So I really wanted the like this book. I really did! I had heard such great things and the summary intrigued me. Unfortunately I just had a hard time connected with any character and getting past my annoyance with the preaching nature. None of the main characters spoke to me at all. I wanted to find someone real, but they felt like just characters. I also became very annoyed with Yael's narration. She repeated herself way too many times. As to the preaching tone of the novel, I must say that I was fairly turned off. It was weird. Some times it seemed like the characters were pointing out why following the religion was bad and other times they seemed to support it. I couldn't settle on the tone, but the preaching at the reader got to me. Oh well. Another hyped book that I just didn't get into.