~4.5 stars.

“Rebekah” by Orson Scott Card is a superb example of how to use inner conflict to make even a slower, character-driven story riveting. Each of the main characters was sympathetic—at least, those who were meant to be. As in “Sarah,” the first in this series, Card still excels in his use of dialogue, but in this second novel—unlike the first—I had only the praise and none of the scriptural reservations. It’s true that Card interprets the repeated sister-wife narratives the same way as some literary critics do: Card assumes a singular event, which he already included in “Sarah,” so readers won’t find another here. A few liberties don’t concern me so long as the spirit of the Scripture remains intact—which I believe it did in this second novel. The Jacob painted in this story is compelling and lovable enough I’m curious to read the next book in the series to see how Card paints the rest of Jacob’s story.

I will say—though it doesn’t bother me—Card’s style in this series seems to be to add in—for lack of a better word—“diversions” from the Scripture. These diversions don’t contradict the biblical account. Readers can imagine these “diversion” are events that never got recorded. In “Rebekah,” these story threads are all plausible and interesting, even enhancing characterization. I enjoyed the additions in this book, though if you’re looking for something that adheres only to the biblical account, with no diversions or embellishments, this might not suit. Personally, I thought it was a well-written and interesting story that explains some of the questions that rise in my mind when I read the biblical account… like, for example, why Isaac didn’t revoke the blessing he’d given to Jacob in error. Furthermore, why bless him again, more intentionally, after Isaac became aware of his son’s deception? This novel provides plausible answers, as well as familial themes that will likely provoke deeper thinking of just what the original account means. As Card writes, inherited behaviors… “would show up in the way each treated his children. And so on, and so on, in a never-ending cycle that began with nothing worse than good people trying to do what was right and getting it wrong without meaning to.”

And indeed Jacob errs in the same way as his father. Just as Isaac favored Esau, reaping rivalry between sons, so too Jacob’s favoritism reaps discord.

This book was well written and I appreciated that he didn't sugar coat the issues and personalities that may have been involved. I like it that writer's can think outside the box and I like that this author talked about how good people, trying their best to make good choices could still make mistakes. Very human.

This book was difficult to put down.

March 4, 2009

Plot Summary
Rebekah is the story of Rebekah from Genesis. It begins with her as a young child, telling how her mother died and she grew up without her. One day when she is ten, her father, Bethuel, goes deaf. Rebekah and her brother Laban know that Bethuel’s uncle Abraham knows how to write, so they try to make up their own writing for their father. Bethuel teaches them as much of the holy writings as he can remember, once they give him the idea, and in this way their father can run his camp again. However, many of the children in the camp learn to write as well, and notes are scrawled everywhere about Rebekah. When Bethuel finds out, and he finds out who did it, he is terribly angry and punishes the boy. Rebekah comes to his rescue, asking why he did it, and he tells her it was because she was beautiful and he wanted her but he couldn’t have her, because she was daughter to the master of the camp. Rebekah finds out this way that she is beautiful, but she hates it, and she takes to wearing a veil to hide her face whenever she leaves her tent.
Rebekah lives as mistress of the camp for years, but begins to worry she will have to leave as she becomes of marriageable age and suitors begin visiting. One particular suitor, Ezbaal, comes with his mother, grandmother, and sister. He hopes that since she will not allow him to see her face, she will allow the women to see and judge. She cannot refuse him and she meets with the women, who approve. She does not want to marry Ezbaal, however, because she fears that he will teach their children to follow Ba’al and Asherah. Instead she plans for the sister, Akyas (meaning “rejected”) to wed Bethuel instead. Akyas agrees, but also hides her face until the day of the wedding.
When the wedding arrives and Akyas’ face is revealed, she is found to be the exact image of Rebekah – her mother, sent away by her father when Rebekah was still a baby. She had tried to dedicate Rebekah to Asherah when she was expressly forbidden by Bethuel. Rebekah throws a fit and Laban cries over the loss of their years with her. Ezbaal leaves soon after and her mother stays.
One day Rebekah goes down to the well, as in the Bible story, and meets a man who turns out to be a messenger of Abraham. She ends up going with him to marry Isaac at Kirjath-arba. From there it takes on the story from the Bible, with the author of course expanding on everything with his own works of fiction.

Personal Response
I thought the book was fantastic. I never really thought about reading it – I just started reading every time I sat alone in my room. It was easy to believe it was all real. Some people would say that Isaac growing up feeling insignificant and unloved is unrealistic, but I agree with the author that the odds of Isaac growing up unaffected by his father nearly sacrificing him for God are low. I liked how each character was believable and real. I want to read the other book in the series, Sarah. I particularly liked that Rebekah had a good reason for helping Jacob trick Isaac, other than “I like Jacob better”, but also that Isaac was not entirely blamed. Both of them had good intentions but acted badly upon them. I just wish that the series wasn’t “Women of Genesis” because I wanted to follow Jacob when he fled to Laban.

Quotes
When Rebekah finds out that her mother is in fact Akyas, she turns on everybody. She is angry with everybody: with her father and his household, for lying; with her mother, for not telling her when she arrived; with Ezbaal, for embarrassing her family in such a way. The only person she spares is Laban, until he tells her she’s being a big baby for being so angry. They didn’t do it to hurt her, he says. She responds in a way I know I probably would have, and it is something I would regret saying so much.
“I’m the big selfish baby? Go dry your eyes, Laban, and tell me who the baby is.”

Rebekah tries to teach her mother to read, but her mother continually tries to talk about other things with her. Finally they have an argument about it, and Rebekah finds out that her mother was just trying to gossip with her – something she never learned because she grew up around men, and was only with the men when they were giving direct orders, never just talking. When she begins gossiping with her mother, she learns to do so with the women of the household and they easily accept her into their circles. I like how this quote is phrased.
“They hadn’t shut her out of their conversations. She simply hadn’t known how to join in.”

Isaac is portrayed as insecure and unsure of his father’s love. Abraham’s near sacrifice of him played a major role in the book. In this scene Isaac and Rebekah are arguing about Abraham’s influence over Esau, heir to the birthright. Rebekah wants both of the boys to grow up like Isaac, while Isaac wants Esau to grow up to be like Abraham. Rebekah counters him, asking why he can’t grow up to be a prophet like Isaac. I like the quote because it shows that not everyone will experience God the same way, and we shouldn’t expect others to experience God the same way we might have.
“Suddenly tears appeared in Isaac’s eyes. ‘Because I’m not like my father. Great visions of the stars, the creation of the world. The inspiration I get is more along the lines of where to camp, and which of two quarrelling shepherds is lying to me.’
“‘But, Isaac,’ she said, ‘God speaks to all of us in different voices and tells us what he needs us to know. He doesn’t have to show you what your father saw, because Abraham wrote it down and so you have it.’”

Not as good as the first book in this series. Still interesting, but it did not catch me as the first book did.

Liked it, but not so much as Sarah. It's likely because there's so much information in the Bible about Sarah I felt Card was just filling in the blanks, rather than inventing the story. Rebecca is less-mentioned in scripture, so Card had to take more liberties creating her character, which made it a little less compelling to me, although still interesting. I did really like some of his insights on listening to the Spirit, and how impressions come.

A little less satisfying in the depth of relationship and adult characterization than I wanted

I have liked Orson Scott Card's other books on women of the Bible but was disappointed in this one for I was very uncomfortable about the way he portrayed Rebekah and her family and mostly with the image that was depicted of Abraham and Isaac. This is not the way I want to think of them. It is an interesting and well written book, but my opinions seem to be different than the author. I know that we have to remember that this is fiction written about real people who we don't have very much detail about, but still this was the author's own interpretation of people we know very little about.

I know it's very fictionalized but I really enjoyed this story of Rebekah from the Old Testament.

I gave this one a 3 1/2 stars.
I love stories of the bible told in a novel. This one was good, not great. I really wanted to like it better than I did.
The story of Rebekah, wife to Isaac (son of Abraham). I would have liked to hear more of the culture of the times to give me more of a feel of the times. Not so much.
The one thing I didn't care for was the author had the characters talk in a modern way and didn't give me a sense of the times.
Anyway I might read another book by this author on biblical stories.

Drama bible romance drama

I like Orson Scott Card. I have enjoyed several of his books--including this one. He did have a few problems with uneven writing, and with all his characters having the same voice. However, Card is a good story-teller, and he does an interesting job with fleshing out the biblical Rebekah and the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He explores possible motivations for why Esau might have sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, how Isaac might have felt after almost being sacrificed by Abraham, and how Rebekah justifies her actions in getting Jacob the birthright. It was an intriguing story--enough that I will want to read the other two books in his Women of Genesis series.