Book of Rachel is a novel by the Indian-Jewish author Esther David. The book won India's Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 2010.[1]
Plot
The main protagonist of the novel is an old Jewish widow named Rachel from Bene Israel community who tries to preserve Jewish culinary art[2] and simultaneously tries to protect a local synagogue from local land mafia.
Reception
In her review, Geeta Doctor wrote for India Today "To most people it would consist one portion of R. K. Narayan [and] a dash of sentimentality from Tagore's Kabuliwallah."[3]
Deeptha Achar, Professor at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda wrote "...the book is more ambitious. It not only portrays the community [Bene Israel] from within but also examines the pushes and pulls, economic, cultural, which impinge upon it."[4]
Awards
References.
- ↑ It's a balancing act to retain the Jewish ethos in a multicultural country like India: Esther David, Alaka, Sahani. The Indian Express(2019-01-13). Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ↑ The surprising landscape of Indian Jewish food, Kashi, Anita Rao. www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ↑ Book review of Esther David's 'The Book of Rachel', Doctor, Geeta. India Today(March 20, 2006). Retrieved 2022-04-23.
- ↑ Portraying A Vanishing Community. The Book Review, Monthly Review of Important Books. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
- ↑ Sahitya Akademi Awards. sahitya-akademi.gov.in. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
- ↑ Indian Jews live a very secretive life: Esther David on writing a book on Indian Jews' recipes 'Bene Appetit' - Times of India. The Times of India. Retrieved 2022-04-23.