Does anyone know anything about the book Sarah,plain and tall?

Question

I have to write an essay on this and i've never seen it. Please Help!

Answer 1

You haven't seen the book? Have you read the book?
Perhaps you should read the book. It's not very long. Then, write your essay.

We shouldn't be doing your homework for you.

Answer 2

Never seen it - plain and tall.

Shouldn't you have asked whoever you have to write the essay for? Duh?!?

I don't know if this is the book?:

SARAH: Book One of the Canaan Trilogy

Biblical fiction doesn't get much better than this engrossing tale of Sarah, the wife of Abraham and the mother of the Israelite nation. For people of many faiths, Sarah is a tantalizing figure, and Marek Halter brings her vividly to life in this colorful portrait.

As with Anita Diamant's THE RED TENT, Halter uses the image of menstruation or "bridal blood" as the axis around which the story revolves. After a brief prologue, the story opens as Sarai (her name before God changed it to Sarah) wakes to find she has begun menstruating. Although prepared for it by her relatives, Sarai despairs because in her home culture of Ur, a girl becomes a bride after her first period.

On her wedding night, sensing that her prospective bridegroom is wildly attractive yet desperately cruel, she flees the festivities to the outskirts of town. Muddy and disheveled, she meets the young Abram (later renamed Abraham), with whom she finds an instant chemistry. Discovered, Sarai returns in disgrace to her father's house for several months. Fearing becoming betrothed again, she resorts to the herbs of a local witch, dosing herself and becoming infertile. Since she no longer menstruates, she is chosen to become a high priestess. Blood continues to be a motif through the endless sacrifices made to the gods of Ur.

Several years later Abram returns and Sarai escapes again, this time to marry him. Abram, interestingly portrayed as a partner with his family in making household gods, hears a voice from "The One God" that calls him to begin a journey of whose end he is unsure. With him is his nephew, the orphaned Lot, who develops a rather incestuous, unhealthy fascination with his foster-mother Sarai (a good illustration of Halter liberally adapting the biblical story to provide more intrigue).

In a time when women were valued for the number of sons they could produce, Sarai mourns her infertility, but Abram assures her of his love. Strangely, as Sarai ages, her beauty remains unmarred by the passage of time. This is a rather spooky and fantastic addition to the story by Halter: "The weight of this silent miracle, though at first it delighted her, was beginning to terrify Sarai herself." Her beauty leads to a plot development straight out of the biblical text, when the couple and their entourage pass through Egypt, and Abraham, fearing for his life, passes Sarai off as his sister. In some steamy passages, Pharoah takes her to bed. She is returned to Abraham after Pharoah dreams that God wreaks havoc on him (another liberty with the scriptural text) and relationships between Abram and Sarai are strained for some time afterwards.

Abram's eventual desire for a child culminates in several tense plot developments that readers familiar with the Old Testament account will recognize. Blood continues to be a motif throughout the book, culminating in the tense scene where Abraham takes their only son Isaac to sacrifice him to God. Sarai, now Sarah, observing the scene, pleads with God for her son's life --- and Abraham stays his hand.

Halter writes good descriptions of the time, including food, geographic settings, and the various clothing worn by the characters. Unlike many more conservative biblical novels (think the wonderfully nuanced portrayals by Francine Rivers's "Lineage of Grace" series), Halter is frank in his depictions of the sexual attraction between the two, and in his portrayals of sex between various characters throughout the book.

This is the first book in The Canaan Trilogy, exploring the lives of biblical women through fiction (the second, ZIPPORAH, looks at the little-known life of the wife of Moses). Book groups will welcome the reading group guide, included at the end.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby. Contact Cindy at [e-mail].

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