A Guide for the Perplexed: A Novel

People who read this well-written novel will enjoy the plots in this story and learn much about the history and love of literature, ancient and modern; rational philosophy, such as do people have free will and why do people suffer; and the conditions in late twelfth and late nineteenth century Egypt, as well as the complex horrifying conditions in Egypt today. They will also find themselves thinking about the question do we remember what occurred in our past, and is history documenting what actually occurred.

The novel contains four interweaving plots: (1) A modern tale about two sister, Josie and Judith, and the creation of a computer system that records, saves, and organizes life events so that viewers can see words spoken in the past and photo. (2) The story of Moses Maimonides and his brother David during the twelfth century, with a clear and correct explanation of parts of his philosophical masterpiece The Guide for the Perplexed. (3) The bizarre and cumbersome manner in which Solomon Schechter retrieved significant and mundane ancient documents from a synagogue storing room called Genizah in the nineteenth century, and his interactions with his brother. And (4) the tale of two sisters who aided Solomon Schechter, women who had previously discovered the oldest version of the Gospel Mark, the first book of the New Testament, which clearly ended without any mention of Jesus’ resurrection. Each tale shows some conflict between the siblings and each subtly explores the subject of forgetting and remembering, and how what one recalls after events is usually not what actually occurred.

The plots, briefly stated, focus on Josie developing a computer program that Egyptian criminals want and kidnap her to secure it; Josie’s sister hating the esteem and handsome husband her brighter sister acquired; Maimonides attempting to help his people who are generally living under dismal conditions physically and mentally; Solomon Schechter trying to retrieve documents composed in the past from people who have no appreciation for science; and the help that two sisters give him.

In the first three tales one of the siblings is smarter than the other, and the other knew it and this caused the strife. The conflict is also in the fourth plot, but somewhat different and humorous. The details in the novel are based on facts although, as must occur in novels, the author takes some liberties, in this case with her invention of why Maimonides’s brother undertook his fatal sea voyage (as the author states in her afterword).

Maimonides, the great Jewish philosopher and author of the important The Guide for the Perplexed, wrote, "You must consider, when reading this treatise, that mental perception, because connected with matter, is subject to conditions similar to those which physical perception is subject."

That idea, the intersection of mental thought, physical sensation and the role of perception, is a good place to start in discussing Dara Horn's latest novel, A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED, which, as is obvious by the title, is indebted to the work of Maimonides. Yet it is not just the philosophy of Maimonides that Horn engages with, but also aspects of his life as well as that of another great Jewish historical figure, Solomon Schechter. She takes these two figures and combines them with the fictional character of Josie Ashkenazi, a computer genius and entrepreneur whose life is forever changed after a trip to Egypt.

Josie Ashkenazi is the creator and developer of an exciting computer program called Genizah. Named for the Jewish tradition of storing written documents instead of disposing of them, Genizah organizes all the data and information of a person's life. From passwords to images, recorded memories to scanned documents, Genizah saves everything in a virtual storage space but catalogs them in such a way as to see patterns and predict outcomes. Josie is also the sister of Judith, wife to Itamar and mother of six-year-old Tali. But her personal relationships are less successful than the business venture that made her rich.

Because Josie has always been the smart one, Judith, even though she is the older sister, feels like she was in her shadow. And Josie is often annoyed by her young daughter, who is at once quirky and difficult and totally ordinary. Her attention is mostly on Genizah, and so Judith is easily able to convince Josie to accept an invitation to post-revolution Egypt to see if the program would work for a library system in Cairo. That trip ends in disaster. Not only is Josie wary of revealing her Jewishness in Cairo, she is held accountable for her ideas by Naseen, an intelligent young librarian assigned to work with her. But her uncomfortable conversations with Naseen are nothing compared to the torture and terror she experiences when she is kidnapped and held for ransom.

Josie's story intersects in interesting ways with those of Maimonides and Schechter. We find Maimonides, in the 12th century, furthering his career by treating the asthma (an affliction with which several characters suffer) of Sultan Saladin, spending time with his younger brother, who is very different from himself and working out ideas about perception. Centuries later, Solomon Schechter, on a trip to Egypt, finds himself physically and mentally immersed in the famous Cairo genizah, which contains personal letters of Maimonides as well as other old Jewish documents and texts. He, too, must come to terms with a sibling very different from himself, and the stories of these two men mirror those of Josie and Judith, and later, Tali and her sister.

A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED is an engaging blend of historical fiction and contemporary thriller. From handwritten scrolls to high-tech programs, it examines memory, documentation and perception, referencing Jewish myth and history. It is an ambitious and philosophical novel with more than four narrative points of view, spanning more than a thousand years, and moving from America to Egypt, stopping at places in between. Perhaps challenging for readers not familiar with the Jewish concepts Horn so heavily relies on, the book is nonetheless intriguing. Josie is not a likable character, which is another challenge for readers, but because her story is so connected to other aspects of the novel and she strongly makes Horn's points, she works well as a central figure for the story.

Sometimes a bit muddled and dense, A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED will greatly appeal to readers looking for a unique and contemplative adventure.

Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED BY DARA HORN
The Freedom to Control the Past....

In A Guide for the Perplexed, named after a religious text by the medieval Rabbi and scholar, Maimonides, author Dara Horn writes of one of her characters, "What shows his free will isn't how he controls the future, but how he controls the past." Indeed, this novel is in part an exploration of our own experience of the past, and desire to hold onto past memories, recreating them in the present in order to keep them alive.

But the novel is also much more. Dara Horn interweaves three stories, all revolving around the Cairo Genizah, a storehouse of ancient Hebrew manuscripts. She is a brilliant writer of intelligent yet very human serious fiction. This is the first novel by hers that I've read, and certainly not the last.

The primary narrative, one of sibling rivalry, concerns Josephine and her sister Judith, who as other reviewers have pointed out are contemporary renditions of Joseph and his brother Judah from the Old Testament. A renowned scholar and inventor of a software program capable of storing a multidimensional database of one's past, Josephine travels to Egypt, where she is kidnapped and compelled to use her software skills for the benefit of her kidnappers. (Since this plot point is referred to in reviews and publicity pertaining to the book, I'm not giving away any information that the potential reader is unlikely to discover before reading the book - or which would detract from the reading experience.) Meanwhile, her envious and quite mediocre sister Judith remains at home, with Josephine's husband and daughter.

Many of the book's chapters alternate, jumping back in time - the contemporary story of Josephine and Judith predominating, but occasionally alternating with the discovery and fascination of Solomon Schechter in 1896 discovering the Cairo Genizah, and letters of the medieval rabbi, Maimonides, which are discovered many centuries later. Eventually, we even encounter Maimonides himself, grieving his own personal loss.

Author Dara Horn has an uncanny ability to create an intriguing plot involving three time periods, invent a number of characters who are very true to life and almost jump off the page, explore the insidious influence of jealousy and envy within the family, describe vividly the foreboding atmosphere within contemporary Egypt, create emotional engagement and suspense through the circumstances of the kidnapping, and take us on a journey into Jewish intellectual history. A Guide to the Perplexed is well-crafted, and likely to appeal to all readers who prefer thought-provoking fiction. I highly recommend it.

The idea for writing a modern version of the biblical story of Joseph came apparently from the author's husband. It is a brilliant one, even more brilliantly executed. First, because she uses it for resonance rather than prediction; you recognize the biblical parallels after they have occurred, but you never know when she is going to depart from the Genesis version, so her novel remains surprising to the end. Second, because the Egyptian setting grounds the book in aspects of Jewish history that are perhaps less well-known, but obviously relevant to the eternal geopolitical situation in the Middle East. And third, because the Torah reference provides the perfect opening to explore many issues in Jewish teaching and philosophy, most notably those concerning divine providence, accident, and free will. The title of her novel, actually, is borrowed from a treatise on these very questions written in Cairo by the twelfth century doctor and philosopher Maimonides. The result, in Horn's hands, is a richly layered novel that is humane, exciting, informative, and thought-provoking, all at the same time.

Josephine (Josie) Ashkenazi is a software developer and CEO of a company called Genizah, which enables its customers to record, index, cross-reference, and recall even the most trivial aspects of their lives, linking them to everything around them in both historical and geographical dimensions. She is asked to go to Egypt as consultant on a vast new library in Alexandria, and accepts the challenge, leaving behind her Israeli-born husband Itamar, her six-year-old daughter Tali, and her elder sister Judith, who has a subsidiary position with the firm. I must admit that there was something a little science-fictiony about the premise (or magical realist, if you will); although the ideas are all conceivable, it requires some suspension of disbelief to accept the degree to which they had been developed. But two things happen to anchor the book almost immediately. The first is that the action suddenly shifts back to 1896 in Cambridge, England, where two formidable Scottish sisters confront the University Reader in Rabbinics, Solomon Schechter, with a fragment of manuscript they have recently brought back from Cairo. Despite the slightly comic tone of this episode, it is also feels entirely true, and indeed one discovers that Schechter was a real person. And when Josie goes to Egypt, she falls victim to a more contemporary reality: she is kidnapped and held for ransom. The suspension of disbelief quality never goes away completely from Josie's story, but from now on her role as CEO fades behind those as absent wife, missing mother, and beaten woman.

Genizah, the name of Josie's firm, is the Hebrew word for the store-room in a synagogue where Torah scrolls and similar documents were placed after they had become unusable, for the name of God could not be erased. The real Schechter unearthed in the Genizah of a Cairo synagogue a chaotic hoard of documents, secular as well as sacred, a discovery which made his name. Among them were letters from Maimonides and a draft of his Guide for the Perplexed. This opens the door to scenes in Cairo of the 12th century, to interweave with those in the 19th and 21st. It also introduces some of the philosophical themes of the book.

Horn is a Jewish writer (and winner of two National Jewish Book Awards), not just because she writes about Jewish characters and subjects, but because she shares the Jewish fascination with philosophical debate. There is a chapter, for instance, in which Maimonides outlines five theories of divine providence, ranging from total predestination to utter chance, and another in which he classifies three different kinds of evil. Other readers might consider these dry diversions, but they fascinated me both as ideas and for how they linked to the moral implications of the story of Josie and her family at home. They formed a serious core to the novel that amply balanced its more fantastic aspects. And indeed balance is all; the more I look, the more I see parallels and linkages that bind this complex novel together. Perhaps some of its characters could be developed a little further, but as a theme-based novel it could hardly be bettered.

My expectations prior to reading this book were fairly high, both because of the title (using the title of one of the most profound works in Judaism implies a profound and insightful story), and the mostly positive reviews. But I was disappointed.
Let me start with the positives. The author is a good story teller. The historical chapters on Solomon Schechter and the life of Maimonides were interesting, and, on a few occasions, the twists of the plot in the contemporary chapters were suspenseful enough to want to read more and more.
However, storytelling is just a part of what I would call a good book and a good writer. The descriptive language used in many places in this book is poor, which is surprising to see in a work of such seasoned author. One of the signs of a great writer is to use words sparingly, not more and not less than needed. The author of this book often uses repetitions, which do not add anything to a character or to emotions associated with an event. Moreover, it makes some situations and dialogs very artificial (Examples: Solomon Schechter’s visit with the sisters, where he constantly refers to his childhood; Judith’s first visit with Itamar in Ch. 3, with multiple descriptions of how this and that about Itamar was beautiful. Some sentence structures were also awkward.)
As was mentioned by other reviewers, some events and the behavior of the characters in the contemporary subplot look quite artificial. A piece of fiction that aspires to make the reader think and learn should present realistic, credible characters, so that the reader will think “Yes, this might have happened that ways in real life”. Otherwise, we will have a fantastic, “Harry Potter” type of story. Now, “Harry Potter” is a wonderful story, but I do not think the author of the “Guide” intended to have a fantastic story.
The link between the title of the book and its content is not quite clear to me. I can see the relationship between siblings as the links among various subplots in this book, but it is not the title of the book. Maimondies “Guide for the Perplexed” is a multifaceted document that has nothing to do with siblings. And even the part of the Maimonides’s “Guide” that was explicitly identified in the book, discussion of the free well and providence, has barely discernible, if any, relationship to the story in the book.

Some historical background may be useful at the outset in reviewing Dara Horn's novel, "A Guide for the Perplexed." The great medieval Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonides (1138 -- 1204) wrote a famous and difficult work of philosophy, "The Guide for the Perplexed" that has been highly influential among Jewish and non-Jewish thinkers. The meaning and significance of the Guide and of Maimonides' own religious views is still discussed today. Broadly speaking, the work explores the relationship between religion and science, as it was then known, and attempts to reconcile the two. In the late 19th Century, Solomon Schechter, a Jewish scholar in Britain, discovered a large cache of documents in a synagogue in Cairo, stored in what is known as a Genizah. The Cairo Genizah included many documents by and about Maimonides and thus greatly increased understanding of the philosopher and his work. Maimonides is the subject of a large scholarly literature. Schechter later moved to the United States and founded the Jewish Theological Seminary. In 2008, an American scholar, Joel Kraemer wrote a biography, "Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds" Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds which explores Maimonides' life and work in detail and which draws heavily on the Cairo Genizah. I read and reviewed Kraemer's book here on the store in 2009. Horn's novel draws on Kraemer's biography and also returns back to Maimonides and Schechter themselves.

Dara Horn (b. 1977) is a young American novelist whose works have received considerable praise and who holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University focusing on Hebrew and Yiddish Literature. Her novel, "The Guide for the Perplexed" includes several strands. Part of the novel is set in the Egypt of Maimonides' time and includes quotations and discussions of themes from the "Guide". Another part of the novel is set in the 19th Century and covers Solomon Schechter's discovery of the manuscripts in Cairo.

In addition to these broad, widely separated components which would make a historical novel, Horn's novel has a distinctly contemporary setting. The larger part of the book is set in the contemporary United States, Egypt, and Israel. The primary character is a young, intellectually gifted American woman, Josie Ashkenazi, who is a software prodigy. She has invented a program she calls Genizah (after the Cairo Genizah) which has an uncanny ability of tracking all the events in one's past. The program becomes wildly popular and Josie has her own company. She is married to a programmer from Israel, Itamar, and has a six-year old daughter, Tali. Josie also has an older sister, Judith, of no particular intellectual gifts. She has given Judith a job in her company when she could find nothing else. There has been severe sibling rivalry between Judith and Josie since childhood. Josie receives an invitation to visit the Alexandria Library in Egypt to help with the software. While in Egypt, she is kidnapped and treated severely by an outlaw gang. When she is alone with herself, she reads Maimonides' "Guide". The novel tells Josie's story and that of her family interspersed with the stories of Maimonides and Schechter.

The above brief summary of only part of the content of a relatively short novel suggests that the book is overburdened and overly broad. That is indeed the case as the book moves back and forth between scenes in the contemporary world and scenes in the 12 and 19th centuries, each of which would bear detailed, careful treatment on their own. In addition to its overly ambitious scope, several other elements of the book left me dissatisfied. The book is disjointed in that Josie's story and the historical stories are only related loosely by themes with little plot connection between them. Further, the main plot of the book, involving Josie and her journey to Egypt is contrived and unconvincing in many particulars. The book relies heavily on several broad themes, including the Biblical story of Joseph and his brothers, and sibling rivalry between family members who are gifted and those who are less gifted. These themes and other are taken through each of the three plot lines in a way which is overly obvious and manufactured. Then too, the main character, Josie, is dislikable in ways the author may not have intended. She is arrogant and overly-taken with her own strong intelligence. Even when Josie undergoes severe hardship and mistreatment in Egypt during the novel, I found it difficult to sympathize with or to root for her.

I had a great deal of trouble with this novel but concluded that its strong points outweighed its deficiencies. I found the scenes with Maimonides and Schechter well done and the discussion of portions of Maimonides' "Guide" thoughtful. It seems to me valuable in a novel to present Maimonides to readers that might otherwise have little knowledge of his life or work. Although Josie is not a sympathetic character, some of the themes of the novel as they involve intellect and its value are treated thoughtfully. In Jewish thought, Maimonides is the primary example of philosophical rationalism, which some other Jewish thinkers do not share. There is a tendency to over-value intellect as against feeling, for example, and as against the vast majority of people who are not strongly intellectually gifted or inclined. Horn's book explores this theme, well in places, clumsily in others. There is a wonderful scene in the book in which the highly intellectual Solomon Schechter visits his long lost brother who doesn't read and who has settled in Palestine. The book includes discussions about time and about remembering and visiting the past which are interesting and its discussion of sibling rivalry, while overly-systematized, is pointed. I thought the book read well and quickly and enjoyably on the whole in spite of its disjointedness, contrivance and, in places, serious philosophical discussion. Thus, I thought that the book succeeded more than it failed.

I enjoyed the opportunity to think about Maimonides again. His thought, and that of other great thinkers, is always worthwhile and stimulating to get to know. I was pleased that he figured prominently in this otherwise flawed novel.

Robin Friedman

I have traveled to the Ben Ezra synagogue in Fustat/Old Cairo as well as to the Genizah Collection at Cambridge. I have seen many digitalized genizah fragments online -- the University Library even publishes a fragment of the month.

But Dara Horn really made it all come to life for me when she called it "the medieval Facebook."

Against a background of multiple genizot, past and present, Horn has written a brilliant, multi-layered novel. She skillfuly weaves her narratives into a book that I read straight through -- unable to put it down until the conclusion.....when a new character was introduced who made me rethink the enire book.

highly recommended

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

This book traces people in three different time periods who are engaged, in some manner, with a genizah, which is the Hebrew word for the storage place for books or documents which can no longer be used but which must be saved because they have the name of God written on them. In addition to the link of studying memories, the characters of different time periods are also linked by various recurring incidents of twins and asthma.

As in the other book I've read by this author, The World to Come, one of the interesting things for me was learning a great deal about the Jewish culture that I didn't know. The value of learning and education in the Jewish faith was something that wound its way through this book.

I also really enjoyed the parallels that the author drew between the ancient genizah, which was a building high pile of parchment, with the modern, not quite literal, genizah, which is a computer program created by one of the main characters which functions something like facebook to catalog everyone's memories.

In addition to the interesting theme of memory, this book featured a thriller like plot, which I won't spoil by revealing much about, but which kept me quite engaged.

There are some wonderful parts to this book. The recreation of the discovery of the Genizah in Cairo by Solomon Schecter is downright thrilling. Her description of the batty and brilliant Smith sisters is hilarious. Also she brings to life the quotidian world of Moses Maimonides, and creates a context for the letters from his brother which were found in the Genizah.

Unfortunately, in an attempt to make contemporary the story of Joseph, the plot elements concerning Josie in the Well, and Josie's trip to Egypt are totally unbelievable. Perhaps 10 years ago, a Jewish American woman CEO, married to an Israeli, could make a solo trip to Egypt without any bodyguards, but certainly not in the past 5 years, and definitively not after the Arab Spring. It's so hard to believe that the consequences of her actions fall flat, and the book loses it's hold. I don't want to give any plot spoilers, but the plot was spoiled for me here.

Dara Horn writes beautifully, her smooth incorporation of Jewish theology, and clearly drawn characters are compelling.

This is a very challenging novel to read, make no mistake. It's erudite, heavily philosophical, and it does a lot of "telling" versus "showing." I found it took nearly 100 pages for me to become engrossed. That said, the novel has stayed with me, and I'm glad I stayed with it. The author is clearly an intelligent, deep thinker who delved far into historical material, then did the fine work of imagining new life into old and dusty documents. As some other commenters have noted, there are some plot points that are unbelievable. Yet it was clear to me that they were largely metaphorical, and I did not have trouble suspending disbelief for that reason. The philosophy in this book is more powerful than the story, itself; sometimes, it overwhelms the thriller (yes, this is a thriller, with quite a bit of violence; take note). But again, I found the book very much worth reading, and I stand impressed by the author, glad to have made her literary acquaintance. I expect that the ideas presented in this novel will stay with me for years to come.

Reading Dara Horn's "A Guide for the Perplexed" has left me sufficiently perplexed. I'm glad I read the book but I'm also glad I didn't have to read this in school and satisfy the teacher somehow that I knew what the "theme" of the book was. On one hand, novels (like this one) that use interwoven stories across centuries as a device always interest me, because I'm always interested in connections, and parallels. But I had believed, based on the book's description, that technology would play a greater role in the story. Instead, technology was more than counterbalanced by a focus on people, their relationships, why they love and why they hate and why they envy and why sometimes the universe just doesn't make sense to them. How is it that good fortune comes to some but not others? I can say I certainly didn't anticipate the twist of fortunes that bring the novel to a close.

Philosophy plays a key role in this book, underlying all the interrelated timelines of events. And because I had a hard time grasping more than a surface-level understanding of the philosophy, I can't help but wonder what I might have missed that was important. And did I miss what I did because of my own ignorance, or because the author didn't make things sufficiently clear? If I'm left perplexed, whose fault is that?

Perhaps a Cliff Notes booklet analyzing this book could be a guide for the perplexed who have read "A Guide for the Perplexed."

This was a fascinating book. I loved the parallel story timelines. However, the ending was so disturbing to me, that it ruined the entire book. No growth had been made in this family. Despite the horrible tragedy that had been set in motion by their disfunction, we are guaranteed that those feelings have now been passed on to a new generation. I wasn't sure what message I was supposed to come away with. The idea of the favored child is, of course, one that goes back to Torah. But, I have always felt that the lesson we are to derive from those stories is to do better with our own families. This book seems to say that it is impossible to do so, and it does it in a tone of self-righteousness. It is as if the author is saying that it is okay for you to be a lousy parent because there are lousy parental role models in Torah. Or, worse, that we shouldn't look to Torah for guidance in our lives because our ancestors didn't always behave the way they should have.

Review originally published on my blog at westmetromommy.blogspot.com
3.0 Stars

This is another one of those books where I'm just torn. There are things I quite liked about this book and others that either just fell flat or that I just didn't "get."

I really enjoyed Horn's writing style. She is able to tackle some complex subjects--in this case, Jewish theology--in a way that someone who is only minimally familiar with it can understand. She also paces this book quite well, which is quite a feat because there are three distinct stories.

The main story of Josie and Judith interested me the most. For one thing, the bulk of the action happened here and it had the most developed characters. Honestly, if this book had just been about this story I would have been a happy and satisfied reader.

The other two stories, that of Solomon Schecter in the 19th century and Moses Maimonides in the 12th century were not as intriguing. I think that if Horn had given them the same attention she had to Josie and Judith, they might have worked--but then we'd have a very, very long book. The biggest problem is that I just didn't see how it all fit together,

I felt sort of like the dumb kid in class who just doesn't understand it. What am I missing? Is it because I'm not Jewish, or I don't have a sister, or don't have asthma? In the end, A Guide for the Perplexed just left me perplexed.

I really stayed up late one night reading this and didn't want to leave the author's words, so I read all the way through the afterword as well.

MY THOUGHTS
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT

Josephine has a brilliant mind and her imagination helps her create a program that lets users keep track of their memories using social networking, photos and even thoughts. Judith was the center of attention growing up while Josephine was always a bit strange but now that Judith has drifted from job to job, her sister hires her to help out at the new company, Genizah. The story weaves back and forth between the sisters and Solomon Schechter's tale of his life and ultimate discovery of a vast collection of Jewish historical artifacts in Egypt. Also, explain is the life of Maimonides, the author of A Guide for the Perplexed, and one of Schecter's main discoveries. There are several other minor historical characters scattered about as well.

The story really tells about the bond between sisters and brothers mixed with a thrilling contemporary of intrigue. As Josie travels to Egypt to help the new library at Alexandria catalog, she leaves her young daughter, Tali at home with her business-partner husband, Itamar. After helping to organize the library's catalog, she is kidnapped and thought to be murdered by a militant faction. The outcome is anything that you could expect. Told through multiple points of view, there is nothing that can prepare you for the ending. One of my favorite things to do is guess how a plot will turn out and I was completely off guard with this one.

I love historical fiction, especially when it is related to current events and Horn does an amazing job with bringing these tales together. The underlying themes of redemption and how blood is thicker than water are played out as each set of characters try to do the right thing for their families. One interesting note is the role Asthma plays in each set of characters and their stories. Maimodes, a physician in ancient Egypt, tries to help a ruler treat his condition and sends his brother to his death seeking herbs that will help control it. Schecter suffers from the condition as well and Josie also suffers from it.

The details and patterns that link each of these characters is amazing. I haven't read anything this thought provoking in a long time. I really didn't want this book to end and found myself looking a lot of things about the historical characters since I found myself fascinated by them. This would make a perfect choice for a book club since there are so many different ideas that can spark discussions about technology, current world events and family. I really enjoyed this one and I am going back to find more by this author.

Dara Horn has accomplished the near impossible feat of bringing the ancient Joseph saga into a contemporary setting.In addition,the centuries of jewish history and scholarship meld together as the 12th century scholar Maimonides and his writings come back to life, as they inspire people hundred of years later .This is a real page-turner for both every-day readers and for those who understand the deeply layered story that the author has created.

Having greatly enjoyed Dara Horn’s Civil War epic/spy thriller/romance, All Other Nights, I was eager to read her latest novel, A Guide For The Perplexed. It’s a complicated but rewarding story of Josie Ashkenazi, a modern day American software designer and entrepreneur provoked by her sister to go to Egypt to market her unique product which continually stores all of one’s experiences and memories, a sort of personal cyber-genizah. Josie and her sister have sibling rivaly issues and the Cairo trip is a setup for Josie to be abducted and presumably killed. The sister takes Josie’s place in her family and business. Parallels with the story of Joseph and his brothers are clear. Intercut with the modern story are historical fictionalizations of Solomon Shechter’s discovery of the Cairo Genizah and the Rambam’s medical practice in the royal court of Cairo, stories of interest that sustain Josie through her captivity. The author explores themes of the nature of memory, reality, time, family jealousies and forgiveness.

I really enjoyed Horn's weaving of two widely separated phases of history into a story of today. Being a student of all the areas intertwined here, I felt like Horn had given me a great feast. I believe her bringing to life both Maimonides and Schechter had to have been oh-so close to the reality, I can't imagine any better. She clearly demonstrates her depth of knowledge and understanding of her subjects. She has even given us a new perspective on the atrocities being committed as terrorism in the Middle East.

An absorbing book--and most certainly destined to be made a movie, being far, far more gripping than "Mummy," etc.

Thank you Dara Horn. Your personal mysticism has produced an excellent book. I'll be searching for more of your work. (Ariel I.)

This book held incredible promise for me, touching as it does on so many of my interests -- Jewish philosophy, the Internet, the concept of memory. And to a large extent, Horn delivered on the promises in this multilayered novel. However, I found the resolution of the kidnapping plot to be just a little too pat and a little too melodramatic. I will still look forward to reading Horn's next novel.

Book kept your attention throughout . Different eras tied together by the ancient manuscript was great . I tended to skip over the passages of the guide to the perplexed and felt that I never fully understood what the old texts were about when I did try reading them carefully . But the common themes across the ages was a great technique ( siblings and their rivalries , asthma , the old texts , the concept of free will .) Felt like more themes were tackled than possible to explore . The kidnapping story and the story of Maimonides were fascinating .

There are many positive aspects to this book, particularly the sections on Jewish philosophy. But there is simply too much violence for the story to be enjoyable - and most of it was not necessary for the plotline. I don't understand why so many modern authors seem to feel the need to shock the reader with grotesque descriptions of beatings and other horrors. That aspect certainly detracted from the book for me.

Dara Horn is just a gorgeous writer - you want to savor her words, her sentences, her thoughts, and phrases. This is a book about an interesting woman surrounded by interesting people -- not the richest emotional depth behind everyone, but it's enough. The story, segue'ing between today and the rich past, is compelling and carries you along. The historical aspect is fascinating and engrossing, as is the story of the day. The modern day narrative will ring true to everyone who ever saw sisters close up, even if it is--as aformentioned--far from emotionally perfect.

I savored the book, didn't want it to end. (Though it does, perhaps too neatly.) But it's just wonderful.

Dara Horn’s latest novel, A Guide for the Perplexed, intertwines the stories of several different characters, spanning multiple countries and timelines. While some characters’ lives take on a more suspenseful tension, others highlight the daily and often rocky evolution of family relationships, philosophy, and the importance of memories, both real and altered.

As the title suggests, A Guide for the Perplexed, delves significantly into Jewish history and philosophy. Dara Horn not only writes about topics in which she is well versed, but she further researches each topic to authenticate her subject, even in a fictional interpretation. This is both a pro and a con to her story-telling style. At times, it allows for important light to be shed on the multiple layers of the story and ties everything back to a central theme. At other times, however, it feels a bit like an academic lecture.

I most enjoyed the story-line of sisters Josie and Judith, namely because of the action, mystery, intrigue, betrayal, and danger involved. Some other characters were a bit dry, but Josie and Judith were anything but ordinary. As their lives take an extraordinary turn for the worse, their relationship as sisters is tested to the ultimate limit.

I enjoyed the concept and description of the Genizah technology invented by Josie, a method which records every detail about a person’s life. With our constantly evolving world of technology, the implications of this type of tool is very relevant today. Horn did a fantastic job unveiling the constraints of memory, regardless of how realistic they may seem. The concept of purposefully altering memory to create an improved history was intriguing and Horn wrote about it in a fashion that was both realistic and artistic.

I really enjoyed the three levels of the story. The present day story reads like a contemporary thriller, then it deepens into a historical novel of an earlier century, then deeper still to medieval times, all in the same setting in and around Cairo. The Egyptian setting also works well for the Joseph theme. and through it all the questions are asked about memory. Is perfect memory in itself a good thing or is it better that we selectively choose those things we want to remember. This book makes you think and draws us all closer to the same history.

I will probably read anything Dara Horn writes because of they way she incorporates Jewish texts and history with modern ethics. This latest novel overlaps centuries of history and brings ancient stories to life. By layering her modern-day story about a software executive (and her revolutionary program that records and organizes a person's entire life) and her family with stories of Solomon Schechter and of Maimonides, Horn shows us how physical events are tied to our memories and our perceptions. It's a page-turner for sure once the heroine gets kidnapped during a trip to Egypt. A large portion of the book is about her husband, her sister and her young daughter at home and how they react to her capture. I highly recommend this one!

The plot feels forced and the characters fall flat under Horn's unoriginal descriptions. I loved All Other Nights, but felt Horn was trying to do too much in one book--so much so that neither the plot or two subplots held my interest at all.

Loved all of the threads drawn together- ,sister jealousy, the bible, the Joseph kidnapping story, , Maimonedes , Solomon Schecter/ 's discovery of the Genizagh, British Historian sisters, ,modern computers, Egypt and so much more.

I enjoyed the book very much. The interwoven plots were interesting, admired all the research done for the historical portions and found the style to be very creative. I also enjoyed ALL OTHER NIGHTS by Dara Horn but feel that the complexity of A GIDE . .. was more challenging a read.

Although a challenging read, particularly the philosophical discussions relating to the Guide, most definitely worth reading. A stunning surprise conclusion has me thinking about Horn's intentions. She has created a philosophical discussion about the range of human emotions, the what-ifs, and how much control we can or cannot exert over our lives and our feelings.

Got this "book" as a gift. Wow I understand exactly why publishing is dying. Only a dunderhead philosophy major at a place like columbia, Harvard or Hostos CC could possibly enjoy this failed mishmash of just about everything. Does the author have no logical brain. Was the author high when the book was written? This book is a waste of trees and digits. Nuff said. Do not buy it.

Dara Horn...take a class in basic writing. You must be a college professor as you have not an iota of talent.Good luck in the future. And those awards you have won. Did ya pay? I'd like to know?