The Debt of Tamar - Nicole Dweck

Thomas Dunne Books, September 8, 2015.

Three Stars

The Debt of Tamar is a multi-generational historical novel that spans events over the course of the past five hundred years, beginning with the expulsion of Portuguese Jews in the sixteenth century. Specifically, it is the story of Dona Antonia Nissim – a character that is based on a real aristocratic woman who funnelled money into the underground movement to save Jewish people from persecution by the Portuguese. Working with Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Dona Antonia escapes to Turkey with her daughter Reyna and nephew Jose, creating a new line of successors that will bring the story forward to the present day.

Reyna and Jose’s daughter Tamar falls in love with the Sultan’s son, and they are determined to be together in spite of familial pressures to marry within their own class and religion. The tensions within the two families escalate until the sudden disappearance of Tamar, effectively ending their love story. However, the unhappiness caused by their separation triggers a curse – a debt to the universe. The debt can only be repaid with an act of kindness, of which “the universe takes notice.” (Loc. 906)

There is a level of fantasy here, obviously. The author writes that while the story is inspired by historical events, it is in fact a fairy tale. Or more precisely, an allegory for how we should treat each other – kindness begets love, and so forth. As the story comes full circle and the debt is repaid, the message is that humans certainly inflict suffering, but there is always a measure of goodness, too.

The novel is filled with beautiful imagery and wonderful descriptions of the setting, especially ancient and modern day Turkey. Dweck manages to fit a ton of history and epic family drama without writing a dry, lengthy novel. It is faced paced, but perhaps too fast – I found it hard to get attached to the characters, and I wasn’t really drawn into the various love stories. The jumps through time and place – from sixteenth century Turkey to post-WWII France to modern day New York – kept the story moving, but I felt like it would have been more cohesive if the time periods had been a little more interactive, staying in one time and using flashbacks to move around, instead of a straight chronological movement.

I also felt like some characters were overloaded with tragedy and drama, while others lacked a full back story. There were many decisions and behaviours that did not get a full explanation, and even the love stories were unclear – we are told that the characters have this amazing, timeless love, but we don’t really get to see it. There just wasn’t a lot of explanation for how people were feeling and why they made the decisions that they did. People kept doing unforgiveable things that they are then forgiven for, without a second thought – it was too convenient.

Overall, the plot was historically fascinating, but the language it was told in became too simplistic for me. I think this had to do with the author’s motivations in writing the novel – she knew which historical issues she wished to address, and the story had to fit in a neat bow around them. As Jose says, “We are witnesses… We cannot look away,” (Loc. 168) and that is why this story needed to be told. The unusual ending was the best part of the novel, and it elevated The Debt of Tamar from others like it, making it worth the read.

I received this book for free from Thomas Dunne Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.