I had a LOT of trouble with this book and yet there were some charming aspects to it. The characters, for example, had interesting personalities. I love the art of letter-writing and stories that unfold in this format can be tantalizing because you feel voyeuristic in reading them. This book, however, was often railroaded by the letters. They were dense and meandering.

I became disinterested many times, yet pushed on because i typically love books set in medieval times. It has taken me a long time, with many books read concurrently. I don't recommend it unless readers have specific background in Jewish History and Studies. ( )

Set in motion when Karimah, the daughter of a Jewish merchant, runs off with a Muslim boy in the 11th century AD. Her father has declared her dead and the family sat shiva for her. But Karimah writes letters to her younger brother, creating wondrous tales for him of her travels. Meanwhile, her father finds consolation in exchanging letters with his friend, Rabbi Nissim, although he doesn't tell the Rabbi that Karimah isn't in truth dead. The compilation of all these letters mixed amongst each other make up the bulk of this compendium.

While some of the adventures are entertaining, many of the letters also bog the story down. The history of the Jewish diaspora was interesting but without a thorough grounding in the history, the general reader would find it hard to seperate Visotsky's imaginings from recorded facts of everyday life. I wanted very much to like this but it was a struggle to work my way through it and ultimately I was disappointed. ( )

I found it difficult to follow the plot in this book, it was drawn out and somewhat confusing. ( )

I selected “A Delightful Compendium of Consolation” from Early Reviewers because the subject matter appealed to me. I like books that are letters, I like literary travel and I like to learn about Judaism. However none of this came together for me in this book. I just could not get into it and I tried more than once. The cover put me off, it is much to busy and it might have prevented me from buying the book, but I had this book in hand. Covers are meant to draw the reader in and this one didn't and neither did the flowery text. Reading the other reviews I realize I missed something interesting, but I couldn't find the hook. ( )

“A Delightful Compendium of Consolation” certainly is “A Fabulous Tale of Romance, Adventure and Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean.” The Delightful Compendium is a series of letters written between a young Jewish girl, members of her family, and a Rabbi friend of the family. Karimah, the young Jewish girl, runs off with a Muslim boy at the beginning of the story. The letters she writes to her brother recount her many adventures. Her father is terribly disappointed in her actions and decides she is dead to him. His many letters are to his friend, Rabbi Nissim. Nissim’s letters are filled with stories to offer comfort to the grieving father, thus the “Compendium of Consolation.”

The first two thirds of the book are the most exciting. These relate Karimah’s adventures in the desert and on the sea. I loved Karimah’s stories. Many of them are from “1001 Arabian Nights”, which I’d just finished reading with my children and so was very familiar with. It was quite amusing to read Karimah’s adventures and realize that she was “borrowing” from other sources. One example in particular that I enjoyed was her explanation of the term “Open, sesame!” She claims that her fellow sailors enjoy a hard, sticky candy made of sesame seeds and honey. This candy is so sticky that the sailors must pry their mouths open with their fingers and sometimes with sticks! They then joke each other by crying “Open, sesame!” Karimah is a witty, enjoyable character, full of spunk and rather more outgoing than I’d imagined women of this era to be.

In the last third of the book, Karimah settles down and the tone becomes more serious. The entire book is a fascinating look at what life was like for the Jewish communities in early AD1000. Burton Visotzky is a Jewish Scholar. He has based his story on actual letters from this era, found in a synagogue in Cairo, Egypt.

If you have any interest in history or Jewish culture, I highly recommend this book. If you enjoy a good story, I also recommend it, but you are forewarned that it isn’t an easy voyage. I found the map on page 2 and the “Notes On Sources” indispensable for my understanding of the story. Don’t forget about those resources, if you decide to tackle this amusing, yet challenging, story! ( )