The Doverkeepers by Alice Hoffman is a beautiful and tragic story of the fall of the Jewish stronghold on Masada. I'll admit I was not familiar with this historic event prior to reading this book, but that didn't take anything away from the story. Hoffman does a wonderful job setting up what is going to happen all throughout the book to the point where you almost expect what will happen at the end however much you want it to be otherwise. 
 The book is told in four different perspectives by four different women who all intertwine themselves within the other stories. Where one story ends another picks up to give a comprehensive whole to Masada. Yeal's story, for me, was probably the most difficult to get through. She starts out the story and we, the reader, get to witness her actual journey to Masada whereas with the other narrators we are already at Masada and while we get background histories on their lives they push the overall story forward more. Revka, the Baker's Wife, was where I really got into this world the women were living in and what life was like at the time for women in general. Aziza's story was probably my favorite. Her story seemed to have the most twists and turns, and I think is goes along with the fact of her being a female warrior in a time when there were only male warriors. Shirah's story, the last in the book, was almost overshadowed by the big event at the end of Masada. For me, she was the most interesting of the women in the group. I would have liked to have heard her voice more. All the stories were at once heartbreaking. I know that's something that most people want to avoid (I mean who wants to read something so sad?), but by the end of all the individual stories and at the end of the book as a whole I couldn't help but feel a great sense of hope. Even when awful things happen something good can prevail. 
 I liked the whole idea of perception that was presented in the book. We see how these women perceive themselves and others arounds them, and then we see how they are perceived from the viewpoint of the other three women. It's interesting how someone's mother is seen by the rest of the world and then how she is seen in the eyes of her daughter. I liked the mother and daughter aspect of the story. The relationships were very beautifully told. How do you decide your own fate when it may have been decided for you from birth? It wasn't just mother and daughter (although it was more prevalient), but mother and child in general. Giving life, taking life, surviving. Probably the lesser relationship is that between the women and them men they love. Here, Hoffman shows us that maybe the man that you are seen to love is not the one you are meant to truly love. I liked Hoffman's whole idea of being "seen" or how "knowing your real name" gives people power over you. I liked the ideas presented of being "cloaked" or keeping secrets about yourself and only those who truly understood who you were as a person would see through the disguise built to the true you. I think it's a really beautiful concept and something that I will think about in other things I read. 
 Overall this story is one that I can see myself re-reading again in other stages of my life and with the re-reads being presented with different ideas. Hoffman used a lot of imagery in this book some of it I understood and some I think will come to me over time. I honestly believe this is a book that needs to be read by everyone at some point in time. I have never read anything by Alice Hoffman before this book, but I've seen / heard of many of her books and I understand this to be a slight departure for her. I know that she usually writes about strong female characters and a lot of times there is an element of magic as well. If those are the standards she writes, she does a wonderful job.