The Longest Night: A Passover Story by Laurel Snyder (review)

As Snyder points out in an opening note, the story of Exodus usually focuses on the big-name stars; in this retelling in verse, she instead looks at the story from the viewpoint of a young girl enslaved under the rule of the Pharaoh. The child spends the day at labor alongside her agemates, yearning for but not expecting freedom, but “then, at once, the world was changed!/ Life unraveled, rearranged” as the series of plagues descend upon the land. The girl clings to her family as evils fill the realm and torment their masters, until finally the enslaved leave the land; the Red Sea parts to let them all pass, and they find joy in their free new lives (“How I danced along the shore,/ Never having danced before!”). This is clearly designed to be used in conjunction with additional Passover/biblical exploration, since the girl’s limited viewpoint means that some elements (such as the slaughter of the firstborn) remain authentically cryptic within the text. The characters’ frightened confusion gives an urgency and immediacy to the story, with repetition (“Till the sea was ripped in two./ Till the sea was ripped in two!”) employed sparingly and effectively to emphasize the miraculous nature of events; the short-lined couplets are tightly focused, using language both evocative and accessible. Chen’s acrylic paintings combine painterly background textures with solid and homey human figures in the foreground. The art generally treats the horrors with suggestion rather than directness (save the face-on close-up of the snarling wolf), allowing the protagonist’s emotions to remain the primary focus. This adds a dramatic dimension to the usual explorations of the story, and it will add life to holiday and biblical discussions. In addition to the author’s note, a brief glossary opens the book.