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Nov. 25th, 2012
Howard Jacobson "The Finkler Question" (Bloomsbury)
The Finkler Question revolves around the conflicted, alienated lives of three men held together by great loss and nostalgic classroom ties. Julian Treslove and Sam Finkler are childhood friends who maintained loose connections with one another in their adult years; Finkler went on to become a well-respected philosopher and writer while Treslove has achieved nothing save for remarkable failure. Both men continue to meet with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, a man who once covered the gossip pages during Hollywood's golden era. As the novel opens, the three men dine at Libor's and reflect on love and loss. Libor and Finkler are both recent widowers, and Treslove shares in their pain as an honorary third widower (for his endless string of failed marriages). When Treslove leaves for the night, his decision to halt outside of an old violin shop will change the course of his life forever, and he will be forced to re-asses his identity through the shattering lives of those around him.
Howard Jacobson writes with a quick wit and a talent for creating atmosphere; however, the latter section of the book labours through increasingly obsessive reflections on Judaism and the position of the non-Jew. The novel devolves into a frustrating game of "you don't understand, and I will not explain it to you," which made it difficult to engage with the content. While readers are given dense passages exploring a character's presence within a space or among close friends, we never get to enter the core issues of the novel and the various viewpoints on Judaism—instead readers are shut out and told we can never comprehend the identity crises of Finkler and Libor. While Jacobson's writing style was worthy of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, his reluctance to let readers fully inside his characters lowered the novel's effectiveness.
The Finkler Question revolves around the conflicted, alienated lives of three men held together by great loss and nostalgic classroom ties. Julian Treslove and Sam Finkler are childhood friends who maintained loose connections with one another in their adult years; Finkler went on to become a well-respected philosopher and writer while Treslove has achieved nothing save for remarkable failure. Both men continue to meet with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, a man who once covered the gossip pages during Hollywood's golden era. As the novel opens, the three men dine at Libor's and reflect on love and loss. Libor and Finkler are both recent widowers, and Treslove shares in their pain as an honorary third widower (for his endless string of failed marriages). When Treslove leaves for the night, his decision to halt outside of an old violin shop will change the course of his life forever, and he will be forced to re-asses his identity through the shattering lives of those around him.
Howard Jacobson writes with a quick wit and a talent for creating atmosphere; however, the latter section of the book labours through increasingly obsessive reflections on Judaism and the position of the non-Jew. The novel devolves into a frustrating game of "you don't understand, and I will not explain it to you," which made it difficult to engage with the content. While readers are given dense passages exploring a character's presence within a space or among close friends, we never get to enter the core issues of the novel and the various viewpoints on Judaism—instead readers are shut out and told we can never comprehend the identity crises of Finkler and Libor. While Jacobson's writing style was worthy of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, his reluctance to let readers fully inside his characters lowered the novel's effectiveness.
Howard Jacobson "The Finkler Question" (Bloomsbury)
The Finkler Question revolves around the conflicted, alienated lives of three men held together by great loss and nostalgic classroom ties. Julian Treslove and Sam Finkler are childhood friends who maintained loose connections with one another in their adult years; Finkler went on to become a well-respected philosopher and writer while Treslove has achieved nothing save for remarkable failure. Both men continue to meet with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, a man who once covered the gossip pages during Hollywood's golden era. As the novel opens, the three men dine at Libor's and reflect on love and loss. Libor and Finkler are both recent widowers, and Treslove shares in their pain as an honorary third widower (for his endless string of failed marriages). When Treslove leaves for the night, his decision to halt outside of an old violin shop will change the course of his life forever, and he will be forced to re-asses his identity through the shattering lives of those around him.
Howard Jacobson writes with a quick wit and a talent for creating atmosphere; however, the latter section of the book labours through increasingly obsessive reflections on Judaism and the position of the non-Jew. The novel devolves into a frustrating game of "you don't understand, and I will not explain it to you," which made it difficult to engage with the content. While readers are given dense passages exploring a character's presence within a space or among close friends, we never get to enter the core issues of the novel and the various viewpoints on Judaism—instead readers are shut out and told we can never comprehend the identity crises of Finkler and Libor. While Jacobson's writing style was worthy of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, his reluctance to let readers fully inside his characters lowered the novel's effectiveness.
Jazzy's Dreamwidth site
The Finkler Question revolves around the conflicted, alienated lives of three men held together by great loss and nostalgic classroom ties. Julian Treslove and Sam Finkler are childhood friends who maintained loose connections with one another in their adult years; Finkler went on to become a well-respected philosopher and writer while Treslove has achieved nothing save for remarkable failure. Both men continue to meet with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, a man who once covered the gossip pages during Hollywood's golden era. As the novel opens, the three men dine at Libor's and reflect on love and loss. Libor and Finkler are both recent widowers, and Treslove shares in their pain as an honorary third widower (for his endless string of failed marriages). When Treslove leaves for the night, his decision to halt outside of an old violin shop will change the course of his life forever, and he will be forced to re-asses his identity through the shattering lives of those around him.
Howard Jacobson writes with a quick wit and a talent for creating atmosphere; however, the latter section of the book labours through increasingly obsessive reflections on Judaism and the position of the non-Jew. The novel devolves into a frustrating game of "you don't understand, and I will not explain it to you," which made it difficult to engage with the content. While readers are given dense passages exploring a character's presence within a space or among close friends, we never get to enter the core issues of the novel and the various viewpoints on Judaism—instead readers are shut out and told we can never comprehend the identity crises of Finkler and Libor. While Jacobson's writing style was worthy of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, his reluctance to let readers fully inside his characters lowered the novel's effectiveness.
Jazzy's Dreamwidth site
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