juliakudla's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
readingonfogo's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
jevgeniya's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
nikinikt's review against another edition
Nie wiem czy podniosłam tą książkę w złym momencie, czy też nie jest to mojego typu lektura, ale po pierwszych tygodniach miałam trudności w powrotem do niej. Patrząc na datę rozpoczęcia, a dzień pisania tej wiadomości, raczej trzeba dać za wygraną. Może w następnym roku...
alealrn's review
1.0
Full disclosure I only made it through about half. But I am counting it towards my total due to my pain and suffering.
sarapalooza's review
4.0
What an fascinating story. As usual, Tokarczuk takes the “too wild to be true” from everyday life, and weaves the small details into beautiful fiction. Based on the life of Jacob Frank and his followers, this novel is truly captivating and a magical work.
blundershelf's review
3.5
god I've nothing intelligent to say about this but I'm still a Tokarczuk stan and mama I finished it!!!
wendel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Many characters and even more names, many details and many different perspectives: what a behemoth of a book. Intriguing but also very easy to get overwhelmed or lost. Reading it felt like work.
wmbogart's review
A lot of theological discussion, in this book and elsewhere, ends up revolving around the power of the word - and at almost a thousand pages, there are a lot of ‘em here! In the writing of Tokarczuk and Nahman and Chmielowski, the then-present is recorded, disseminated, and made into history, with the caveat that what is written is often not what occurred.
Of course, the word of G-d, or what is believed to be the word of G-d, is of primary importance here. Regardless of faith or sect, the characters that populate this book are trying to find a sense of order, a reason for creation and everything that has come to be since, a set of rules or laws that should be adhered to in order to ascend to a new station, in life or in death or in what follows.
But the words collected in holy texts are dense and complex. Trying to gauge the veracity of both the original texts (the Talmud, the Zohar, Testaments Old and, if you’re into that kind of thing, New) and the subsequent interpretations can lead to a lot of disagreement. We’ve seen this. People don’t agree on these things. It gets complicated!
Thankfully, every so often someone comes and proclaims himself the Messiah. If you’re charismatic enough, and people want to believe hard enough, you can get a little following going. Jesus of Nazareth did it, Sabbatai Zevi did it, and now this young, convincing guy named Jacob Frank is giving it a go.
And over the course of the novel, you see why a wide cast of secondary characters are able to fall into the Frankist/anti-Talmudist denomination. You can see why a portion of a severely insecure, disenfranchised group would turn away and go looking for something else. Here, in a quasi-assimilation to Christianity in baptism and in disregard of Jewish customs, we can understand why the rank-and-file Frankists might have been susceptible to a suspect “Messianic” mvement, even if it called for behavior that seemed against their best interests. A leader to rally around and the promise of an alternative can go a long way!
The modern implications for this are obvious, and emphasized in the present-tense retelling of the whole ordeal. A good deal of the novel has a farcical tone, and exploits the absurdity and hypocrisy of the characters’ actions or beliefs, with moments of lyricism and deference to a character’s theological position interspersed throughout. I was admittedly nervous when the initial tone wasn’t to my taste, but I found it more palatable as I got deeper.
In any case, the scope and size of the novel allow for the full weight of Frank’s eventual fall when, spoiler, he is revealed to be mortal. Disgusting behavior, once rationalized by his followers as having some higher purpose, is revealed to just be repugnant or pathetic, particularly in his dealings with women. There’s something poignant and relevant about this quasi-Messianic figure’s overwhelming reliance on women, both physically and domestically, but also in the positing of a divine Shekhinah and in Jacob’s implication that Sabbatai and David had feminine qualities and/or were women themselves.
It’s a throughline for the novel, and not just in Jacob’s exploitation and violation of the bodies and labor of women and in his purely self-serving relationship with his wife and daughter. Chmielowski’s correspondence with Druzbacka is similarly dismissive, in a kind of unknowing, quiet misogyny to contrast with a more explicit contempt for women seen elsewhere. You might think this would be irreconcilable with the idea of women as the sole source of divine salvation in Frankist thought, but, as is the case with many religions (or, more broadly, guys), that kind of extreme veneration is another kind of over-reliance and prescription without any regard for women outside of their utility.
Eventually, Jacob Frank is betrayed by the written word - a self-serving, dishonest accusation from Pinkas. Just as he furthered the false accusations levied around orthodox Jews (including the “passover blood libel,” the claim that Jews were using Christian blood in Passover matzo!), he too is condemned. Even his imprisonment and condemnation is rationalized by his followers, who feel that the descent is necessary for eventual salvation. From the vantage point of history and in The Books of Jacob, we rationalize their rationalization as part of a larger theological or sociopolitical framework that extends to the present day.
Yente, a character left in a state of not quite death earlier in the novel, hovers over the novel and lends her perspective throughout. She is able to see a sense of order and rhythm - of interconnectedness - between each moment, each person, and each word. She, like the reader, is able to see the whole, the unity of the seemingly disparate theological and geographic strands recorded here.
“The written word lasts forever, while colors - even the brightest ones - fade. The written word is sacred, and every letter will eventually go back to G-d, nothing will be forgotten.”
Of course, the word of G-d, or what is believed to be the word of G-d, is of primary importance here. Regardless of faith or sect, the characters that populate this book are trying to find a sense of order, a reason for creation and everything that has come to be since, a set of rules or laws that should be adhered to in order to ascend to a new station, in life or in death or in what follows.
But the words collected in holy texts are dense and complex. Trying to gauge the veracity of both the original texts (the Talmud, the Zohar, Testaments Old and, if you’re into that kind of thing, New) and the subsequent interpretations can lead to a lot of disagreement. We’ve seen this. People don’t agree on these things. It gets complicated!
Thankfully, every so often someone comes and proclaims himself the Messiah. If you’re charismatic enough, and people want to believe hard enough, you can get a little following going. Jesus of Nazareth did it, Sabbatai Zevi did it, and now this young, convincing guy named Jacob Frank is giving it a go.
And over the course of the novel, you see why a wide cast of secondary characters are able to fall into the Frankist/anti-Talmudist denomination. You can see why a portion of a severely insecure, disenfranchised group would turn away and go looking for something else. Here, in a quasi-assimilation to Christianity in baptism and in disregard of Jewish customs, we can understand why the rank-and-file Frankists might have been susceptible to a suspect “Messianic” mvement, even if it called for behavior that seemed against their best interests. A leader to rally around and the promise of an alternative can go a long way!
The modern implications for this are obvious, and emphasized in the present-tense retelling of the whole ordeal. A good deal of the novel has a farcical tone, and exploits the absurdity and hypocrisy of the characters’ actions or beliefs, with moments of lyricism and deference to a character’s theological position interspersed throughout. I was admittedly nervous when the initial tone wasn’t to my taste, but I found it more palatable as I got deeper.
In any case, the scope and size of the novel allow for the full weight of Frank’s eventual fall when, spoiler, he is revealed to be mortal. Disgusting behavior, once rationalized by his followers as having some higher purpose, is revealed to just be repugnant or pathetic, particularly in his dealings with women. There’s something poignant and relevant about this quasi-Messianic figure’s overwhelming reliance on women, both physically and domestically, but also in the positing of a divine Shekhinah and in Jacob’s implication that Sabbatai and David had feminine qualities and/or were women themselves.
It’s a throughline for the novel, and not just in Jacob’s exploitation and violation of the bodies and labor of women and in his purely self-serving relationship with his wife and daughter. Chmielowski’s correspondence with Druzbacka is similarly dismissive, in a kind of unknowing, quiet misogyny to contrast with a more explicit contempt for women seen elsewhere. You might think this would be irreconcilable with the idea of women as the sole source of divine salvation in Frankist thought, but, as is the case with many religions (or, more broadly, guys), that kind of extreme veneration is another kind of over-reliance and prescription without any regard for women outside of their utility.
Eventually, Jacob Frank is betrayed by the written word - a self-serving, dishonest accusation from Pinkas. Just as he furthered the false accusations levied around orthodox Jews (including the “passover blood libel,” the claim that Jews were using Christian blood in Passover matzo!), he too is condemned. Even his imprisonment and condemnation is rationalized by his followers, who feel that the descent is necessary for eventual salvation. From the vantage point of history and in The Books of Jacob, we rationalize their rationalization as part of a larger theological or sociopolitical framework that extends to the present day.
Yente, a character left in a state of not quite death earlier in the novel, hovers over the novel and lends her perspective throughout. She is able to see a sense of order and rhythm - of interconnectedness - between each moment, each person, and each word. She, like the reader, is able to see the whole, the unity of the seemingly disparate theological and geographic strands recorded here.
“The written word lasts forever, while colors - even the brightest ones - fade. The written word is sacred, and every letter will eventually go back to G-d, nothing will be forgotten.”