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traeh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This is full of cynical dark-humor. It’s fictional, but only partly. The main character is fictional but very loosely based on the experience of a real person. The Netanyahu family are obviously real and their part in the book is also loosely related to actual things that happened.
If dark humor makes you uncomfortable, this book is not for you.
The author is a word master and his crafting of this book is brilliant. It was a book club reading for me. If it hadn’t been, I probably would not have stuck it out, though I do recognize the excellence of Cohen’s craft.
If dark humor makes you uncomfortable, this book is not for you.
The author is a word master and his crafting of this book is brilliant. It was a book club reading for me. If it hadn’t been, I probably would not have stuck it out, though I do recognize the excellence of Cohen’s craft.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Torture, Blood, and Medical trauma
The end of the book contains a bit of language.dwager's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
2.0
This book has two main focuses. One is done well but the other is very problematic.
One focus is the antisemitic environment of academia in 1960. This theme is interesting, and by turns funny, poignant, and traumatic. If this had been the whole book I would have rated it higher.
But the other focus is the Netanyahu family, with Benjamin (Israeli prime minister) as a 10-year-old child. In these sections the author seems mostly interested in showing them as uncultured outsiders (the narrator calls them 'the Yahus' in case you miss it) with no concept of social or academic norms. There are chapters giving the history and politics of Zionism (disguised as a letter of recommendation) and chapters eviscerating Ben-Zion's (Benjamin's father's) actual, real-world scholarship. And chapters showing the bad parenting Benjamin and his brothers got.
It felt really mean-spirited and is based on a story Harold Bloom told the author near the end of his life. Even if it's true, I'm not sure what purpose it serves. Pulitzer or not, this is a book to think twice before reading.
One focus is the antisemitic environment of academia in 1960. This theme is interesting, and by turns funny, poignant, and traumatic. If this had been the whole book I would have rated it higher.
But the other focus is the Netanyahu family, with Benjamin (Israeli prime minister) as a 10-year-old child. In these sections the author seems mostly interested in showing them as uncultured outsiders (the narrator calls them 'the Yahus' in case you miss it) with no concept of social or academic norms. There are chapters giving the history and politics of Zionism (disguised as a letter of recommendation) and chapters eviscerating Ben-Zion's (Benjamin's father's) actual, real-world scholarship. And chapters showing the bad parenting Benjamin and his brothers got.
It felt really mean-spirited and is based on a story Harold Bloom told the author near the end of his life. Even if it's true, I'm not sure what purpose it serves. Pulitzer or not, this is a book to think twice before reading.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Sexual content and Car accident