Friday, February 25, 2011

Lots of Talk

Sometimes I can admire a book without really liking it. That's my reaction to The Finkler Question, Howard Jacobson's Booker prize winning novel. It's not that often that I read a comic novel about anti-semitism (although Philip Roth has done it), and Jacobson is terrifically talented at being funny and thought-provoking at the same time, but in the end he wore me out. There is very little action; instead the three male main characters, two Jewish and one who wishes he was, ruminate about all things Jewish, and about life and love as well. It was sometimes amusing, sometimes annoying, sometimes sad, but after a while it felt like an interesting conversation that lasted too long.

1 comment: