Customer Reviews

The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-six

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I would suggest making sure that when you start reading this book that you make sure you have plenty of time for it, because it is extremely hard to put this book down. This is the best work of fiction that I have read in a long time. I started the book yesterday and read straight through. It is really that good and that entertaining.

For such short stories the author has an amazing ability to pull the reader into the characters, and really makes the reader invest something in the story right from the beginning. This is what makes the stories so compelling, but it is the author's imagination and story telling that keeps you hooked and reading on.

Each story has the feel of a parable which was the author's intent, but the stories are not preachy. What I most enjoyed was how the author was able to employ such clever twists in the stories. At the beginning of each new story I would find myself wondering how the author is going to turn this character into a lesson. Just how was each story going to work to its unique conclusion was something I wondered with each new story.

This is just a wonderfully written book. I enjoyed every page of it, and I feel very comfortable highly recommending this excellent little book to everyone.

These stories are like a rich chocolate dessert--you can't read the book fast. Every story deserves a full stop, a break, to enjoy. The stories themselves are lovely, floating in a fairy tale world of odd logics (a town that refuses to sleep, a city that Death didn't visit, etc) that serve as backdrops for the themes of each story.

Like fairy-tales, also, morality doesn't often figure into the equation, and characters are types used to illustrate the larger theme; but thankfully, in these stories there *is* a larger theme to each story (what it *is* is your job to puzzle out while you digest each story). This means that if you want mystery, action, thrills, etcetera, this book may not be to your taste.

I do wonder about the necessity of the fictional scholarly apparatus that bookend the stories: I'm most familiar with that mysterious-disappearance-but-left-text device from Lovecraftian horror tales, so it reads to this reader, at least, as a bit cheezy. Not sure what his purpose is--perhaps to create some sort of DaVinci code mystique? It does seek to elevate the tales from just a story-collection, but I'm honestly not sure that they need that kind of help.

Beautiful, haunting, lyrical. A must-read.

Don't let the title mislead you, there are only 12 short stories here but these twelve are so well written, so engaging, and so enlightening that I devoured it in less than 24 hours. From the first page we are dropped into a fictional world where a Jewish scholar shares his latest find with us in the form of "real accounts" of the lives of the Lamedh-Vov who justify the existence of humanity in the mind of God. We meet 6 men and 6 women whose lives are both tragedy and victory as they merely live best they can, battered and bolstered by the world around them. Set in an unspecified but likely early modern Europe, we see them and feel for them as embody what might be called cultural icons. Love them or hate them, their tales touched me and made me keep reading and reading.

Genesis 18:20-32 in the Old Testament tells the story of God's plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham's attempt to talk God out of it. It starts with God's announcement of his intention, and Abraham asked "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?" And God says for the sake of 50 righteous men, He would spare the cities. So, seeing his opening, Abraham proceeds to negotiate God down, step-by-step, to sparing Sodom and Gomorrah if at least 10 could be found. Well, to cut to the chase, not even 10 righteous men could be found, so Lot escapes with his wife (who looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt) and his two daughters, and God destroys the cities utterly.

A similar story in the Talmud from the time of the Prophet Isaiah tells of the Lamed Vav, the thirty-six righteous ones, who are hidden among all of humanity. Writer Rachel Remen says the story was told to her by her grandfather: "In this story, God tells us that He will allow the world to continue as long as at any given time there is a minimum of thirty-six good people in the human race. People who are capable of responding to the suffering that is part of the human condition....If at any time, there are fewer than thirty-six such people alive, the world will come to an end. "Do you know who these people are, Grandpa?" I asked, certain he would say "Yes." But he shook his head. "No," he told me "only God knows who the Lamed-Vovniks are. Even the Lamed-Vovniks themselves do not know for sure the role they have in the continuation of the world, and no one else knows it either. They respond to suffering, not in order to save the world but simply because the suffering of others touches them and matters to them....It turned out that Lamed-Vovniks could be tailors or college professors, millionaires or paupers, powerful leaders or powerless victims. These things were not important. What mattered was only their capacity to feel the collective suffering of the human race and to respond to the suffering around them. "And because no one knows who they are, anyone you meet might be one of the thirty-six for whom God preserves the world. It is important to treat everyone as if this might be so." My Grandfather's Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging

The Lamedh-Vov of Jonathan Keats' book are described in 12 stories the narrator comes across, from a list found in the recently uncovered ruins of a lost synagogue, and it seems "male and female, He created them" (an insightful and wonderful touch by Keats). As in the tradition, they do not know their own true natures and they come from all walks of life. There is Alef the Idiot, Beit the Liar, Gimmel the Gambler, Dalet the Thief, Heyh the Clown, Vov the Whore, Zayin the Profane, Chet the Cheat, Tet the Idler, Yod the Inhuman, Yod-Alef the Murderer, Yod-Beit the Rebel (the narrator uses the convention of substituting letters of the Hebrew alphabet for the real names of the Lamed-Vovniks). In each story, while the named one is the lead character, there are two other characters who also appear to complete the number of 36 Lamed-Vovniks. Lamed-vav are the letters that signify 36.

I won't go much beyond this, except to say, if the outward virtue of a person was the key to discovering the identity of the Lamed-Vovniks, then it would be relatively easy to wander the world and discover their identities by finding the most saintly people on earth. But it is the INWARD virtue of these people in Keats' telling that reveals their true identity, and generally so deep, they do not even suspect they themselves are among the 36. God's eyes are truly not the eyes of Man.

Jonathan Keats has written a wonderful, beautiful series of fictional folktales that should be read over and over until they are lodged in the memory. Perhaps more than that, they should be remembered and told orally, to keep them living and passed to new ears, for he who has ears to hear.

This book is quite a departure from the author's previous work. Well crafted little stories. I'm really enjoying taking my time with it. You can find one of the complete stories on the publisher's website.

An old legend says that as long as there are 36 just men on earth, God won't destroy it. The trick is that none of these 36 are recognized, and are completely unknown except to God.

This collection of stories is presented as a lost manuscript that lists 12 names of some of the just from several hundred years ago. The story goes that the narrator sets out to discover who they were, and finds that each one is remembered in legend in his or her own community. Each of the 12 short stories tells us about one of these "just" people.

I especially loved the story of Dalet the thief, who teaches the community a sense of true valuation. I also liked the story of Heyh the clown, who truly brings a community together (read the story to get the joke).

Each story is full of poignance and the kind of truth that only a deeply good writer can find. This is an outstanding book -- a truly remarkable combination of fairy tales, morality tales, and magical realism.

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have.

The author, Jonathon Keats, is a Jewish conceptual artist who, among other things, is known for his attempt to genetically engineer God. His artistic ability is well represented in this beautifully written collection of pre-modern tales, set within the foreword's context of the Jewish legend of the Lamedh-Vov, the 36 anonymous saints known only to God who uses them to justify humanity (hence, the paradoxical title). It is significant that even the Lamedh-Vov don't know who they are, and if they ever did find out, they would no longer be one of the 36. Also, when some die, others take their place so the concept is fluid. This idea along with mention of the Kabbalah is what attracted me to the book. I was not disappointed, although I was certainly surprised. You will have your sense of morality tested. In an interview, Keats pointed out that this was part of his intent and referred to his book's epigraph, taken from the Talmud: "Despise no man and deem nothing impossible, for every man has his hour and every thing its place." He stated: "Where saints typically stand as moral guides in the absolute sense, these 36 serve as a check on our judgment."

If it wasn't for the fictional foreword, one would probably never associate any of the main characters of the surreal tales with the concept of the Lamedh-Vov. This made me wonder, especially given the epigraph, whether the good that flows from the anonymous saints (one of which was a female golem!) is none other than the goodness of God humbly manifesting itself which, from my studies, is a Kabbalistic concept. Remove divine goodness from the world (including us) and the world would certainly cease to exist,... and so would all the evil. There are disturbing and sad aspects to these tales, but the goodness within outshines them. The tales are also a tribute to the imagination (human AND divine!) which some modern-minded individuals have lost touch with in their disenchantment. In the same interview mentioned above, Keats wisely stated: "The modernist assumption is that people used to be too 'primitive' to realize that their tales were unrealistic. In truth, the pre-moderns were ahead of us in that they had greater force of imagination." Yes, indeed! Although Keats' book looks at only 12 of the 36 (who still paradoxically remain anonymous despite the indirect exposure through the book), it is uncertain whether he will write more tales about them. He stated in another interview: "It will be a lifetime or two to get the entire 36 written." If the book ever comes out in hardcover, I am sure to get another copy.

Jonathon Keats discovered a delicate way to top Hans Christian Andersen, brothers Grimm, and J.K. Rowling. His fairy tales build on top and then break away from tradition in several ways, including the scale and the beneficiaries of magic, the heroes or "agents of miracles," and the magic processes and tools used by his heroes.

Why do we like fairy tales? Because we could see ourselves in the hero roles. When we were little, we believed we could do it. The problem with the traditional fairy tales is that their magic is perishable. One day, we discover their fiction and on that day, their magic and relevance are gone. Jonathon figured out a way to keep the magic of his tales relevant.

Jonathon's miracles have enormous ambition. They do not solve a predicament and do not result in a typical "happy life ever after" for a frog or a royal couple. Jonathon's enchanting magic makes entire world a better place: citizens of entire villages and towns change their attitudes; acquire new skills, recover lost talents, fall in love, cure disease, discover new technologies, and feed the hungry.

Jonathon's phantasmagorical heroes are not the traditional magicians and witches. They do not have magic wands, special skills, or birthrights inherited from accomplished magician and witch parents. His heroes are not princes and princesses. They are a thieve and a whore, a liar and a fool, a gambler and a beggar, a profane and a murderer, a cheat and an idler.

Jonathon's miracles do not happen in an instant motion of a magic wand. Jonathon's stories describe processes that start small and trivial and then gradually and systematically evolve into powerful miracles that change the way of life and enrich everybody involved.

Jonathon's delivery of his delightful, fantastic, and seductive fairy tales is equally fascinating, blending ancient and modern, and frequently using Jewish humor and folklore.

Jonathon's choices of magic, key characters, and miraculous processes make a profound inspirational point: anybody can deliver a miracle. If the dregs of society can become agents of such wonders, what is holding you back?

Buy this book and read it many times to your children and grandchildren. Keep a copy on your desk so you can return and read it for yourself. It's that good.

Yuval Lirov, Medical Billing Networks and Processes - Profitable and Compliant Revenue Cycle Management in the Internet Age

Keats throws out a dozen stories of different archetypes that come off like a not-so-modern Hans Christian Anderson or Grimm brother. They're folktales that typically divert from the expected path: anti-heros whose antics preserve the humanity of the race. An idiot, thirf, liar, clown,etc. are the characters that populate worlds of yore. The unifying themes of ordinary types, and how the cultures interact with the unexpected uniqueness of the individual.

It reminded me of Einstein's Dreams in its look at alternate universes. It's more compact than Terra Nostra, and easily readable. Each of the stories is 11 to 22 pages. There is some mysticism, and a sense of play. You have the feeling, things end up all right, because we're in a realm of possibility, rather than dire consequence. It has adult themes of sexuality and a bit of violence, so may not be suitable for youth or the overly sensitive.

The Jewish people are known as the "people of the book" for our veneration, preservation, and constant attempts to live according to and gain more meaning from the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament. Another important book for us is the Talmud, in which learned Rabbis debate, explicate, and attempt to fill in the gaps in the Torah to make Jewish law more applicable to daily life. The Talmud is written in many styles, including back and forth conversations and debates as well as stories and folklore.

We do see some back and forth discussions in the Torah, especially in the story of Sodom and Gemorah where Abraham tries to save the cities by bargaining with G-d. While G-d starts out requiring proof of 50 good people to save the cities, Abraham manages to get the number down to 10. Now, we know that there were not even 10 as the cities were destroyed. In the Talmud there is a similar discussion about the number of good righteous people who must exist at any given time in order to keep the entire world existing, and the number is 36.

While many readers may be unfamiliar with the tale of the 36 Lamed-Vov (Hebrew letters have numerical values, and the letters Lamed and Vov add up to 36), I can remember my Orthodox Jewish grandfather telling me about these people, and how they were always hidden (sometimes even from themselves) until called upon or needed. In fact, they were often so hidden that nobody would even believe that they were the righteous, typically showing up as vagrants, thieves, gamblers, and liars. The ultimate lesson of the 36 being that we should treat every person, including ourselves, as if he or she might be one of the Lamed-Vov.

The Book of the Unknown is a tale within a tale, opening with a fictional forward by a Professor Jay Katz and closing with a fictional Editor's Note. Professor Katz tells the sory about finding old papers in a German synagogue that was discovered unscathed after the Holocaust, and in the papers discovering a list of 36 names, a list of the 36. Instead of turning the list over to authorities he keeps it and starts to visit the neighboring villages asking about the names on the list, discovering that they all fit the description of the Lamed-Vov. According to the Editor's Note, after publishing some of the stories he mysteriously disappears along with his papers and the list of the 36.

In between are of stories following 12 of the 36. We have a gambler who teaches a King that people can create their own order, gain, and loss; a liar who shows others how to live truthfully; a whore who helps bring together the families in her village and shows the stupidity of shared ignorance; and a thief who keeps everyone else in town honest. Each story is beautifully told and warrants at least a day to absorb the importance of the lesson, and they are complex enough to be interesting to adults, and as interesting to non-Jews as to Jews.