- Paperback
- Publisher: Penguin; 1st Edition/1st Printing edition (2008)
- ASIN: B001JT57N6
- Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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The Jewish Messiah: A Novel
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful nonsense,
By Duke Marine (Newbury Park, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Jewish Messiah: A Novel (Hardcover)
I'm torn on this book. On the one hand it was one of the most beautifully written things I have ever read. Some sentences I would read over and over because they were so beautiful and unique.
However the story...the story was good enough to keep me reading for the 400+ pages of the book...but I don't think it was because it was good I think it was because I thought maybe at some point it would make sense or get to the point. It was almost like the story was just the summary on the book jacket stretched out ridiculously with insane attention to mundane detail. I'd say 75% of the book doesn't move the story along. Also the characters...they are incredibly 1-dimensional. Which is strange because the author delves into the inner thoughts and emotions of the main character extensively. But they are merely described, not explained. All of characters face some of the most nightmarish situations ever conjured in fiction but their reactions are completely alien and inhuman. Like I found myself waiting to find out that everyone turned out to be a serial killer or psychologically disturbed in some way. But they weren't, they were all supposedly "normal." I suppose you could read social commentary into it. However, in my opinion, it doesn't make any such commentary very clear. Any message from the book would be completely a matter of interpretation and reading whatever you want into the text. All in all, I sort of regret spending all of the time I spent reading the book because it failed to deliver any sort of point and wasn't entertaining enough for that to be the point. However it wasn't an unenjoyable waste of time as the writing was...poetic without being flowery. The author and translator are obviously masters of language. And I suppose the best praise I can give the story was that it was crafted in such a way that I can forgive myself for expecting there to be more to it than there turned out to be.
15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy it for the cover alone.,
By
This review is from: The Jewish Messiah: A Novel (Hardcover)
Imagine Woody Allen and the Marquis de Sade had a child, not a bastard, but one they fussed over and nurtured and sent to the best schools: he might have written this horrible, vicious, hilarious, totally true book, whose tasteless provocations upon motherhood, philosophy, art, and friendship are matched by a quixotic cruelty to cheeses. The translated prose is like the best martini: ice-cold, and crystal clear, with an instant head rush, and the subtlest whiff of foreignness in vermouth. Beware: it is a very stiff drink.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thank you for blowing my mind, Mr. Grunberg,
By Oedipa Hex "Oedipa Hex" (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Jewish Messiah: A Novel (Kindle Edition)
I've just closed the final (digital) page of The Jewish Messiah, and I am currently rapt with that pungent cross between nausea and sadness that comes only with the most guttural experiences in life. I'm so traumatized that buying the rest of Grunberg's books that have so far been translated into English seems like a necessity, but also like one of the biggest risks I could possibly take. It's like choosing to meet that illicit lover just one more time, to say goodbye, knowing the feelings he'll endow you with will never let you rest.
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First Sentence:
BECAUSE HIS GRANDFATHER had served, with sincere enthusiasm and a great faith in what the future would bring, in the SSâ the kind of man who wasn't afraid to roll up his sleeves, not the kind of wishy-washy grandpa who never got up from his desk, who stamped an official document now and then before hurrying home to his wife and children at five, no, a gentleman, one who understood death's handiwork without bothering his own family about it, a man for whom words like "honor" and "loyalty" still meant something, a man of morals who clung faithfully to a vision even under brutal conditions when many of his buddies stripped off their uniforms and ran for it, but not him, a man who said, "A man of fiber knows his duty, a man of fiber doesn't just live from day to day," and, having said that, went on to fire every last round in his clipâ the grandson wished to serve a movement with enthusiasm and faith in the future. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
rabbi pounded, kebab place, falafel balls, man with the pistol, sneezing powder Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Jewish Messiah, Arnon Grunberg, King David, Xavier Radek, Venice of the North, Mein Kampf, Jossi Dolav, Rietveld Academy, Pedophile Lenin, Committee of Vigilant Jews, Committee of Vigilant Parents, Jerusalem Kebabs, Shema Yisrael, Awromele Michalowitz, Middle East, Benny Goodman, Albert Heijn, Great Yiddish Novel, Mittlere Rheinbrücke, Rhein Hotel, Orthodox Jew, Anne Frank House, United States, Xavier's Adam, North Pole Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
BECAUSE HIS GRANDFATHER had served, with sincere enthusiasm and a great faith in what the future would bring, in the SSâ the kind of man who wasn't afraid to roll up his sleeves, not the kind of wishy-washy grandpa who never got up from his desk, who stamped an official document now and then before hurrying home to his wife and children at five, no, a gentleman, one who understood death's handiwork without bothering his own family about it, a man for whom words like "honor" and "loyalty" still meant something, a man of morals who clung faithfully to a vision even under brutal conditions when many of his buddies stripped off their uniforms and ran for it, but not him, a man who said, "A man of fiber knows his duty, a man of fiber doesn't just live from day to day," and, having said that, went on to fire every last round in his clipâ the grandson wished to serve a movement with enthusiasm and faith in the future. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
rabbi pounded, kebab place, falafel balls, man with the pistol, sneezing powder Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Jewish Messiah, Arnon Grunberg, King David, Xavier Radek, Venice of the North, Mein Kampf, Jossi Dolav, Rietveld Academy, Pedophile Lenin, Committee of Vigilant Jews, Committee of Vigilant Parents, Jerusalem Kebabs, Shema Yisrael, Awromele Michalowitz, Middle East, Benny Goodman, Albert Heijn, Great Yiddish Novel, Mittlere Rheinbrücke, Rhein Hotel, Orthodox Jew, Anne Frank House, United States, Xavier's Adam, North Pole Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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