According to Jewish tradition, 36 "just men" are born in every generation to take the burden of the world's suffering upon themselves. This book tells the story of two Jews, divided by eight centuries, who are persecuted to death, becoming part of the catastrophic history of the Jewish people.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Schwarz-Bart's 1959 novel is a chronicle of Jewish persecution beginning in England in 1105 and ending with the Holocaust. This book was a huge hit when first released, eventually being translated into several languages. It is both a historical document and a compelling piece of fiction.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Has the inspiration, the strength and the poetic feeling to make it unique." -- Sunday Times
--This text refers to an alternate
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
OK, you've read many holocaust books, probably seen several movies, been there, done that.
This one is different, and different in so many ways that you'll never believe you've read one before.
Of course there are not many that start the story in 1105, that's different. There are not many that try to fix the story in a context that is greater than the ending. This one does that, and makes it so strong that you can not put it down.
First the context, the myth if you will. There are in the world 36 `just men' that take on the suffering of the world, that are the reasons God allows the world to continue. There are among these men, some number of `unknown just' who see the world differently from most of us. That when one of these `unknown just' dies his soul is so cold that God must hold him in his fingers for a thousand years so that he can open to paradise.
Ernie Levy is one of those men. A thousand years of history, two thousand years of suffering are all concentrated in the story of one boy, the movement of a family from Poland, to Germany, to France, to extermination. It's all so simple. It's all so wonderfully told. The story of a people, the story of a family, the story of a man, the story of the twentieth century, all in so few pages.
I hope you'll take the time to read it.
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By "nancybee"
Format:Paperback
...and that's no exaggeration.
This was assigned reading for a class on the Holocaust that I took as an elective in college many moons ago. Once I got around to reading it (near the end of the semester, of course), I was completely unable to put it down. I started it on Good Friday and read straight through the weekend. It shattered me. I was flat out weeping as I read that final page late on Easter Sunday (which, as a non-Jew, spun me around into a whole different perspective). I've been teary-eyed over a good book or two, but I had never read (nor have I since) any book that moved or affected me so profoundly.
This was assigned reading for a class on the Holocaust that I took as an elective in college many moons ago. Once I got around to reading it (near the end of the semester, of course), I was completely unable to put it down. I started it on Good Friday and read straight through the weekend. It shattered me. I was flat out weeping as I read that final page late on Easter Sunday (which, as a non-Jew, spun me around into a whole different perspective). I've been teary-eyed over a good book or two, but I had never read (nor have I since) any book that moved or affected me so profoundly.
I find it hard to string together an adequate sentence to describe this book. I can only come up with images...vast, timeless, dream-like, sometimes surreal, but totally human and earthbound at the same time. Gently funny, lush, warm and tender, fluid, truly poetic, painful, pure, sacred, prayer-like. Schwarz-Bart is a master, a pied piper, and this book is a piece of literary art. Five stars just doesn't cover it.
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Difficult to describe and impossible to forget, this book takes us out of whatever 'normal' world we inhabit and casts us into the horror of the Nazi's 'final solution'. The story of a young Jewish boy - the 'last of the Just' - is so powerful, so full of pain and confusion, so beautifully written, so honestly realized, that the reader will never be able to forget it. The last section alone, where the names of all the death camps are listed, in the midst of a kind of elegy, is among the most moving pieces of prose I have ever read.
Read this book. It will change you and stay with you when everything else you have read about the holocaust is forgotten.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An inspiring and emotive story!
While reading Chapter 1, I kept thinking, "Well, this is an odd book." I had trouble getting into the "different" tone and flow of the translator's words. Read more
Published 29 days ago by J. Alvarez
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must read
It was recommended to me by my father-in-law and i enjoyed it years ago, and now i am reading it again!!!
Published 1 month ago by Bianca J.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Last of the Just
I just received this book and have not had time to get too far into it. I love history so Im sure I will love the book
Published 1 month ago by Lynda Baut
5.0 out of 5 stars
Should be required reading for all from young adults to seniors, lest...
This book is long, and can be very hard to read, but I have read it four or five times now; each new reading brings something that I didn't see before, or I understand it in a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Karen Lehner
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Novel And Emotional Experience
This novel is a wonderful reading experience. It is rich in emotional experiences that touches the heart and the imagination. Read more
Published 6 months ago by terry
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Six million luftmenschen turned into luft. I shall not translate."
The bitterest pun I've ever read. I've read this book nearly twenty-five years ago as a teenager, and it made a huge impact upon me; I haven't read the book since then, but I still... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jonathan Rimorin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite Simply The Best Book About the Holocaust
Too often, the Holocaust is presented as a unique event in history, but it isn't. What Schwarz-Bart has done is to put the terrible events into context. Read more
Published 10 months ago by S. Lev-Ami
5.0 out of 5 stars
Transcendent and Enduring
In 1960, my mother, an omnivorous reader, told me I "should" read The Last of The Just. My response as a busy teenager with his own reading agenda was always the same: "If people... Read more
Published on May 25, 2010 by Nicholas Puner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Last of the Just
This is one of the most powerful, well-written books I've ever read--and I'm a pretty old lady!
Published on June 17, 2008 by Judith B. Blustein
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing the burden of humanity's suffering so that mankind can...
This book was written in 1959 by a young French Jewish man who fought with the French resistance, was himself imprisoned, and somehow survived the holocaust. Read more
Published on December 31, 2007 by Linda Linguvic
