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The Finkler question

By Howard Jacobson

(38)

| Paperback | 9781408809105

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Book Description

'He should have seen it coming. His life had been one mishap after another. So he should have been prepared for this one'. Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular and disappointed BBC worker, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer and television personality, are old school friContinue

'He should have seen it coming. His life had been one mishap after another. So he should have been prepared for this one'. Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular and disappointed BBC worker, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer and television personality, are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they've never quite lost touch with each other - or with their former teacher, Libor Sevick, a Czechoslovakian always more concerned with the wider world than with exam results. Now, both Libor and Finkler are recently widowed, and with Treslove, his chequered and unsuccessful record with women rendering him an honorary third widower, they dine at Libor's grand, central London apartment. It's a sweetly painful evening of reminiscence in which all three remove themselves to a time before they had loved and lost; a time before they had fathered children, before the devastation of separations, before they had prized anything greatly enough to fear the loss of it. Better, perhaps, to go through life without knowing happiness at all because that way you had less to mourn? Treslove finds he has tears enough for the unbearable sadness of both his friends' losses. And it's that very evening, at exactly 11:30pm, as Treslove hesitates a moment outside the window of the oldest violin dealer in the country as he walks home, that he is attacked. After this, his whole sense of who and what he is will slowly and ineluctably change. "The Finkler Question" is a scorching story of exclusion and belonging, justice and love, ageing, wisdom and humanity. Funny, furious, unflinching, this extraordinary novel shows one of our finest writers at his brilliant best.

Critics

  • The Finkler Question

    The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson, Bloomsbury, RRP£7.99, 384 pages Winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, Jacobson’s latest comic novel bounces ideas of Jewishness between three contrary characters. When his wife was alive, all best-selling pop ... (read full critics)

    ft published on Mon, 23 May 2011

  • The Finkler Question

    The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson, Bloomsbury, RRP£7.99, 384 pages Winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, Jacobson’s latest comic novel bounces ideas of Jewishness between three contrary characters. When his wife was alive, all best-selling pop ... (read full critics)

    ft published on Mon, 23 May 2011

8 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    It is much more than a literature, but deeply engage in a wide range of issue, from personal problems to universal controversies. A very reasonable booker prize winner.

    Is this helpful?

    Jeffrey said on Dec 8, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • The most positive thing about this novel is indeed Jacobson's writing. Refined, precise and elegant in its own way - a real pleasure for my ears.

    This said, I didn't like the book. Or, better, I couldn't get myself to like it.
    It is well-written, and it does deal with deep, important and vit ... (continue)

    The most positive thing about this novel is indeed Jacobson's writing. Refined, precise and elegant in its own way - a real pleasure for my ears.

    This said, I didn't like the book. Or, better, I couldn't get myself to like it.
    It is well-written, and it does deal with deep, important and vital questions, but Julian Treslove's character is totally irritating, and I simply couldn't help hoping to read less of him and his somewhat childish troubles and concerns, and more of everyone else (even haughty Sam Finkler sounds more pleasant!).

    I frankly cannot understand how such a good writer could build a novel on such an unbearable character. Or where the "fun" that Jonathan Safran Foer promises us on the front cover actually lies, for that matter, as all I saw was introspection and seriousness. Perhaps it is me who missed the point; but I surely won't go through a second read to look for it again.

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    Iris Trouble B. said on Oct 29, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • Wish I could give a half star

    I am reluctant to say I loved it, but it is certainly worth reading and it starts better than it ends. I found it difficult to follow towards the end. The satire is somewhat draining after so many pages. It is certainly very funny in places and beautifully written.

    Is Julian a Jew or does he just b ... (continue)

    I am reluctant to say I loved it, but it is certainly worth reading and it starts better than it ends. I found it difficult to follow towards the end. The satire is somewhat draining after so many pages. It is certainly very funny in places and beautifully written.

    Is Julian a Jew or does he just believe himself to be one? and what does Jewishness mean. What does a life mean - what validates us?...

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    Liz4211 said on Aug 25, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • Pick something else!

    Picked this book based on having read a good Man Booker winner recently, and also the reviews on the front stating it was funny and witty - turns out it was anything but! I couldn't even raise a wry smile; it's hard work and pretentious with no real interest and a disappointing end. A hard book to p ... (continue)

    Picked this book based on having read a good Man Booker winner recently, and also the reviews on the front stating it was funny and witty - turns out it was anything but! I couldn't even raise a wry smile; it's hard work and pretentious with no real interest and a disappointing end. A hard book to pick up and easy to put down!

    Is this helpful?

    Kevin Canetti said on Jul 19, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • Guff

    While very funny in parts, I found it very hard to work up any interest in either the plot or the main protagonist. Clever writing and gags insufficient to sustain me, I gave up. Disappointed.

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    Rocketsurgeon said on Jun 20, 2011 | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
    (38)
    • 5 stars
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  • English Books
  • Paperback
  • Edition: 1
  • ISBN-10: 1408809109
  • ISBN-13: 9781408809105
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Pub date: Jan 01, 2010
  • Also available as: Hardcover, Audio CD, Others and eBook
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