Libro 2019

I found this in a Little Free Library and decided, what the hell. I’m glad I read it because I’m now very interested in reading Noah Gordon’s other books which are supposed to be better than this one.

On the whole, I did like this book. The characters were interesting, although I don’t feel like they were fully fleshed out. I liked the wide timespan of the book. And it had some pretty sexy parts, at least for a book from the 60s.

But so much of it was nonsensical or not explained. As someone else pointed out, there’s no real exploration of why Michael becomes a rabbi, and that…is what the book is supposed to be about? Many huge details are explained away in a sentence or two: why he decides to become a Reform rabbi vs his Orthodox training, how Leslie converts under an Orthodox rabbi (which to my knowledge almost NEVER happens), Leslie’s relationship with Judaism (it keeps being put forth as just a fact that “she’s a true Jew” but no further explanation, which is odd considering her racist distaste for Judaism at first), Leslie’s relationship with the various synagogue congregants (there’s a line or two about gossipy yentas, and one or two guys who are like “damn, a rabbi married to a shiksa?” and no further exploration), even Leslie’s reason for her hospital stay (she feels guilty about one instance of premarital sex??). By the time I got to what I remember as the last HUGE detail that’s just waved away—he becomes rabbi to an Orthodox congregation that “half its members had just voted to become Reform”, come on, REALLY??—I was done. It just seemed so absurd at that point.

So I guess the major thing that leads me to give this three stars is that I liked it much more than I expected to, and there were some interesting parts, and in general I’m very interested in the Jewish experience (and this has the added interesting point that it’s from a different era when American Jews were a bit less assimilated). I imagine that had I read it during a different point in my life, I probably wouldn’t have been quite so interested. Either way, I’m now looking forward to reading The Physician.

Este es el primer libro que publicó el autor y en él ya se pueden observar alguna rasgos que serán característicos en sus obras. La mayoría del público lo conoce por su gran obra, El Médico, que para mí será siempre una de las mejores historias que he leído.

En esta historia he descubierto un mundo totalmente desconocido para mí, tengo muy poco conocimiento de la cultura judía y mucho menos de lo que implica ser rabino, y gracias a estas paginas he aprendido algunas cosas. Pero no solo me ha gustado el hecho de poder aprender, sino que además me gusta el modo que tiene el autor de estructurar sus obras, creando un personaje principal sobre el que va desarrollando la novela, y de un modo bastante hábil siempre consigue generar simpatía hacía ese personaje.

Quizás el punto débil de la novela es la lentitud y que en muchos momentos se hace muy monótona, pero creo que se debe al hecho de ser la primera novela del autor, ya que cuando has leído otras de sus historias te das cuenta de la evolución que tiene como escritor y de que su esencia ya se encuentra en este libro, y lo único que ha hecho ha sido mejorar y evolucionar.

2.5 estrellas

No el mejor libro de Noah Gordon, realmente es una historia anodina de esas que se te olvidan a las horas de haberlo terminado.

No es el libro de Noah Gordon que más me ha gustado, a ratos entretenido, a ratos aburrido

No tiene una historia que me haya atrapado, pero está bien. La lectura es fácil, los personajes están bien definidos y está bien escrito, pero el argumento no atrapa. Sin más.

Great reading especially if you're interested in Jewish faith.A

As a person who grew up in a very religious family I really could get into the book.I liked to temple building proces how to raise funds.Very much the same for churches of all faith.
I really recommend this book to all serious readers.

A pesar que a muchos les parece aburrido, me gusto la forma en como el autor nós cuenta la vida de un personaje salpicado de vivencias propias, me resultó interesante leerla.

Another great read from Noah Gordon

I have read several of Gordon's books and am never disappointed. Each one envelopes you in a period of history, in which he takes you into the life of the main character. Whether it's a Physician, a Shaman, a Winemaker, or a Rabbi, you'll never be disappointed.

;I came to this book after reading "The winemaker" Noah Gordon absolutely trapped me with that one, and I felt that I needed to read everything I could put my hands on.

So I ran out and found this copy of the author's opera prima:

n  n    n      n    n    n      n    n  n  n   
n  n  This is the presentation of the book. Of course it says the novel is good:n  
n

n  n    n      n    n    n      n    n  n  n   
n  n  Then come the dedicatory:n  n    n      n    n  n  n   
n  n  A couple of quotations:n  n    n      n    n  n  n   
n  n  And then there is the actual reading of the novel:n

n  
n  n    n      n    n    n      n    n  n  
n  n    n      n    n  n  
n  For me, it was not the same experience as The Winemaker; and this impression was because various factors:
;n    It is a previous work, so it probably does not have the benefit of Noah Gordon's experience in telling the story  It tells the story of a religious man; and I am not particularly religious, so I found myself struggling to connect with him.  It deals with mental illness and depression, and those topics are very sensitive to me, since I believe that when they are real, they are devastating, dangerous and destructive forces of nature.  In conclusion, I will still try other works by this author, but I am suspecting that the one I liked the most is going to remain the best to my eyes for a few books more.n





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I also have a blog! Link here:

http://lunairereadings.blogspot.comnn

If it looks like trash, it is trash. This had potential - rabbi falls for Christian woman - but since none of the conflicts were actually featured in the story I am not sure what this author had in mind. I will say, though, that the traveling salesman rabbi life was captured quite nicely and I got a kick out of his wife saying at every new home they moved into - oh, I can see us staying here forever! Ha.

Good but not great.

I enjoyed the novel, but it takes a different type of reader to understand the scope of this book, but I would recommend it.