I loved this book as a way to familiarize myself with the history of Spain. I traveled to Spain and Portugal this past summer and had a fun time reading the history of this painful period.

4,5/5

This book changed its nature three times during the course of the narrative. It started off as a whodunit, became a picaresque novel(about a wanderer who has adventures) and finally a book that reminded me of Greek tragedy because destiny or the Fates seemed to play a rather relentless role. The picaresque aspect took up most of the book as the main character, Yonah Toledano, wandered through different parts of medieval Spain. The best known picaresque novel is Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes. There were moments in The Last Jew that did remind me of Don Quixote, but ultimately they come out of very different perspectives. Don Quixote is actually meant to be a cynical satire of the ideas of knighthood and chivalry. Yonah Toledano is put through a series of terrible events, but the author wants the reader to root for him. His name Yonah is usually transliterated in English as Jonah. This means that he was named after the prophet who was swallowed by a whale. This is very appropriate if the expulsion of the Jews from Spain is to be regarded as metaphorically similar to being swallowed by a whale. It was a very dark time in Jewish history and in Yonah Toledano's life. Yonah's intelligence and resourcefulness are very admirable. I was also pleased by the Christians he encountered who were opposed to the Inquisition and its intolerance because they remembered a Spain that was very different. Islamic Spain was not a utopia. All societies have their problems, but it was a much more tolerant environment. Americans need to know that there was a time when Islamic societies practiced tolerance and valued it. This is a very valuable historical lesson. Islamic Spain is an integral part of the cultural background in this novel. Spain changed as radically as the entire world did after 9-11.

Noah Gordon... impecable! Como siempre nos deleita con una lectura entretenida, fresca y muy bien documentada. Sin embargo y aunque uno trate de evitarlo, es imposible no compararlo con otro de sus libros: El médico, por las similitudes en el argumento.

Así nuevamente nos encontramos con un personaje principal que desde muy joven se enfrenta a la dolorosa pérdida de su familia y debe sobrevivir como pueda, en una época marcada por el fervor religioso, en la que además debe ocultar sus creencias.

Sin embargo, en este libro sólo se trata la supervivencia de este personaje, a diferencia del El médico en que el protagonista actuaba obsesionado por alcanzar su destino. Creo que ese leitmotive es lo que le falta a El último judío para alcanzar la grandeza que uno espera en una obra de Gordon. De todas maneras, es un libro bellísimo, con un final “redondo”, una lectura que se disfruta mucho y absolutamente recomendable.

Die Abenteuer des Jona Toledano wäre wohl ein besserer Titel für dieses Buch gewesen.
Der geschichtliche Hintergrund ist wie in allem von Noah Gordons Romanen gut recherchiert und detailliert beschrieben.
Die Handlung war hier aber zu monoton.

Eine Idee wäre es das Leben Jonas als Allegorie für das Leben der Juden zu betrachten, so würde einigen mehr Sinn ergeben.

Leer a Noah Gordon siempre es sencillo y se disfruta en el caso de este libro a pesar de que el argumento es bastante similar al médico es una historia que se disfruta ampliamente.

The Last Jew è un bel romanzo storico che trasporta il lettore ai tempi dell'Inquisizione spagnola, istituita dalla regina Isabella. Ebrei e musulmani vengono duramente perseguitati fino alla loro espulsione dal paese. Noah Gordon segue in particolare le vicende di una famiglia di argentieri di Toledo che cerca di sopravvivere a questa ennesima ingiustizia. La loro storia si dipana tra intrighi, assassinii e misteri e mette in luce gli interessi economici e le ipocrisie che si aggiungono alla già di per sé terribile persecuzione religiosa.
Il contesto narrativo è davvero molto interessante, soprattutto per me che di storia spagnola so poco e nulla. La scrittura è piacevole e scorrevole, anche se ho trovato alcuni dialoghi un po' forzati perché infarciti di "spiegoni" storici che sono sì interessanti ma poco credibili da un punto di vista narrativo.
L'evoluzione del protagonista è bella e nobile, peccato che soprattutto verso l'ultima parte risulta un personaggio un po' troppo perfetto per essere pienamente credibile.
Complessivamente è un buon libro, il cui difetto principale è che perde mordente nell'ultima parte non riuscendo a mantenere vivo il pathos che si crea all'inizio e rimane per gran parte della storia.

Nota di demerito all'editore italiano che cambia il titolo del libro senza un criterio logico, utilizzandone uno che è anche fuorviante. Vorrei capire cosa c'è che non va in L'ultimo ebreo.

Spain, late 15th/early 16th century. Jona, the young son of a Jewish silversmith from Toledo, sees his older brother murdered while delivering reliquary jewelry. Shortly afterwards, the Jews were expelled from Spain, but before that, his father was killed in a pogrom and the rest of the family had to obey the deportation orders.

Jona is left behind alone and runs away from Toledo, always striving to hide his true identity and to ensure his survival. One day, after numerous other experiences, Jona comes across a doctor who accepts him as an apprentice and becomes a doctor himself.

Jona remained connected to Judaism all his life, as it was obviously part of his identity for him, although he had to pretend to be a faithful Christian on the outside.

Owing to the era, religion is the determining factor for people, even if much of it is due to the fear of the overwhelming power of the Church and the Inquisition.

The first third of the book dragged quite a bit for me, as it was almost exclusively about religion, but after that it became more interesting and more fluid to read.

What bothered me, however, was that the author didn’t allow a single loose thread in his story. What I mean to say is that almost everyone who appeared in a more important role in the book reappeared at some point towards the end. Jonah met them all again quite by chance in different places. That was a little too much for me.

Otherwise, the novel is an easy to read story from Spain under the Habsburg rule. After the expulsion of the Muslims, which is not discussed further in this book, we learn here that the Jews did not fare much better, only that the Jews did not wage war against their oppressors.

In my opinion 3 stars.
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Spanien, Ende des 15./Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts. Jona, der junge Sohn eines jüdischen Silberschmieds aus Toledo erlebt, wie sein älter Bruder bei der Auslieferung von Reliquienschmuck ermordet wird. Kurz darauf werden die Juden aus Spanien verwiesen, aber noch zuvor kommt sein Vater bei einen Pogrom uns Leben und der Rest der Familie muss den Ausweisungsbescheiden Folge leisten.

Jona bleibt allein zurück und begibt sich auf Wanderschaft, immer bestrebt seine wahre Identität zu verbergen und sein Überleben zu sichern. Wie der Titel des Buches verrät, gerät Jona eines Tages nach zahlreichen anderen Erlebnissen an einen Arzt, der ihn als Lehrling aufnimmt und wird selbst Arzt.

Jona bleibt sein Leben lang dem Judentum verbunden, da es für ihn offenbar Teil seiner Identität ist, obwohl er nach außen vorgeben muss ein gläubiger Christ zu sein.

Der Zeit geschuldet ist die Religion der bestimmende Faktor für die Menschen, auch wenn viel davon auf die Angst vor der Übermacht der Kirche und der Inquisition zurückzuführen ist.

Das erste Drittel des Buches habe ich mich mit der Geschichte ziemlich abgeplagt, da es fast ausschließlich um das Thema Religion ging, aber danach wurde es interessanter und flüssiger zu lesen.

Was mich dennoch gestört hat, war, dass der Autor so ziemlich alle Fäden wieder aufgenommen hat. Damit will ich sagen, dass nahezu alle Personen, die im Buch in einer wichtigeren Rolle vorkamen irgendwann gegen Ende wieder aufgetaucht sind. Jona hat sie alle ganz zufällig an unterschiedlichen Orten wieder getroffen. Das war mir dann doch ein wenig zu sehr gestellt.

Ansonsten ist der Roman eine gut lesbare Geschichte aus dem Spanien unter der Habsburger-Herrschaft. Nach der Vertreibung der Muslime, die in diesem Buch nicht weiter thematisiert wird, erfahren wir hier, dass es den Juden nicht viel besser erging, nur dass die Juden sich nicht kriegerisch gewehrt haben.

Aus meiner Sicht 3 Sterne.

Una historia muy bonita, al principio la traducción era bastante mala pero poco a poco mejoro..los personajes son muy creíbles y la historia muy real y personal, lo recomiendo

Probably not the best time to read this.

Noah Gordon no decepciona, una gran historia con grandes pasajes dónde te lleva a revivir aquel ambiente inquisidor de la antigua España. Es una gran historia de superación!

Description: Set at the time of the Spanish Inquisition, all Jews are to be exiled from Spain. Orphaned Yonah manages to stay and learn physician's skills from a mentor.

With love
For Caleb and Emma
and Grandma

Opening: The Silversmith's Son: The bad time began for Bernado Espina on a day when air hung heavy as iron and the arrogant sunshine was a curse. That morning his crowded dispensary had been almost emptied when a pregnant woman's water burst, and he banished from the room the two patients who remained.

This book starts out with an anal rape and subsequent throat cut of a small boy, and I know a lot of you out there will find this subject matter distasteful.

There is a reason some books languor long in the recesses of the the darkest nooks of the TBR shelves. I have no enthusiasm for this relic ridden storyline - just not in the right mood for it.

NEXT!