Bloomsbury, New York, 2010. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good Condition/Very Good. Pale green coloured boards with gilt coloured titles to the back strip. Photographic dustwrapper with green and blue coloured titles to the front panel and back strip. 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 former BBC radio producer, 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 Sevcik, a Czech 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 have 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 11:30 pm, as Treslove, walking home, hesitates a moment outside the window of the oldest violin dealer in the country, that he is attacked. And from that moment, his whole sense of who and what he is to change. Â– Paraphrasing the rear panel blurb. Rubbing of the book corners and softening of the back strip edges. Light tanning of the text block edges and pages. Minor rubbing of the dustwrapper edges and panels. A hint of fading to the back strip. Size: 8vo - over 7Â¾" - 9Â¾" tall. 320 pages. A very clean secondhand copy, with no damage to report.. Please refer to accompanying picture (s). Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Literature & Literary; Judaica; Film, Radio & Television. ISBN: 1608196429. ISBN/EAN: 9781608196425. Inventory No: 50010. . 9781608196425

Synopsis

Howard Jacobson is a British journalist and author. He is best known for writing comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters. He is the 2010 winner of the Man Booker prize for The Finkler Question. This novel takes on the challenges of love, male friendship and loss as it explores the relationship between a radio producer and philosopher, while questioning what it means to be Jewish today. It’s described as a bright, witty novel with some of the most sharply intelligent writing to date. The book follows the character of Julian Treslove, once of the BBC and now earning a living as a celebrity lookalike. Treslove is not Jewish but, in simple terms, the narrative details his love affair with an intense inquiry into what Jewishness means – politically, socially, economically, romantically, intellectually, emotionally, culturally, musically and so on. He wants to be part of something vast and ageless, something abounding and intense. In short, he is trying to become Jewish.

Reviews

On Nov 20 2013, CloggieDownunder said:

The Finkler Question is the fourteenth book by Howard Jacobson, and winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize. There are three main characters: Julian Treslove, who wants to be a Jew; Sam Finkler, a Jew who is ashamed of Jews; and Libor Sevcik, a Czech Jew who is grieving the loss of his wife. This unlikely trio have known one another for many years, and in the first part, each looks back on events in their lives. The second part concerns the events after Julian is mugged, he believes, for being a Jew, and introduces a new love interest for him, a Jewess names Hephzibah, someone he feels is his destiny. This novel is very slow-moving, there is very little in the way of plot and while some of the dialogue is clever, amusing or even thought-provoking, many of the characters are difficult to relate to. Perhaps to fully appreciate this book, one would need to be a Jewish intellectual, preferably a British one. Lots of Jewish angst, talk of foreskins, anti-Semitic violence and Holocaust denial. This Man Booker Prizewinner fails to impress.

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Details

Bookseller: Syber's Books ABN 40533682787 (AU)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 50010
Title: The Finkler Question
Author: Jacobson, Howard
Format/Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Used - Very Good Condition
Jacket Condition: Very Good
Quantity Available: 1
Edition: First Edition
ISBN 10: 1608196429
ISBN 13: 9781608196425
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Place of Publication: New York
Date Published: 2010
Keywords: BZDB2 Radio producers and directors - Fiction. Jewish Mann Booker Prize Literature & Literary; Judaica; Film, Radio & Television. Unbranded ISBN: 1608196429 EAN: 9781608196425 Jacobson, Howard The Finkler Question
Bookseller catalogs: Judaica;

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Syber's Books ABN 40533682787

transaction in Australian $'s for checks and money orders.If the book is not as described, return within 14 days, for a refund of the cost of the book.

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Syber's Books ABN 40533682787

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About Syber's Books ABN 40533682787

General secondhand dealers, with 3 cats.We have two shops, 227 Glenferrie Rd Malvern 3144, Victoria 03 9530 2222 ( open 7 days Midday 'til 5.30 PM)And the other at 666 Glen Huntly Road Caulfield South 03 9523 666 open 11:00 am - 5.00 pm-ish the other 6 days. We seem to specialize in non mainstream stuff but read and stock Science-fiction, fantasy, detective fiction, history, biography and true crime, war, natural history. cooking, children's books and try to avoid current text books.We probably have the largest collection of Science Fiction, Penguins and general crime in Victoria in an open shop ( David has 8 bookcases 900mm x 2200mm of sf and f) ( Penny has 8 bookcases 1200mm x 2400 of sf and f )On shelf each shop has 30,000 plus books and we list over 30000 books online

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