Book Reviews
Learn more about The Books of Jacob and its reception from the most prominent critical observations.
1
“Savior? Monster? A Messianic Leader Rallies His Followers”
“The Books of Jacob” is another of what Tokarczuk calls her “constellation novels.” She passes the narrative baton from character to character in a thrilling relay of perspectives, and avails herself of diaries, letters, poetry, prophecies, and parables, as well as traditional narrative, as they suit her needs”
(J. Shulevitz, NYT)
2
“Olga Tokarczuk on the Power of Words”
“So much of Jewish culture is geared toward language, toward the word, the engine of the word and the depths of the word, its multiplicity of meanings and its openness to interpretation”
(D. Treisman, The New Yorker)
3
“The Nobel laureate’s visionary epic about 18th-century religious leader Jacob Frank takes on the biggest philosophical themes”
“Dense, captivating and weird, The Books of Jacob is on a different scale from either of these. It is a visionary novel that conforms to a particular notion of masterpiece – long, arcane and sometimes inhospitable. Tokarczuk is wrestling with the biggest philosophical themes: the purpose of life on earth, the nature of religion, the possibility of redemption, the fraught and terrible history of eastern European Jewry”
(M. Theroux, The Guardian)
