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jeanlobrot98's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
loveallthis's review
5.0
Holy... something.
Not quite sure where to start with this one. I loved it. It's one of the longest books I've read (along with Infinite Jest, to which it owes much and with which it shares many themes). The protagonist is a totally amazing, unbelievable, genius, psychopathic messianic ten-year-old (Judah Ben-Gurion Maccabee) - and oh, what he'll do for the love of a girl named Eliza June Watermark, who may or may not be a Hebrew in the eyes of God.
At over a thousand pages, it's not a particularly easy read. Pages upon pages examine the interpretation of a piece of Torah scripture as it relates to sitting very close to a girl you like. Other passages detail the uncoordinated coordinated chair-scoot as revolutionary mechanism. The narrative builds to a beautifully-coordinated climax that's improbably miraculous - and then the story gets even more interesting.
I learned things about Judaism, about behavior disorders, about being a kid, about righteous disobedience. I fist-pumped, cried (quite a bit), marveled at these kids and the writer who conjured them into being, hated that writer for doing such terrible things to the kids he created.
Five stars. Recommended.
Not quite sure where to start with this one. I loved it. It's one of the longest books I've read (along with Infinite Jest, to which it owes much and with which it shares many themes). The protagonist is a totally amazing, unbelievable, genius, psychopathic messianic ten-year-old (Judah Ben-Gurion Maccabee) - and oh, what he'll do for the love of a girl named Eliza June Watermark, who may or may not be a Hebrew in the eyes of God.
At over a thousand pages, it's not a particularly easy read. Pages upon pages examine the interpretation of a piece of Torah scripture as it relates to sitting very close to a girl you like. Other passages detail the uncoordinated coordinated chair-scoot as revolutionary mechanism. The narrative builds to a beautifully-coordinated climax that's improbably miraculous - and then the story gets even more interesting.
I learned things about Judaism, about behavior disorders, about being a kid, about righteous disobedience. I fist-pumped, cried (quite a bit), marveled at these kids and the writer who conjured them into being, hated that writer for doing such terrible things to the kids he created.
Five stars. Recommended.
kirstiecat's review
4.0
I finished this awhile ago but I couldn't wrap my head around the ending and before I knew it was on a trip to Portland and just wasn't thinking of it.
Ok, so basically this chronicles a very short time in the life of a young Jewish teenager in a Chicago suburb who thinks he might be (and wishes to be) the Messiah. A matter of days turns into over 1000+ pages so you can imagine the depth of his philosophies. He's incredibly intellectual, is really obsessed with Philip Roth, and is held as a Rabbi by all of his school mates at various schools, private Jewish and public schools for his intellectual prowess and his advanced insightful take on many stories in the Torah.
In alot of ways, his advanced thinking is completely unbelievable but rather intoxicating nonetheless. His level of analysis is something to behold and wrap your head around over and over again.
The unfortunate thing is that he's witnessed some acts of violence against his people (he wouldn't call them fellow Jews, though, they are to him Israelites which are elevated from mere people of the Jewish faith) In any case, these acts of violence have scarred him a bit, causing him to issue a violent ulpan about creating homeade weapons to all of his Israelite disciples. His violent nature, however misunderstood, has caused him to be placed in a higher security school prison for delinquents and those with cognitive impairments called THE CAGE. Of course, that sort of treatment isn't going to work at all for someone like him and rebellion can be very ugly indeed.
Gurion also struggles with the sense of love for his father who seems to turn his back on his people to fight for the rights of Non-Israelite freedom of speech, which causes discord in the community and within his family unit.
Oh yeah, and Gurion (this intellectual protagonist) is in love with a non -Israelite girl but Adonai wouldn't let him fall in love with a non Israelite of course so he can just convert her.
So, I'm going to talk a little bit about the ending here. If you'd like to read it for yourself, please skip the rest. You have been warned. No whining!
I have tried to wrap my head around this ending which is extremely violent. I work in Chicago Public Schools so this kind of scene is a bit traumatic for me in that way. It's fantastical, over the top, and literally caused me one of the most vivid nightmares of my life. Besides extreme violence, there's a miracle of sorts and alot of presuppositions which lead you to wonder which is really the truth and almost set up different choose your own adventure scenarios about what may have actually happened. There's also a sense of betrayal and keenness of revenge from non Israelite students..anyone who feels they have been wronged as in a violent sort of atonement.
This is my take on it, finally, after pondering it. You may choose not to agree with me and I don't know at all if this was what Levin was aiming for. But this is the only thing that makes sense to me. In some ways, I see Gurion and the ending as a sort of microcasm of what is happening between Israel and Palestine. In other words, violence has begotten violence and it has all turned a little ugly with no mensches in sight. What we have is something alarming and chaotic, completely indecipherable. Gurion feels that he and those he loves are being persecuted and that, as a chosen person, this is wrong. His mother also feels strongly this way. The conflict with his father probably only adds to the keen sense of his own inner persecution. Gurion feels he is in the fight of his life. He stops being rational, only seeing the wrongs and dividing those into the Israelites and non Israelites. Even within these categories, complexities exist such as his friend with a cognitive disability who in the middle of the utter violent turmoil ends up shouting the lyrics to Radiohead's "You and Whose Army?" It's a strange kind of apocalypse..the kind that happens more than the real one because life still continues whether it's been changed or, to use a more appropriate word for the novel, damaged.
There's some bits about property damage all throughout the book but the major theme of damage evolves as a concept into human damage, even world damage. I'm not sure the moral of the story needs to be anything but the very fact that any act of violence can lead to a much larger progression of events or can damage the human spirit. I think this in and of itself is a profound message. However, I'm still not ready to make complete sense of the ending the way it's written either. It's message becomes emotionalized and unclear within itself and perhaps that was the point. On the other hand, it still sticks out like a major flaw and makes the reader feel in a state of shock.
Ok, so basically this chronicles a very short time in the life of a young Jewish teenager in a Chicago suburb who thinks he might be (and wishes to be) the Messiah. A matter of days turns into over 1000+ pages so you can imagine the depth of his philosophies. He's incredibly intellectual, is really obsessed with Philip Roth, and is held as a Rabbi by all of his school mates at various schools, private Jewish and public schools for his intellectual prowess and his advanced insightful take on many stories in the Torah.
In alot of ways, his advanced thinking is completely unbelievable but rather intoxicating nonetheless. His level of analysis is something to behold and wrap your head around over and over again.
The unfortunate thing is that he's witnessed some acts of violence against his people (he wouldn't call them fellow Jews, though, they are to him Israelites which are elevated from mere people of the Jewish faith) In any case, these acts of violence have scarred him a bit, causing him to issue a violent ulpan about creating homeade weapons to all of his Israelite disciples. His violent nature, however misunderstood, has caused him to be placed in a higher security school prison for delinquents and those with cognitive impairments called THE CAGE. Of course, that sort of treatment isn't going to work at all for someone like him and rebellion can be very ugly indeed.
Gurion also struggles with the sense of love for his father who seems to turn his back on his people to fight for the rights of Non-Israelite freedom of speech, which causes discord in the community and within his family unit.
Oh yeah, and Gurion (this intellectual protagonist) is in love with a non -Israelite girl but Adonai wouldn't let him fall in love with a non Israelite of course so he can just convert her.
So, I'm going to talk a little bit about the ending here. If you'd like to read it for yourself, please skip the rest. You have been warned. No whining!
I have tried to wrap my head around this ending which is extremely violent. I work in Chicago Public Schools so this kind of scene is a bit traumatic for me in that way. It's fantastical, over the top, and literally caused me one of the most vivid nightmares of my life. Besides extreme violence, there's a miracle of sorts and alot of presuppositions which lead you to wonder which is really the truth and almost set up different choose your own adventure scenarios about what may have actually happened. There's also a sense of betrayal and keenness of revenge from non Israelite students..anyone who feels they have been wronged as in a violent sort of atonement.
This is my take on it, finally, after pondering it. You may choose not to agree with me and I don't know at all if this was what Levin was aiming for. But this is the only thing that makes sense to me. In some ways, I see Gurion and the ending as a sort of microcasm of what is happening between Israel and Palestine. In other words, violence has begotten violence and it has all turned a little ugly with no mensches in sight. What we have is something alarming and chaotic, completely indecipherable. Gurion feels that he and those he loves are being persecuted and that, as a chosen person, this is wrong. His mother also feels strongly this way. The conflict with his father probably only adds to the keen sense of his own inner persecution. Gurion feels he is in the fight of his life. He stops being rational, only seeing the wrongs and dividing those into the Israelites and non Israelites. Even within these categories, complexities exist such as his friend with a cognitive disability who in the middle of the utter violent turmoil ends up shouting the lyrics to Radiohead's "You and Whose Army?" It's a strange kind of apocalypse..the kind that happens more than the real one because life still continues whether it's been changed or, to use a more appropriate word for the novel, damaged.
There's some bits about property damage all throughout the book but the major theme of damage evolves as a concept into human damage, even world damage. I'm not sure the moral of the story needs to be anything but the very fact that any act of violence can lead to a much larger progression of events or can damage the human spirit. I think this in and of itself is a profound message. However, I'm still not ready to make complete sense of the ending the way it's written either. It's message becomes emotionalized and unclear within itself and perhaps that was the point. On the other hand, it still sticks out like a major flaw and makes the reader feel in a state of shock.
shawntowner's review
4.0
1,000-page book are always an interesting experience. No matter how great the talent of an author, maintaining sustained interest and excitement in a 100-page novel is an artistic challenge of the highest order. Sustaining interest and excitement over the entirety of a 1000-page novel is a downright impossibility. So, like any 1000-page novel, Adam Levin’s The Instructions has its slow points, about a 200-page chunk just before the midpoint of the novel. During those chapters, I was almost ready to give up on the novel. The characters were so frustrating, so unlikeable that spending another 500-600 pages with them seemed like a punishment. However, I had pumped myself up for the task of tackling a 1000-page novel, and I wasn’t going to let remorselessly violent characters and their enabling parents fail at that task. Thankfully, my perseverance was rewarded. Although many of Levin’s characters are not likable, their unlikablity (unlikeableness? I don’t think either one of those are real words, but I’m sticking with unlikability) helps to create a novel that is confoundingly brilliant; the type of novel that will never provoke the same reaction from different readers.
The Instructions tells the story of Gurion ben-Judah Maccabee, a 10-year-old scholar and provocateur. Kicked out of a variety of Jewish schools for violent outburst, Gurion ends up in a program called the Cage, which is essentially an in-school lock down for the worst of the worst students. In the cage, students are not allowed to talk or even look at one another and the teachers and monitor give them no support, causing the students to act out, which in turn leads to harsher disciplinary consequences. As an educator, I realize that this type of situation will never be productive. It breeds a level of discontent and disrespect that will never be reconciled. So I understand why Gurion feels it is necessary to lead a revolt, but what I find distasteful is the levels to which he goes.
Believing that he might possibly be the Messiah, Gurion distribute scriptures, trains an army in secret, then leads his followers in a violent revolt that is, if not Biblical, at the very least Shakespearean in magnitude. People die, children are mutilated and tortured, and all this is done largely without remorse. Even Gurion’s parents, at least in the early stages of the book, encourage his standoffishness and his desire to overcome his oppressors. It is the fact that Gurion and his followers show so little empathy for those around them and so little remorse or concern for their actions that make The Instructions so frustrating.
On the other hand, the book is structured as Scripture; as the Word of Gurion. So it is possible that this sociopathic disregard for humanity is an issue of perspective. Gurion want to be seen as a righteous and just leader, and righteous and just leaders don’t have qualms about their actions.
Then there’s the fact that Gurion and his followers have admirable qualities. They are smart, loyal, loving, and have been treated in ways that no middle schooler should have to experience. I want to like Gurion, in spite of his arrogant disregard for the safety and well-being of others (which is the same disregard shown to he and his friends in the Cage). I want to like Gurion’s sidekicks, Benji Nakamook and Eliyahu of Brooklyn, in spite of their psychotic outburst and belief that violence will solve their problems. I do like the female characters, June and Jelly, who bring out the goodness in Gurion and Benji. And I love the fat characters, with their broken English and their desire to finally stand up for themselves, just not with the same level of violence as Gurion and his Side of Damage. It is these redeeming qualities, even as the characters destroy their school and their classmates, that makes the book enjoyable, even if the characters are not.
Over the course of the 1000+ pages of The Instructions, I went from despising the characters, to rooting for them, to despising them, to begrudgingly accepting their handling of an out-of-control situation. Any work that can hold my interest, sway my emotions, and frustrate me to the point of almost quitting, is okay in my book. And The Instructions is more than okay. It’s great.
The Instructions tells the story of Gurion ben-Judah Maccabee, a 10-year-old scholar and provocateur. Kicked out of a variety of Jewish schools for violent outburst, Gurion ends up in a program called the Cage, which is essentially an in-school lock down for the worst of the worst students. In the cage, students are not allowed to talk or even look at one another and the teachers and monitor give them no support, causing the students to act out, which in turn leads to harsher disciplinary consequences. As an educator, I realize that this type of situation will never be productive. It breeds a level of discontent and disrespect that will never be reconciled. So I understand why Gurion feels it is necessary to lead a revolt, but what I find distasteful is the levels to which he goes.
Believing that he might possibly be the Messiah, Gurion distribute scriptures, trains an army in secret, then leads his followers in a violent revolt that is, if not Biblical, at the very least Shakespearean in magnitude. People die, children are mutilated and tortured, and all this is done largely without remorse. Even Gurion’s parents, at least in the early stages of the book, encourage his standoffishness and his desire to overcome his oppressors. It is the fact that Gurion and his followers show so little empathy for those around them and so little remorse or concern for their actions that make The Instructions so frustrating.
On the other hand, the book is structured as Scripture; as the Word of Gurion. So it is possible that this sociopathic disregard for humanity is an issue of perspective. Gurion want to be seen as a righteous and just leader, and righteous and just leaders don’t have qualms about their actions.
Then there’s the fact that Gurion and his followers have admirable qualities. They are smart, loyal, loving, and have been treated in ways that no middle schooler should have to experience. I want to like Gurion, in spite of his arrogant disregard for the safety and well-being of others (which is the same disregard shown to he and his friends in the Cage). I want to like Gurion’s sidekicks, Benji Nakamook and Eliyahu of Brooklyn, in spite of their psychotic outburst and belief that violence will solve their problems. I do like the female characters, June and Jelly, who bring out the goodness in Gurion and Benji. And I love the fat characters, with their broken English and their desire to finally stand up for themselves, just not with the same level of violence as Gurion and his Side of Damage. It is these redeeming qualities, even as the characters destroy their school and their classmates, that makes the book enjoyable, even if the characters are not.
Over the course of the 1000+ pages of The Instructions, I went from despising the characters, to rooting for them, to despising them, to begrudgingly accepting their handling of an out-of-control situation. Any work that can hold my interest, sway my emotions, and frustrate me to the point of almost quitting, is okay in my book. And The Instructions is more than okay. It’s great.
undeadletters's review
4.0
This review kind of references a lot of stuff that happens in the novel that aren’t entirely central to the plot and certainly aren’t really spoilers or whatever, but I’m guessing a lot of this will make more sense to those who’ve read it (the novel). I also pull some of the book’s vocabulary because it fits and just like Wallace-isms or Pynchon-isms it’s impossible not to be the subject of their osmosis. I'm not going to summarize it. The publisher description does that pretty well and there are other reviews here that touch on it. So instead, here are some things:
1. Something I never remember feeling with any other book. There are so many scenes in The Instructions that should be drawn or painted or otherwise put to canvas, scenes that make ME want to bend the limits of my miniscule artistic talent and just draw the heck out of them - June raising victory fists in Brodsky’s doorway after Gurion proclaims his love for her, Eliyahu breaking the water fountain, pretty much any scene with the Five. I can’t imagine how awesome so much of this book would be as a graphic novel.
2. Something about the characters. As oriana said in her review, the kids are magnificently well drawn, full of emotional weight that I, in my old age, almost forgot middle-schoolers could even muster. And Gurion is the narrator to end narrators. I couldn’t help but realize throughout my reading how much my relationship with him would change from chapter to chapter, from wonder to empathy to pride to envy to disappointment and sadness and on and on. What I would give to have the confidence to tell a pretty redhead I’ve fallen in love with at first sight, that hey, I love you. But I would never want to be the type of person who speaks to others the way Gurion speaks to Call-Me-Sandy. But then there’s also his relationship with Main Man. Ah!
3. Something about the book’s humor. This might be the funniest book I’ve ever read. Since I can’t pull clippings like I’d be able to if it were on Kindle, it would be tough to reproduce a lot of specific examples, but here’s one. My reading of this exchange might not even be entirely as intended, but I love it:
""What's your favorite Palahniuk?"
I've never read him.
"Bro," said Dingle.
What? I said.
"Dude," he said."
There’s a lot of references like that - Phillip Roth actually makes an appearance, characters discuss the meaning of Fugees lyrics, a minor character during the height of the novel’s climactic final chapters offers Gurion advice on where to start with Don DeLillo, the shining example of the stereotypical Jewish-American Princess for the characters is, naturally, Natalie Portman. There’s just enough of this stuff to be funny and interesting without being grating.
4. Something about, uh, just the book. The Instructions at once demands to be savored and to be read so feverishly you start I’M TICKING. It’s unbelievably entertaining and well written and fun (holy shit is it fun) and remarkable and tragic. I haven’t read all of the stuff from 2010 I’d like to, but this novel is such a singular achievement that I’ll be very shocked if anything else so much as approaches its class. The fact that its size and small publisher are hurdles to entry for so many people is suck. Please read this book, people.
5. Something about the guy who wrote it. At this point it goes without saying that I would consider Adam Levin a writer to watch, huh? Well I’m going to say it anyway. This novel has built up enough good will in me that I’ll be in the figurative line for every book he ever releases. I just hope they don’t all take nine years. This is an author who understands he holds a gun. Bring on Hot Pink.
1. Something I never remember feeling with any other book. There are so many scenes in The Instructions that should be drawn or painted or otherwise put to canvas, scenes that make ME want to bend the limits of my miniscule artistic talent and just draw the heck out of them - June raising victory fists in Brodsky’s doorway after Gurion proclaims his love for her, Eliyahu breaking the water fountain, pretty much any scene with the Five. I can’t imagine how awesome so much of this book would be as a graphic novel.
2. Something about the characters. As oriana said in her review, the kids are magnificently well drawn, full of emotional weight that I, in my old age, almost forgot middle-schoolers could even muster. And Gurion is the narrator to end narrators. I couldn’t help but realize throughout my reading how much my relationship with him would change from chapter to chapter, from wonder to empathy to pride to envy to disappointment and sadness and on and on. What I would give to have the confidence to tell a pretty redhead I’ve fallen in love with at first sight, that hey, I love you. But I would never want to be the type of person who speaks to others the way Gurion speaks to Call-Me-Sandy. But then there’s also his relationship with Main Man. Ah!
3. Something about the book’s humor. This might be the funniest book I’ve ever read. Since I can’t pull clippings like I’d be able to if it were on Kindle, it would be tough to reproduce a lot of specific examples, but here’s one. My reading of this exchange might not even be entirely as intended, but I love it:
""What's your favorite Palahniuk?"
I've never read him.
"Bro," said Dingle.
What? I said.
"Dude," he said."
There’s a lot of references like that - Phillip Roth actually makes an appearance, characters discuss the meaning of Fugees lyrics, a minor character during the height of the novel’s climactic final chapters offers Gurion advice on where to start with Don DeLillo, the shining example of the stereotypical Jewish-American Princess for the characters is, naturally, Natalie Portman. There’s just enough of this stuff to be funny and interesting without being grating.
4. Something about, uh, just the book. The Instructions at once demands to be savored and to be read so feverishly you start I’M TICKING. It’s unbelievably entertaining and well written and fun (holy shit is it fun) and remarkable and tragic. I haven’t read all of the stuff from 2010 I’d like to, but this novel is such a singular achievement that I’ll be very shocked if anything else so much as approaches its class. The fact that its size and small publisher are hurdles to entry for so many people is suck. Please read this book, people.
5. Something about the guy who wrote it. At this point it goes without saying that I would consider Adam Levin a writer to watch, huh? Well I’m going to say it anyway. This novel has built up enough good will in me that I’ll be in the figurative line for every book he ever releases. I just hope they don’t all take nine years. This is an author who understands he holds a gun. Bring on Hot Pink.
cmadrenas's review
5.0
Wowwwww. Disclaimer, though: maybe I just liked this because of the Stockholm Syndrome. Anyhow it’s like the book equivalent of that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode about Israel/Palestine - you can read it as anti-Palestine, you can read it as anti-Semitic, it’s neither, but that's exactly why the book works so well. I can honestly say the way I think about the conflict—or perhaps, not the way I think about the conflict, but the way I think about how I, and others, think, and speak/write/etc. about it—has been seriously altered. The bits making fun of Internet remixing and blog-truth were so completely on-point. The 9/11 essay could be required reading for youth everywhere. I wonder if/when we're going to start seeing "we damage we" tattoos.
freewaygods's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
alex_kies's review against another edition
5.0
It's not easy to read. It was difficult as hell, and more than once I finished a chapter and wonder what I'd just forced myself to finish and why.
But by the ending, I was moved, astonished, and very impressed.
The going isn't easy, but it sure as hell is worth it.
But by the ending, I was moved, astonished, and very impressed.
The going isn't easy, but it sure as hell is worth it.
prcizmadia's review against another edition
4.0
While I loved this book, I think I would have loved with a few couple hundred fewer pages; I'm not sure if the expositions and 'scripture' added enough to the story to make them essential, and I skipped a lot of them without regret. That said, the world of Gurion Maccabee was remarkably engrossing and relatable, especially for a kid who was alienated in middle school. But Levin's forays into a world of scholarly inquisition and political violence sucked me in like few stories have, and I was particularly drawn to some of his supporting characters. Overall, I strongly recommend this book, if for no other reason than I can talk about it with people. SLOKUM DIES FRIDAY!