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A review by kirstiecat
The Instructions by Adam Levin
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.