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A review by donnawr1
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
4.0
This was an amazing novel that requires an investment to read. I listened to it on audio, but got a paper copy from the library so I could visualize the names which were so expertly read in their original languages. Then I found the lovely illustrations peppered through the text, along with some maps, which greatly enhanced the reading experience. The book is over 900 pages or over 35 hours, so that is where the investment comes from. It has so many characters, it is hard to keep track of them, but it helps weave a tapestry of life at the time that you would not have gotten from a more controlled character list. The author makes sure we know what happens to all of the characters, usually including their children and sometimes their grandchildren as well. This makes it a bit tedious at times, but the novel expresses a sweep of time and geography that included Poland, parts of current Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Turkey and a tad of Russia and France from the 1750s into the early 1800s. It was the beginning of the Enlightenment and we can see how people's beliefs were changing and challenging what was the status quo of a Feudal system.
Some of the parts that stood out to me were seeing the almost complete separation of Jewish and Christian communities within the region, and how easily life for Jews could shift from prosperity to a loss of everything, including life, if it was convenient to cast blame their way for any misfortunes, including a bishop's gambling debts. It was a time of many sects within the Jewish community, when the Hasidim were becoming organized, and a tiny sect of Sabbaterians following the mystical Kabbalah and Zohar were active. Jacob Frank becomes a leader of the Sabbaterians, almost by accident, and seizes upon his new status to create his own sect of Frankists. His character is only viewed through the eyes of others, but is well done by the author as charismatic, sometimes appearing mentally ill, sometimes extremely politically astute and wise, sometimes tyrannical and always interesting. The Frankists are persecuted by other Jews as heretical and are often protected by Christians because they eventually agree to and encourage others to be baptized. The sect considers baptism as a necessity in order to follow their own, very non-Catholic beliefs, and they have a lot of secret practices. Most notorious is very loose interpretations of sexual relations, using mixing of spouses to help create a community where everyone feels bonded in a physical way, and through the generation of many children with mixed or unknown parentage.
The author uses some interesting mixtures of styles to tell her massive tale, including a journal by the Kabbalist, Nachman, letters between an actual priest who created Poland's first encyclopedia and a Polish female poet, and most interesting a grandmother who is on the brink of death, but miraculously stays just barely alive while her spirit floats above everyone, observing and commenting on what she sees. It is a clever use of a super-omniscient narrator. The story is meticulously researched to the times and the author included what seems to be every real person who interacted with the real Jacob Frank in the tale. Her meticulousness is offputting to some, but if you know it will be extensive and detailed, you can go into it knowing what to expect. This novel is what was cited as her magnum opus by the Nobel committee, and I can see why.
This description of what drew the author into writing this story is detailed in this article, well worth reading: https://www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/13404/olga-tokarczuk-how-i-wrote-the-books-of-jacob
I feel enriched by learning about this fascinating, real life Jacob Frank, learning about his region and times and also of the different religious worlds that co-existed in a region with constantly shifting borders.
Some of the parts that stood out to me were seeing the almost complete separation of Jewish and Christian communities within the region, and how easily life for Jews could shift from prosperity to a loss of everything, including life, if it was convenient to cast blame their way for any misfortunes, including a bishop's gambling debts. It was a time of many sects within the Jewish community, when the Hasidim were becoming organized, and a tiny sect of Sabbaterians following the mystical Kabbalah and Zohar were active. Jacob Frank becomes a leader of the Sabbaterians, almost by accident, and seizes upon his new status to create his own sect of Frankists. His character is only viewed through the eyes of others, but is well done by the author as charismatic, sometimes appearing mentally ill, sometimes extremely politically astute and wise, sometimes tyrannical and always interesting. The Frankists are persecuted by other Jews as heretical and are often protected by Christians because they eventually agree to and encourage others to be baptized. The sect considers baptism as a necessity in order to follow their own, very non-Catholic beliefs, and they have a lot of secret practices. Most notorious is very loose interpretations of sexual relations, using mixing of spouses to help create a community where everyone feels bonded in a physical way, and through the generation of many children with mixed or unknown parentage.
The author uses some interesting mixtures of styles to tell her massive tale, including a journal by the Kabbalist, Nachman, letters between an actual priest who created Poland's first encyclopedia and a Polish female poet, and most interesting a grandmother who is on the brink of death, but miraculously stays just barely alive while her spirit floats above everyone, observing and commenting on what she sees. It is a clever use of a super-omniscient narrator. The story is meticulously researched to the times and the author included what seems to be every real person who interacted with the real Jacob Frank in the tale. Her meticulousness is offputting to some, but if you know it will be extensive and detailed, you can go into it knowing what to expect. This novel is what was cited as her magnum opus by the Nobel committee, and I can see why.
This description of what drew the author into writing this story is detailed in this article, well worth reading: https://www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/13404/olga-tokarczuk-how-i-wrote-the-books-of-jacob
I feel enriched by learning about this fascinating, real life Jacob Frank, learning about his region and times and also of the different religious worlds that co-existed in a region with constantly shifting borders.