• Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Write for Australian Women Online
  • Advertise With Us
  • Horoscopes
  • Style
  • Shoe Boutique
  • eFashion
  • Weight Watchers Australia

Australian Women Online

Business, career, health and lifestyle content for women

  • Home
  • BLOG
  • BOOKS
  • BUSINESS
  • CAREER
  • COOKING
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
    • Automotive
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Pets
    • Relationships
    • Your Home
    • Your Money
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • TRAVEL
    • Discount Holidays
You are here: Home / BOOKS / Book Reviews / Book Review: The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

Book Review: The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

18 November 2010 by Barbara Sungaila

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Print
  • WhatsApp

Rating: ★★★★★

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2010

Julian Treslove is a man whose life has been “one mishap after another”. He is addicted to tragedy – he imagines almost everything in the context of an opera by Verdi or Puccini – “people who knew Treslove thought twice about inviting him to a deathbed or a burial”. But despite a failed career at the BBC and  a series of unsuccessful relationships with Ophelia-like women, real trauma has so far evaded him. That is until he is mugged randomly in central London on the way home from an evening with his recently widowed friends Finkler and Libor.

But he is unwilling to accept the incident as the result of mere chance.  The mugger is a woman, this alone unnerves him and she whispers something to him as she relives him of his belongings; he becomes convinced that she has called him a Jew.  Treslove has always referred to Jews as “Finklers”. Sam Finkler was the first Jew he ever met and up to that point he “supposed a Jew would be like the word Jew – small and dark and beetling”. But even as a teenager Finkler was “almost orange and spilled out of his clothes” and his features were “extravagant”.  For Treslove, using the word Finkler instead of Jew also “sucked out the toxins”.

This is, therefore, a novel about what it means to be Jewish. Treslove has long been obsessed by Sam Finkler and the question of his identity. The mugging crystallises this as in its aftermath he delves into the fundamental contradictions and tensions of Jewish private, public and intellectual life.  For if he really was mistaken for a Jew, and this was the reason for the assault, then he has been the victim of an anti-Semitic attack. Attacks on Jews in Britain doubled in 2009, with the majority of these occurring after the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The emotional effect of this aftermath on the Jewish population has been immense.

The Finkler Question is a delicately balanced exploration of loss, love, friendship and identity. It is an exceptionally well crafted work – deserving of the many accolades that have been showered on it. Most recently it has been awarded the Man Booker Prize for 2010. I have seen it described, several times, as a comic novel but for me this is not an entirely accurate label. It is a novel with extraordinarily humorous moments but I was left with an almost overwhelming sense of sorrow at the lamentations that lie at the heart of the work. I can wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone seeking a wise and thoughtful literary work – and you’ll definitely get a few laughs along the way as well.

Howard Jacobson was born in Manchester, brought up in Prestwich and was educated at Stand Grammar School in Whitefield, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied under FR Leavis. He lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before returning to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His novels include The Mighty Walzer (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize), Kalooki Nights (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize) and the highly acclaimed The Act of Love. He lives in London.

Title: The Finkler Question
Author: Howard Jacobson
Category: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 9781408808870
RRP: $32.99
Publication Date: August 2010

You May Also Like:

Filed Under: Book Reviews, BOOKS, Uncategorized

Ads by Google
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

New Content

  • 6 Soothing Recipes To Get You Through Flu Season
  • 9 Easy Sustainable Swaps for a Zero Waste Home
  • How to Stay Cool and Productive in Hot Weather
  • How To Get the Best Range and Prices on Boots and Shoes in Australia?
  • Reasons You Should Avoid DIY Plumbing
  • 5 Reasons To Become A Medical Assistant
  • Which is better for skin, CBD oil or hemp oil?
  • Discover The Most Popular Online Casinos in Australia
  • Fire Safety Tips For Your Home Business
  • 5 Looks To Take You From The Office To The Weekend

Popular Content

  • Moore Weekly Stars
  • Sexy and Stylish Short Hairstyles for Women Over 60
  • The 10 Best Side Dishes For Ribs
  • Aussie Mums open male escort agency catering exclusively to women
  • Top 9 Cars for Women in Australia
  • 9 Easy Sustainable Swaps for a Zero Waste Home
  • The 4 Best Cooking Oils for Your BBQ
  • Mel B's 15kg weight loss is a little scary
  • Your Guide to Buying a Puppy in Australia
  • Escort Services: Do Escorts Ever Fall For Their Clients?

Australian Women Online © Copyright 2007 - 2022 Deborah Robinson ABN 38 119 171 979 · All Rights Reserved