Set in Odessa, Ukraine. Reviewed on 2018/09: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn40zVDlAXg/
To be honest with you, I did not want to read this book at all. I have a lot of issues with #jabotinsky the politician and the right wing revisionist wing of Zionism that he created, led and expanded. But then again I’ve read so many other writers whom I profoundly disagree with or who would have killed me in their respective eras and countries because of who I am, that I said to myself well why not. #vladimirjabotinsky the politician has absolutely nothing to do with Jabotinsky the writer. #russian speaking, assimilated, non religious Jabotinsky and his characters in #thefive seem very much in direct dialogue with stateless, anxious and modern Kafka. However the story itself is instead closer to his #odessa compatriot #isaacbabel with its witticisms, absurdities and sarcastic innuendos. A #yiddishkeitnovel written in Russian? Perhaps. Without a doubt, The Five is his way of filling up the void of his memories rapidly fading into a world turned between #antisemitism and #zionism . Much like Babel’s short stories, The Five is also a love declaration to Odessa, #jewish #cosmopolitan and slightly aristocratic Odessa in the brink of destruction, at the edge of annihilation. So tonight during #kolnidrei I would like to say #גמרחתימהטובה and hoping for a new year of reading and healing our past and present traumas one book at a time. #highlyrecommended #russianliterature#cornelluniversitypress #жаботинский#ז‘בוטינסקי #одеса #pyatero #пятеро
hebdo_readings 