The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

What a crashing disappointment this one was.  A Booker Prize winning book with glowing reviews, extolled as a comic novel: it turned out to be a play with two miserable acts and a happy intermission.

Julian Treslove is a sorrow junkie.  Luckily for him both his best friend and his best frenemy are Jewish.  The former is an elderly ex-Hollywood gossip columnist of mittel-European origin, the latter is a celebrity populist philosopher, á la Alain de Botton.  Their heritage (and the fact that both are recently widowed) provides an ocean of sorrow for Julian to splash around in.  And he does.  He is perfectly miserable (and loving it) until he meets Hephzibah.  Julian falls in love, is happy as happy can be, and then seeks out the means to make himself miserable again.

On the whole, the characters in this novel are unattractive, especially Julian Treslove and his frenemy Sam Finkler.  Perhaps it is Hephzibah and her uncle Libor that bring any kind of sympathetic redemption to the dramatis personae, but it is far too little to rescue the story.  And in the end, why would you care about the cast or their situation?  In this respect The Finkler Question reminds me of that great Aldous Huxley misfire Those Barren Leaves.  Whilst Jacobson may be a great prose stylist, his skill is not enough to redeem either the characters, the story or its content.  Perhaps this is a satirical novel, but is the kind of satire that is lost on me.  Also, a few puns sprinkled here and there do not make this a comic novel, despite what the reviewers say.     

The Finkler Question supposedly explores what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.  It would seem it means being filled up with all manner of unpleasant neuroses, if one assumes Jacobson to be an honest broker on the subject. In addition, there is the problem of Israel.  How are Jews meant to feel about the way Israel is behaving in the Middle East?  It is a question that is raised but not really examined or answered to any extent.

I found The Finkler Question both unenjoyable and unedifying. Most definitely not recommended.