The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

The Jewish Question

Over pies and polenta, the BBC posed the question of whether The Finkler Question was worth finishing. None of us had reached the destination of the last page; were we hooked enough to continue the journey past 5pm on Sunday the 2nd of July?

Exploring themes of what it means to be Jewish, and whether Jewish identity is robust enough to allow dissent, the book, which won the Booker Prize of 2010, is the story of Julian Treslove, a good looking but unspectacular middle aged Englishman who since moving on from the BBC, now makes a living as a non-descript celebrity lookalike. A mugging by a woman leads Treslove to question his whole sense of self and changes him inexorably forever.

Treslove is not Jewish but, in simple terms, the narrative details his love affair with and besotted inquiry into what Jewishness means – politically, socially, economically, romantically, intellectually, emotionally, culturally, sexually, musically etc. Bland and banal, but with a penchant for fantasy, Treslove becomes obsessed with his female mugger’s obscure and cryptic curse, “You Ju”. In his quest to discover the meaning of her curse he embraces Judaism and Jewishness.

His story parallels that of his longtime friend and enemy, Sam Finkler, a recently widowed “pop” philosopher who has become everything Treslove isn’t; popular and rich. He’s even made it onto Desert Island Discs. Finkler is Jewish and Treslove uses the word "Finkler" to mean "Jew" – hence the book’s title comes to mean "The Jewish Question". However, Finkler is essentially English, and along his journey becomes anti-zionist, embracing a group of celebrity Jews called ASHamed.

Then there's the Czechoslovakian Libor Sevcik, an elderly ex-Hollywood reporter and former tutor to Treslove and Finkler, who is in mourning for his beautiful, Ava Gardiner lookalike dead wife and grappling the question of why he has survived her. Despite Finkler and Sevcik identifying themselves as Jewish they are at loggerheads; he's pro-Israel.

Finally there is Tyler, the wife of Finkler; who dies. So committed to the Jewish faith, during a love tryst Treslove is shocked and dismayed to learn that she is a Gentile in disguise.

Reviews of the Jacobson’s novel are divisive in their opinion. The New Yorker, felt that the Finkler Question paled into comparison to Wodehouse and Waugh. In contrast, the Guardian urged the reader to buy as many copies as one could. Whereas the SMH has sought the middle ground. However, thoughts of the BBC were almost unanimous.

Andy advised that the reader should not be fooled into thinking that the book was that deep, but at times was captivated by its prose and language. Dennis felt that the book didn’t speak to the reader at all and Kevin concurred that the book didn’t take you anywhere in particular. Leanne felt that rather unearthing the deeper questions of humanity through satire, the book scratched the surface using racist caricatures. Raj and Scott were not at all encouraged to embark on the journey.

All, except Alena, were uninspired to learn if the Finkler Question was finally answered. Only she thought that the comic prose and satirical pokes in a story of exclusion and belonging was worth continuing the journey to the end. We’ll see if she reaches the destination at the next BBC.

Scores:

Andy 6

Kevin 5

Dennis 5

Leanne 5

Alena 7

Average 5.5

Thanks to Alena for writing the blog