The Finkler Question - Howard Jacobson

[MLB]

Winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2010, this novel is an interesting tale of three men, their friendship with each other, their relationships with others and an insight into Jewish thoughts, humour, rituals and idiosyncracies. The three men get together after two have been recently widowed, Sam Finkler, the Jewish celebrity philosopher and Libor Sevcik, the Jewish Czech and their former teacher and one time journalist to the stars. Julian Treslove, who was a student with Sam Finkler, is the non Jew of the three men but he, with his bad luck with women, is the honorary widower and probably more emotional about their loss and probably his loss than the other two put together. After a night together Treslove is walking home and is attacked by a woman who he thinks, but is not sure, calls him a "Jew". After this night his whole sense of who he is and his sense of belonging takes over. Questioning who he is creates a  yearning to know more about the Jews, there is the comic questioning on Jewish lovers and circumcision but there is also the darkness of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. An interesting read, not overly funny but maybe you have to be Jewish, and not a big story, just a look at lives, relationships and a sense of belonging.