Reviews

The Book of Paradise by Itzik Manger

melaniekelly's review

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

As a book written pre Second World War it highlights a lot community of shtetl Jewry that was lost in the Holocaust

sarah323's review

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

andy_acid's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

 This is, my first time reading a comical novel and in terms of that it scored decent, it made me giggle quite a few times throughout the book. The plot itself is quite entertaining and unique, an angel reincarnating as a mortal baby with his memory intact, rather uncomfortable to fit in the new society since his days of paradise are ingrained in his mental space quite prevalently, it makes me think about whether the author created this illusion to portray his life incidents. As for other things we see that the mythical paradise is nothing like the religious scripture portrayed to be, the paradise is like a mortal world, There's classicism, sexism, xenophobia, scandalous affairs and perverted/tyrannical superiors. Although most of the book of quite entertaining it fell flat after Samuel and Little Pisser's behemoth rescue mission. 
Overall it was a nice read 3.5/5 

harryk26's review

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

_katiaz_'s review

funny lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

whats_sophie_reading's review against another edition

funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

alisonburnis's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Translated from the original Yiddish to English, The Book of Paradise was originally written by Manger at a turbulent time in his life, as noted at the beginning in both a prologue and a note from Manger himself. He had been stripped of his Romanian citizenship via growing antisemitism in the late 1930s, which led to him having to leave Poland, where he was living. Stateless, he went to Paris, writing an intro to this book which touches on all of this. 

For all that, The Book of Paradise is a very playful book, with a provisional angel Samuel Abba tricking the angel who conveys him to earth to be born as a human - and forget his life in Paradise. Samual Abba is successful and is born with all of his knowledge of Paradise, amazing his new family. For days, the newborn tells the rabbi and other leaders of the town all about Paradise. And Paradise is not at all what any of them expected. 

While I had some touchstones here, I’m sure there were jokes and references that went over my head. This is a very funny, silly book, full of scrapes and pettiness on the parts of the angels, including all of the important forefathers like King David, Abraham, Elijah, Noah, Jacob, and others. I enjoyed it immensely.

I received this ARC via NetGalley. 

krisandburn's review against another edition

4.0

 

This was an interesting one. I never read anything quite like it. It deals a lot with religion, Judaism in this case, but does so very tongue in cheek and truly was funny in places and very silly in others.

Because it is written from a Jewish point of view I was not too familiar with some of the elements in the story and I cannot comment on the representation of that culture. Even so, I quite enjoyed the tone and this world of various paradises (paradisae?) that the author was describing. It really was quite unique.

It did lose me a few times and maybe it was a tad too silly for me, but I still enjoyed it. I do think it’s quite a niche type of story and I don’t think it would have very broad appeal. But if you have a general interest in religion and don’t mind a bit of crazy, you may well enjoy this one.

On a side note, I thought the translator’s notes on this text were interesting to read as well. 

michellelouise's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

elisaviihde's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is a terribly delightful book, with a story that blends the Jewish life of Manger’s time and the description of the religious Heaven all mixed together.