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sam_bizar_wilcox's review against another edition
4.0
I thought much of praise I read about for Antiquities was heaped because of the author's name. Ozick is, after all, one of the more undersung titans of American letters. The complexity of this slight novel, however, is almost immediately palpable; Ozick writes no ordinary chronicle of age. Much like Kazuo Ishiguro, who echoes here with The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, Ozick writes a narrative that is itself a conundrum. Here is a puzzle-box of memory. It is at once a story akin to Ozick's own literary hero, Henry James (The Aspern Papers are another inspiration, no doubt), and a piece of fiction of its entirely own beast. I'm circling obliquely around what this book really is, and, to be honest, I haven't fully decided (is it a postmodern metanarrative, is it a satire, is it a swan song?). Whatever it is, Ozick is at the peak of her powers here. I won't pretend to be an Ozick aficionado (I've only read a few of her books, but I've loved how connected she is to Judaism, in a way that makes Roth look like a goy), but I imagine Antiquities may hold up as (softening here- among) her best.
pinklemonadey's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
emeraldisle's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
This book was a slow read for me. I enjoyed the fact that there were words I had never heard of… so this book also helped me with my vocabulary as well.
cesspool_princess's review against another edition
3.0
Ok I've finally made it to my final review and so now I can talk about this week in general. This has been a scrappy ass week for reading y'all. Its been a week where I've had to do what I've had to do to stay caught up on the 365. That's part of why I had to put off reviewing until today. Since I've already reached my manga quota for the month and bc of which audio books came in on Libby and just the like schedule of the week made this a weird one for sure. I'm going to try to avoid putting myself in this situation again this year unless absolutely necessary like I had to do 3 books yesterday and 3 books today and that's not a fun position to be in, on top of now having to review everything lol. I'm not woe-is-me-ing tho bc this is totally my own fault and I need to learn to do this as efficiently as possible lmao. That being said I still think I got a ton out of this week's batch of books, I mean there were some hits this week for sure. Anyway this is also an explanation/ apology for why some of the reviews are on the shorter side today lol anywayyyyy onto the review.
It was fun to be immersed in this boy's school and its social hierarchies (which kind of rich fuck are u ?) and I liked the framing device of the group memoir and how those social hierarchies persisted. Also you know I love the confluence of theology and archeology here. Ofc the culture of these elites was very grating but Ben-Zion Elefantin was a very compelling character and their homoerotic lil episode was restrained/ subtle enough to be satisfying without needing like "pay-off". I rly like where things ended with the two of them and I love BZE's commentary on the kind of people who collect these ancient artifacts. Ofc getting to learn the history of the Elephantine isle was rly fascinating. Someone said that Judaism is to Ozick what Catholocism is to O'Conner and maybe I need to read more Ozick but to me its like bitch puh-leese flannery eats this up, I don't see it. I do, however have to take into account that Ozick wrote this in her damn NINETIES like past her prime and this is definitely good enough to make me want to explore more of her work. Overall not a ton to say but a good quick read for sure.
It was fun to be immersed in this boy's school and its social hierarchies (which kind of rich fuck are u ?) and I liked the framing device of the group memoir and how those social hierarchies persisted. Also you know I love the confluence of theology and archeology here. Ofc the culture of these elites was very grating but Ben-Zion Elefantin was a very compelling character and their homoerotic lil episode was restrained/ subtle enough to be satisfying without needing like "pay-off". I rly like where things ended with the two of them and I love BZE's commentary on the kind of people who collect these ancient artifacts. Ofc getting to learn the history of the Elephantine isle was rly fascinating. Someone said that Judaism is to Ozick what Catholocism is to O'Conner and maybe I need to read more Ozick but to me its like bitch puh-leese flannery eats this up, I don't see it. I do, however have to take into account that Ozick wrote this in her damn NINETIES like past her prime and this is definitely good enough to make me want to explore more of her work. Overall not a ton to say but a good quick read for sure.
israology's review against another edition
2.0
You have to use a lot of brain power because it reads as a intense scholarly work. Read the first 20 pages or so and it was dragging on. I really really really wish I liked this book. I was excited about reading it for some time now.