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aartireadsalot's review against another edition
5.0
The Book of the Unknown reads very quickly and smoothly, though it is not light reading. Each story presented has a definite lesson- not in a quasi-Judaic morality tale way, but in a "You would enjoy your life more if you were more like this person" sort of way. I did not feel that the book was especially religious, so I hope its description of being based on Jewish folklore does not turn people away from it. I am neither Jewish nor religious, and I really enjoyed the book. My personal favorite story was about a golem who becomes a princess, and then watches as her husband loses interest and begins going after many other women in the palace. Instead of being vindictive or bitter, she spends her time doing other tasks that make her world better.
And maybe that's why I really enjoyed the book- all the stories were uplifting and happy, not the dire moralistic tales that you might expect. Many of them are more fairy tale-like than anything else. Publishers Weekly may say above that the stories "lack bite," but for a bedtime treat before allowing your dreams to take over, they are excellent. And surprisingly not as straight-forward as one might think- some of them, I was still mulling over the next morning.
The book begins with a preface from the "collector" of the stories and ends with a note from the editors that makes it clear that sequels could very much be in the picture (after all- we only heard tales from twelve of the thirty-six). I hope there is because the stories themselves are vastly entertaining, and the afterword makes me think that an over-arcing plot would be fascinating to read about as well.
pantofola83's review against another edition
5.0
Un libro magico. Sono 12 storie senza, magiche, che ti avvolgono in un incantesimo che sa di passato, presente e futuro.
lovelylibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely love this book. I read it for school a few years ago and refuse to let it go. It is filled with wonderful stories and lessons to be learned from them. I couldn't give it a higher recommendation!
aartireadsalot's review
5.0
The Book of the Unknown reads very quickly and smoothly, though it is not light reading. Each story presented has a definite lesson- not in a quasi-Judaic morality tale way, but in a "You would enjoy your life more if you were more like this person" sort of way. I did not feel that the book was especially religious, so I hope its description of being based on Jewish folklore does not turn people away from it. I am neither Jewish nor religious, and I really enjoyed the book. My personal favorite story was about a golem who becomes a princess, and then watches as her husband loses interest and begins going after many other women in the palace. Instead of being vindictive or bitter, she spends her time doing other tasks that make her world better.
And maybe that's why I really enjoyed the book- all the stories were uplifting and happy, not the dire moralistic tales that you might expect. Many of them are more fairy tale-like than anything else. Publishers Weekly may say above that the stories "lack bite," but for a bedtime treat before allowing your dreams to take over, they are excellent. And surprisingly not as straight-forward as one might think- some of them, I was still mulling over the next morning.
The book begins with a preface from the "collector" of the stories and ends with a note from the editors that makes it clear that sequels could very much be in the picture (after all- we only heard tales from twelve of the thirty-six). I hope there is because the stories themselves are vastly entertaining, and the afterword makes me think that an over-arcing plot would be fascinating to read about as well.
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