Why read Job?

Book cover of Job: The Story of a Simple Man

Book description

An Orthodox Jew encounters his biggest test of faith after moving from Tsarist Russia to New York City in this “pure, perfect” retelling of the Book of Job (Stefan Zweig)

Job is the tale of Mendel Singer, a pious, destitute Eastern-European Jew and children’s Torah teacher whose faith is…

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked Job as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

David Bellos

Author

First, because I love the way Roth writes—with simplicity, occasionally with wit, but always with more than one thing going on in a sentence.

Second, because it’s a probably well-informed portrait of the lives led by Jews in late 19C Russia, which sort of interests me because that’s where my grandparents started out. Third, because it’s a story of migration, and with that comes change and betrayal and loyalty and all kinds of American drama.

In sum, a most unusual book from a truly marvelous Austrian writer

From David's 3 favorite reads in 2023.