The Books of Jacob
fiction
To put it simply, this book chronicles the rise and fall of messianic figure Jacob Frank. It also explores the lives of everyone in his periphery, and anyone instrumental in that rise and fall. It is set in the mid-17th – 18th century Poland (and surrounding countries) and was meticulously researched by Torkarczuk.
The prose was perfect. It read ironic at times, but always sincere, somehow. It was funny, sad, beautiful, and breathtaking! I believed every single character was real, and there were hundreds (probably literally). I got lost in this world, so deeply that I missed it after I had finished.
Jennifer Croft’s translation into English was phenomenal – I can’t even imagine how much care went into honouring Torkaczuk’s language puns, with references to Polish, Yiddish, French, Latin, German, among others! The power of language and words is a huge theme in this text, as well as religion (of course – with crossovers of the Frankists [the novel’s inspiration], Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths).
This book doesn’t feel like it’s 900 pages, aside from its weight. I sped through this with delight.