A Guide for the Perplexed - Softcover

Levi, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0715651730 ISBN 13: 9780715651735

Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 2017

Synopsis

A Guide for the Perplexed combines the romantic erudition of Umberto Eco and A.S. Byatt with the ingenious storytelling of Scheherazade and A Thousand and One Nights; a tour de force that should not be missed. A late-night strike closes down an airport leaving two women stranded on their respective journeys in the bewitched Spanish town of Mariposa. Holland, an English filmmaker, has come to interview Sandor, the famous but reclusive violinist. Hanni, a Miami widow, is on a quest to recover a lost letter that confirms her link to her ancestor Esau, who was allegedly the true discoverer of America. Each woman has had her trip arranged by Ben, a cosmological travel agent and each has a copy of his tourist guide, entitled Guide for the Perplexed. As the women share cabs, surreal adventures and their fantastic personal histories, Levi's mesmerizing tale spirals back in time, embracing stories about Jews, the Inquisition and Columbus's first voyage. Fairy tale-like narratives within the main narrative dramatize issues of religion, compromise and survival, ultimately evolving into a dazzling improvisation on the theme of journeys and exile.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Levi is an American writer and producer, and author of Septimania. His short stories and articles have also appeared in many magazines including Granta, Conde Nast Traveler, GQ, Terra Nova, The Nation and The New York Times. Born in New York, he currently lives in Rome.

From Kirkus Reviews

A debut novel from the American co-founder of Granta that, appropriating its title from the work by the great Talmudic scholar Maimonides, provides an ingenious if metaphorical twist to the events of 1492. When a strike delays their flight out of Mariposa, Spain, two women--Holland, an English filmmaker; and Hanni, an aging American searching for her family's treasured ``Letters from Esau,'' as well as for a son she hasn't seen since his birth in war-torn Berlin- -find they have the same travel agent, Ben. Ben is the author of a travel book called A Guide for the Perplexed, which offers ``no itineraries, no routes touristique'' but only help for those who no longer know where or how to go. In a series of set pieces, the narrative--interspersed with letters, historical lore, excerpts from the guide--moves back and forth from the 15th century to the present, from Inca kingdoms to Berlin, as the women while away the wait for the delayed flight. They wander from a bordello bar to an adult-movie house, from the home of the mysterious violinist Sandor to the richly symbolic Cave of Esau. On these wanderings, lugging a mysterious trunk Ben has entrusted to Hanni, the two women meet a host of characters, including Holland's long-lost daughter Isabella; a Peruvian descendant of Maimonides; and a British rock band. Connections and coincidences multiply as life histories are told, and family legends of famous Jewish ancestors are recalled. In a climatic scene in the Cave of Esau, from which Esau had sailed with Columbus to found a Jewish nation in the Americas, all is made clear. Destinies are linked, and the real purpose of the centuries of wanderings by Hanni's ancestors is revealed: ``Esau said it best--we are all Jews. Our survival is in our motion.'' Conceptually quite brilliant--but with too many tricks, too many mirrors, and too little really at the center of it. Promising but flawed. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0715651730
• ISBN 13: 9780715651735
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352