Blue

"Blue is at once a spiritual challenge and a gorgeous typographical challenge." (New York Times Book Review)

Inspired by the Talmud, Blue makes an appeal to both the modern and the traditional, blending an innovative form with a story that makes vivid reference-through words and art-to the eternal quest for beauty and transcendence.

At the center of Blue is Abraham Tal, a gem merchant in New York City, and the Venetian Jewish wedding ring, with its radiant blue roof, which grounds him to his past and represents his hopes for the future.

And Tal's story is surrounded by the tales of other characters whose stories combine to give the central narrative texture and depth. Franz Kafka, James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Bob Dylan, Chief Crazy Horse, various Jewish mystics and rabbis, Vermeer, Kierkegaard, Tal's mother, his father, his girlfriend-all are allowed their commentaries.

Each page of the text is also complemented by art-a photograph, a painting-that provide additional levels to the story. The result is a truly unique and multifaceted novel that can be both read and re-experienced in an expanding variety of ways. Blue makes a claim to enlarge our perceptions of storytelling itself.

Benjamin Zucker, a well-known New York gem merchant, was educated at Yale and Harvard Law School, and followed his grandfather and father into the family business. He is the author of Gems and Jewels and the novels Blue and Green.