I have enjoyed reading many of Herman Wouk's other novels over the course of my lifetime, so I don't understand, when I began reading this specific novel back in 2012, why it bored me to tears by the time I had completed the second chapter.

For reasons I cannot fathom, I found it pedantic, plodding and dull and without even bothering to finish the book I wrote up a harshly judgmental review that could have been interpreted as anti-Semitic. For that I apologize deeply.

Therefore I've decided, thanks to someone who was concerned enough by my 2012 review to reply to it, that I'm going to immediately place a hold on this novel at my local library and reread it again, because this novel deserves a much better review than the one I posted originally ( )

Fictional account of Jewish immigrants in New York ( )

i usually like books about israel and up to this point i've liked books by herman wouk. but this one is a disaster from beginning almost until the end. i hated reading this book, and i hated that it was as long as it was (with type as small as it was) when i was so uninterested. i haven't considered stopping a book before finishing this seriously in a long while. it was a good 450 pages or so before i was even remotely interested in the story, and only remotely at that. i really didn't like the way this was written *at all*, to the point where it ruined the story for me. i'm not sure i would have cared anyway, but this made it a major slog for me.

the story goes between the past and the present, which is 1973, where this jewish democrat finds himself working in the nixon administration. so it covers a bit about watergate and the yom kippur war in israel. but most of it (thankfully) is in the past, about 40 years before, as we read the book the narrator is writing about his life, mostly around the time he was in college and after in the mid to late 30's. this is the more interesting part, but really, it's still not anything i cared to read about.

"I am not a describer." he says this on page 445, and i (agree, the narrator wasn't good at it at all) but what in the world is he writing this book for then?? what's a book if not a description of events, of emotions, of life? but it sums up nicely why this book doesn't work at all for me. ( )

One of the funniest books I have ever read, a warm family-based insight into Jewish life. Some of the Israel sections I found impenetrable, so not quite a five-star for me, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless ( )

I’ve read numerous works by Herman Wouk and generally been well pleased. On occasion, I’ve encountered what I consider to be masterpieces (Caine Mutiny for example) and this book belongs in that category. Told from the viewpoint of a very religious and educated Jewish advisor to Richard Nixon during the Watergate crisis, this novel examines the advisor’s current life and his background through the use of flashbacks. Both story lines are extremely compelling and the examinations of his early years through anecdotes involving his immigrant Jewish family members (from Minsk and Lithuania) are spellbinding.
I’ve read numerous other novels (some by Wouk) focusing on Jewish characters that were much more difficult to read, due to the extensive reference to Jewish culture and Yiddish terminology. That is not the case with this novel. Where cultural disconnects are possible, Wouk goes to great pains to explain them. As a gentile, I found this book remarkably easy to read and understand, even in the deepest recesses of Old World Jewish enclaves.
The title of the book refers to the authors dual life, both “inside” the confines of his religious cocoon and “outside”, in the secular world where his advanced intelligence and education have allowed him to rise to the top of his profession (tax attorney) and into a role in the Nixon administration (despite his Democratic politics). The internal tensions involved in both of these dichotomies are fascinating as they play out through the novel.
Of additional interest are the historical events which provide the backdrops for the novel. The aforementioned Watergate crisis is a constant factor in the author’s “current” life, as is the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. The Great Depression is a looming force in the flashbacks to his past. All in all, an outstanding novel and one that I highly recommend. ( )