Judas

By: Amos Oz

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Winner of the International Literature Prize, the new novel by Amos Oz is his first full-length work since the best-selling A Tale of Love and Darkness.

Jerusalem, 1959. Shmuel Ash, a biblical scholar, is adrift in his young life when he finds work as a caregiver for a brilliant but cantankerous old man named Gershom Wald. There is, however, a third, mysterious presence in his new home. Atalia Abravanel, the daughter of a deceased Zionist leader, a beautiful woman in her 40s, entrances young Shmuel even as she keeps him at a distance. Piece by piece, the old Jerusalem stone house, haunted by tragic history and now home to the three misfits and their intricate relationship, reveals its secrets. At once an exquisite love story and coming-of-age novel, an allegory for the state of Israel and for the biblical tale from which it draws its title, Judas is Amos Oz's most powerful novel in decades.

©2016 Amos Oz (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Courageous and delicate novel

The characters in Amos Oz’ last novel are outsiders and in varying degrees traitors to the robust society emerging around them. The indecisive academic Shmuel is our protagonist, whose study is how Jews view Jesus and in his musings creates his own Gospel of an uncertain Jesus and Judas as the first Christian. Other characters are marginal to the times of cast long shadows: Shaltiel Abarbanel the traitor and the brutally slain Micah the soldier. Who at the margins is a patriot and who a traitor and if neither category is truly valid, then what are they?

Outstanding novel

Brilliant writing that spans the ages. I never lost interest and was sorry the novel ended when and where it did.

Excellent performance

One of the best audio performances I’ve listened to yet. You need patience to get going with this novel.

A Very Different View of Israel

At a time when war between Israel and the Arab states could lead to WWIII, this book reminds us of the alternative. Mellifluous, poetic, extremely thought-provoking. Reading and writing is my life, and five stars doesn’t tell you that this is my favorite novel of the last several years.

Incandescent

A sublime experience. Absolutely shattering and yet funny, profoundly sophisticated and majestic in scope and understanding.

Amos Oz is artist of words.

Very good. Oz paints his story with beautiful words. Found the ending slightly dissatisfing some how.

Beautifully written atmospheric

I chose this book because of the reputation of Amos Oz worldwide. Judas certainly justified that reputation. He paints beautiful pictures with every description, whether of people, places or feelings.

The setting of the novel is 1959 Jerusalem, a divided city struggling to find it identity after its founding. The young man, Schmuel, at the center of the story shares his nation’s struggle. He’s on the road to finding out his own identity when he takes a job as a companion to an old man and moves into his home shared with an intriguing woman, the daughter of an opponent of the State of Israel. The story follows three months of Schmuel’s stay during which he sees the dynamics of the arguments that roil Israel to this day.

Oz’s descriptive style creates an atmosphere that allows the reader to feel the conflicting emotions of the young man trying to find his way, falling in love with a woman he can’t have, dealing with an old man who lost his son in war and understanding the arguments of a dead man considered a traitor to his nation.

Judas moves slowly but the quality of the writing kept me engaged throughout. I’d like to read more of Oz’s work.

Good but not his best.

Since we can no longer follow reviewers on audible, for full review, please see my entry on goodreads.com.

I liked this story

I don’t know what o was expecting and the book started a bit slowly for me. I want to identify with the main characters but I wasn’t impressed with or all that interested in Shmuel at first. But it was the two historical stories that really sucked me in and even having finished the book I want to know more.

Excellent Naration

Interesting story, but what I liked the most was the voice of the narrator. Jonathan Davis didn’t overdo his voice when he narrated the different characters, both female or male. However with subtlety of his voice and accent, we can clearly tell them apart.