Kalooki Nights: A Novel Audiobook

" Oy!While I'm waiting for my chance to read "The Finkler Question" - this year's Man Booker winner, I thought I would acquaint myself with some of Jacobson's back list. If I thought parts of "The Making of Henry" were a bit of a slog, putting up with the tiresome neuroses a character perhaps overly concerned with the "Jewish angle" of his every social encounter...then "Kalooki Nights" is a virtual gauntlet-run over-the-top OCD OBSESSING about any conceivable Jewish angle about absolutely EVERYTHING. I heard Jacobson himself on NPR describing this book as Jew Jew Jew, joke joke joke, etc....and he is not exaggerating...except perhaps about the jokes. There are some funny passages, to be sure...and some interesting insights to the differences in culture and concerns among British Jews from Americans, but not enough levity, for my taste, to sustain 450 pages. Some reviewers have tried to label Jacobson as the English Phillip Roth, and to that he has said he prefers to be the Jewish Jane Austen. In Kalooki Nights Jacobson makes Roth at his most vulgar seem quaint - and, as for Jane Austen, well, I can't imagine her getting past the first page or two without suffering an aneurysm. Surely a comedy of manners should have - besides comedy (and there is some of that) - recognizable manners, and there are precious few of those to behold among the landsmen or the goyim in this book. "

" Screamingly hilarious and nail-bitingly despicable by turns. I'm glad I read it, but wished it was quite a bit shorter. "

" $ 1/2, actually, tho I hesitate to round up. Very interesting mordant story about a british guy who grows up in an orthodox jewish family, in London. Jacobson won the Booker, and all NPR could ask him was silly questions about what it is like to be Jewish in the UK. I guess you would have to read the book to find out. "Kalooki" is a card game favored by the narrator's mother--into which she dives upon the death of his raving athiest father, 2/3 of the way through the book. This is after a long foreboding subplot about the serial killer also from the 'hood, the religio-miscegenation between orthodox jews and germans, the narrator's afflicted love for women only with umlauts and diareses in their names (including, at the end, one jewish woman). But for the soft line on zionism (which seemed to dissipate all the other subplots of shtetl english/yiddish, and dwellings on 'wound culture,' and being the best self-lacerater (?) that time can buy. Lots of good dialogue, and I hope I never hear of him as the Philip Roth of England. "

" This book is not for everybody as its humor is dark. Like other Jacobson books this one explores being Jewish in a non-Jewish world. Jacobson's obvious influences are Philip Roth and Mordecai Richler but he is different from either of them, perhaps because he is British. I recommend it to those of any ethnicity or religion who can laugh at the darkness we find within. For example anyone who read "Bonfires of the Vanities" and did not get that it is a very funny book should probably stay away from this one. Taking "Kalooki Nights" too seriously might be distressing. BTW Kalooki is a form of rummy that is very popular with Jews, including my mother's family. "

" i just couldn't get into this book. i didn't enjoy the plot or his writing style. "

" This book was a little hard to get into and keep a dictionary handy because his vocabulary is crazy but it was well worthwhile reading. Made me laugh and left my heart aching. A huge insight into the Jewish psyche. "

" I think 1 star was more than it deserved........this book took me 2 weeks when usually a book is 1-3 days of reading for me. Half of the time my mind was wandering or the book was rambling. Chalk it up to my perseverence or this book would have been chucked after 20 pages. I would not recommend this book......ever!!! "

" Really more like a 2 and a half star read for me. I'll try to write more about this book, b/c I did like the middle third quite a bit, but still found the whole somehow lacking. "

" It was difficult to get into at first but I am glad I finished the book. "

" This book is a masterpiece - a riveting examination of what makes up a person and a life as well as a discussion on the repercussions of good and evil. This is one of the most thought-provoking books I've read in years. "

" I tried but couldn't get past the first hundred pages. "

" I gave it 200 pages, and it was still going nowhere. Maybe it's time I move on to some non-Jewish themed books for a while. "

" A smart book which surprised me with funny remarks to which I actually laughed out loud when alone. The narrator, Max, encounters everything in life, in the world from the single perspective of being Jewish. With Max, the book circles the question of why orthodox Manny gassed his parents to death. "

" Very self-indulgent, over caffeinated British Philip Roth meets Woody Allen. "

" this book is alright, it has a lot of thoughts on how the holocaust lasted and morphed through the jewish generations in london. i enjoyed it's timeless seamless connection of things. but the female characters could have used more airtime and clout. "

" A bit difficult to get through all the Jewish-self-hate sometimes, but very well written. Learned British jews have many more complexes than American jews. "

" Seldom give up on books, maybe I'll try to read it again sometime. "

" Would give this a 3.5 if I could. "

" I found this book very difficult to read. Too much Jewish angst, and no humor that I could detect. "