A major literary debut, an epic tale of love, failure, and unexpected faith set in New York, Amsterdam, and Las Vegas The modern-day Jonah at the center of Joshua Max Feldman's brilliantly conceived retelling of the Book of Jonah is a young Manhattan lawyer named Jonah Jacobstein. He's a lucky man: healthy and handsome, with two beautiful women ready to spend the rest of their lives with him and an enormously successful career that gets more promising by the minute. He's celebrating a deal that will surely make him partner when a bizarre, unexpected biblical vision at a party changes everything. Hard as he tries to forget what he saw, this disturbing sign is only the first of many Jonah will witness, and before long his life is unrecognizable. Though this perhaps divine intervention will be responsible for more than one irreversible loss in Jonah's life, it will also cross his path with that of Judith Bulbrook, an intense, breathtakingly intelligent woman who's no stranger to loss herself. As this funny and bold novel moves to Amsterdam and then Las Vegas, Feldman examines the way we live now while asking an age-old question: How do you know if you're chosen?
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“A beguiling first novel…Feldman gives ample proof that he can write about well-dressed New Yorkers with the same prickly wit that Claire Messud offered in The Emperor’s Children…His satire lacks that astringent bitterness that can make some witty novels seem heartless. And his willingness to pose the big questions to the whirlwind makes for unusually thoughtful reading.”
— Washington Post
“It is rare that a novel juxtaposes the contemporary world and the biblical one in such dramatic fashion.The Book of Jonah is a compelling read, a clever deconstruction of modern life as reflected in an ancient and timeless lens.”
— Adam Verghese, New York Times bestselling author“The storytelling, infused with energy throughout, gathers momentum and culminates in an enigmatic, unexpected ending…The risk-taking and sheer weirdness of The Book of Jonah is worth applauding.”
— New York Times Book Review“David Pittu’s voice is perfectly pitched for the ambitious and conflicted young American everyman.”
— Chicago Tribune (audio review)“An impressive experimentation with allegory and the antihero…Feldman transforms the archaic dichotomy of good-versus-evil into a profoundly contemporary rumination on the binary of evil and truth.”
— Jewish Book Council“David Pittu is one of those expert narrators who disappear into a story…Pittu puts you inside Jonah, makes you feel what he feels, and as his life blows up, what he feels is shattering…It’s a bravura performance.”
— AudioFile“The storytelling, infused with energy throughout, gathers momentum and culminates in an enigmatic, unexpected ending. . . The risk-taking and sheer weirdness of The Book of Jonah is worth applauding.
— The New York Times Book ReviewA beguiling first novel. . . Feldman gives ample proof that he can write about well-dressed New Yorkers with the same prickly wit that Claire Messud offered in The Emperor's Children . . . His satire lacks that astringent bitterness that can make some witty novels seem heartless. And his willingness to pose the big questions to the whirlwind makes for unusually thoughtful reading.
— The Washington PostBrave and necessary . . . one of the few novels I've read recently that is a genuine page-turner.
— Cleveland Plain DealerFeldman captures the contemporary New York zeitgeist but also effectively tackles questions of biblical proportions: How can we live in a world we can't comprehend? How can we serve a God whose will we can't understand?
— Shelf AwarenessThe Book of Jonah is a debut that heralds great promise. With shrewd allusion, finely wrought characters and a pulsing, page-turning narrative, Feldman works new and inventive wonders from an ancient template.
— Minneapolis Star-TribuneDeft and entertaining . . . What a sweet tale this is. While Feldman's prose is assured and sophisticated, the story is one of the oldest. And, in this telling, is worthy of repeating.
— New York Daily NewsAs up-to-date as an iPhone 5S and as timeless as the question it asks: How do we live a righteous life? For all the ironic cool of his novel's slick, modern surface, like writers of the best moral fiction, Joshua Max Feldman touches us in ways that are anything but superficial.
— Bookpage[An] enticing debut novel.
— Publishers WeeklyFeldman is clever in his use of the Jonah story, and his novel is of the same strange and enigmatic quality as the original.
— KirkusFeldman's expansive tale offers an invigorating, timeless exploration of existential crises within a contemporary world.
— BooklistJoshua Max Feldman's debut novel is impressive experimentation with allegory and the antihero…Feldman transforms the archaic dichotomy of good-versus-evil into a profoundly contemporary rumination on the binary of evil and truth.
— The National Jewish Book CouncilIt is rare that a novel juxtaposes the contemporary world and the biblical one in such dramatic fashion. The Book of Jonah is a compelling read, a clever deconstruction of modern life as reflected in an ancient and timeless lens.
— Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for StoneThe text of the biblical Book of Jonah is minimal, and its God and its Jonah are ciphers, and their motives enigmatic, but the Jonah of Joshua Feldman's novel is fully realized, a New York corporate lawyer making recognizable compromises until, brushed by the divine, his world dissolves. This engaging novel gives form to an opaque and ancient story while retaining that story's mystery.
— Zachary Mason, author of The Lost Books of the OdysseyJoshua Feldman offers a shrewd, humorous, and entertainingly modern twist on the Old Testament prophet. He's written a bold and very funny book.
— Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of National Book Award finalist Madeleine is SleepingBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Joshua Max Feldman is a writer of fiction and plays. He was born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts, and graduated from Columbia University.
David Pittu, a two-time Tony Award nominee, has narrated dozens of audiobooks, including Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, which earned two prestigious Audie Awards for best narration. He has also won three Earphones Awards. Well-known for his work in theater, he has appeared off-Broadway in LoveMusik and Is He Dead, for which he received his Tony nominations, as well as Parade, for which he earned a National Broadway Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He is also a writer, member, and director of the Atlantic Theater company.