Here Comes the Messiah

Rating:
Summary: All the Characters and History
Review: Despite the seemingly disjointed narrative, I enjoyed this novel in its English translation. The characters that populate the book are colorful and make the Russian migrant experience in Israel come alive. Rubina writes with a ruthless compassion for her people and their situations so that I came to care for Zaima and Writer N on deep levels. She has a way of working philosophical rumination in with the story that elevates it beyond interesting anecdote. I am amazed at the smooth translation, how accessible the story became to me! I have read translations of Tolstoy and Chekhov in school that did not seem as graceful as this! Here Comes the Messiah! should be on college reading lists for students in European and Jewish Studies programs and also those doing translation and literature.

Rating:
Summary: Teaches A Lot about Israel and the West Bank
Review: I read this novel in order to learn about the life of Russian emigres in Israel. And the novel was great for that. But it also taught me a lot about life on the West Bank, in settlements. What the daily life is like. I was surprised at how balanced the portrayal was of the Palestinian woman character as well as the Jewish ones. The author pokes fun at everyone and also makes you like them even though they're almost all really strange. I don't know much about translation, but the translator's introduction helped me understand more. It reads very smoothly. If you told me it was written in English, I would believe it.

Rating:
Summary: Eye-opening read
Review: This book was an eye-opening read for a non-Jewish American who had rather lost sight of the fact that a novel can be at once a compelling personal and spirtual drama and at the same time a trenchant social satire. I would strongly recommend this book to any reader or writer looking to expand his or her definition of what a fictional novel can do. Also to anyone seeking a delicious glimpse inside Russian emigre life in Israel. Daniel M. Jaffe has done an admirable job of capturing Rubina's smart, slangy style in translation.