Amos Oz

Judas af den israelske forfatter Amos Oz er en roman om fejltagelser, begær, kærlighed og ikke mindst forræderiets natur. Jerusalem, 1959. Den unge studerende Shmuel er blevet forladt af sin kæreste og er gået i stå i sit speciale, der handler om Judas. En seddel på universitetets opslagstavle fanger hans opmærksomhed og leder ham til et mystisk hus. Her får han arbejde som assistent og samtalepartner hos en invalid intellektuel, som har betalt en høj pris for det, han tror på. Huset rummer også en kvinde – mandens svigerdatter, som er enke og hjemsøgt af spøgelser fra fortiden. Shmuel begynder at afdække husets indviklede historie. Og fascineres af kvinden, selv om han ifølge sine ansættelseskontrakt ikke må forelske sig. Judas var shortlistet til The Man Booker International Prize 2017.

Judas

Winner of the International Literature Prize, the new novel by Amos Oz is his first full-length work since the best-sellingA 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 Abarbanel, the daughter of a deceased Zionist leader, a beautiful woman in her forties, 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.

Jaden Nelson

A little bit of a weird one. The world it suspends you in is mysterious and quaint and fun, and the star of the show for me was the aloe burn between Atalia and Shmuel. Wasn’t my favorite, but it was full of cool biblical and philosophical references that I enjoyed

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017 Amos Oz's first major novel in a decade - since A Tale of Love and Darkness, which sold over 100,000 copies Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 in the Times Literary Supplement Shmuel, a young, idealistic student, is drawn to a mysterious handwritten note on a campus noticeboard. This takes him to a strange house, where an elderly invalid man requires a paid companion, to argue with and read to him. But there is someone else in the house, too... A woman, who is trailed by ghosts from her past. Shmuel is captivated by her, a sexual obsession which evolves into gentle love and devotion; and he is pulled to the old man, an intellectual obsession which also evolves into gentle love and devotion. Shmuel begins to uncover the house's tangled history and, in doing so, reaches an understanding that harks back not only to the beginning of the Jewish-Arab conflict, but also the beginning of Jerusalem itself - to Christianity, to Judaism, to Judas. Set in the still-divided Jerusalem of 1959-60, Judas is an exquisite love story and coming-of-age tale, and a radical rethinking of the concept of treason. It is a novel steeped in desire and curiosity from one of Israel's greatest living writers.

Alexia

Thank you Netgalley and Random House UK (Vintage Publishing) for the ARC!
If you are interested in an introspective historical fiction read that makes a philosophical analysis on Judaism and Christianity portrays Judas as the most devoted of His followers, this is the book you have been looking for.

Jade Flynn

This is a novel driven by ideas. The one I found most interesting was the viewpoint Oz gives us on Judas as the only true Christian. Why would Judas betray Christ for thirty pieces of silver when he was the only rich apostle? I'm as atheist as they come but religion fascinates me and conversations about the subjects discussed in this book could be endless. There's a sense of fragility to the writing - I couldn't even tell this had been translated. First five star of the year.

Judas

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