The Last Kabbalist in Lisbon

If the histororical intrigue doesn't keep the pages turning (and have you checking some of the authors sources); if the religious tightrope isn't taunt and narrow enough for you; if the mystery itself doesn't at least make you head for the back page faster than you should... I'd be suprised. Excellent work! Much more enjoyable and much more "historic" than The DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons. None of Brown's "hidden agenda" stuff either. You can either account this author's historical take as fully valid or not, but you're going to have to do some REAL history research to get there. Historical fiction is much more enjoyable when its not being squished out of murky controversy and alterior motive, and The Last Kabblist is a perfect blend of pacing, mystery and oh so much more!

This book was so powerful. I really enjoyed what the author did with this book. After a seredipitous find of a genizah in his friend's basement, he creates this phenomenal story--weaving elements of history, religion, mystery, and tragedy. Berekiah is a secret Jew in 16th century Portugal. His family professed that they converted and were "New Christians" after 1492, but they continued their Jewish customs and traditions. When his world is turned upside down by the death of his beloved uncle, Berekiah sets out to find the murderer. With the "Old Christians" marauding the streets of Lisbon, killing many Jews and plundering their possessions, Berekiah and his best friend, Farid, search for answers. Only someone who intimately knew Uncle Abraham could have killed him, and Berekiah searches for the killer amongst his own friends and loved ones, the inner circle of "threshers", fellow secret Jews that studied Kabbalah with his uncle. Berekiah tells the story in first person narrative, and I felt that we were not able to learn very much about him because of this. We learn more about his family and the inner circle of threshers than we do about him. The story is also told in present tense, so it is very easy to get steeped and feel like you are right there with Berekiah and Farid. I enjoyed this book very much and I learned a great deal about Marrano history.

A columnist's praise in the June 9, 2000, issue of the Mexico City newspaper Excelsior alerted me to "The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon," and I bought a copy. I found the plot delightfully engaging; it was hard to put the book down. Zimler's portrait of Lisbon in 1506, with Jews being killed by the Christian majority, is vividly drawn. And it appears to be historically accurate: the Encyclopædia Britannica confirms that there was a massacre of Jews in Lisbon that year. Reading the novel, you're in the center of a pogrom, and it's not pleasant. Zimler's portrayal of life under siege is an accomplishment in itself, but to interweave it with a well-constructed detective story is even more remarkable. The next time I'm in Lisbon, I'll walk through the Rossio and the Alfama with a more informed perspective.In sum, I highly recommend this novel. I have a few criticisms. The novel tends to portray Lisbon's Christians as haggard savages, literally cretins (a pejorative word derived from the Latin for Christian). Zimler's vehemence in this regard surprised me. And the self-righteousness of his hero, Berekiah Zarco, becomes hard to take at times, particularly when it's combined with an intrepidity that Batman and Robin might envy. Moreover, I agree with the June 7, 2000, posting that the regular invocation of a verb "to gift" was irritating and distracting. (The word "center" was also occasionally used in odd ways, but "gift" was particularly grating.) I know of nothing in Portuguese that requires such usage.I wondered whether the supposedly nonfictional author's note was a literary device or a statement of historical fact. I think I've been able to figure out which it is, but the author may not want the answer posted here, so I'm not going to gift (I mean give) my opinion. Let it be part of the mystery.

It's difficult for me to express just how much I adored this book. I picked it up intending to read a couple chapters in the tub before going to bed early (11pm). I ended reading until the water was cold and my room mates banged on the door. I finished at 1am, and wanted to reread it for more detail.This book is amazing. It's captivating and exciting, making you want to devour the text in big gulps. Putting this down for longer than a half hour is painful because you want to know more. The loose ends are not neatly tied up at the end of each chapter, nor at the end, which is wonderful. I hate it when an author ties up the story with a neat little bow, when in reality that never happpens.The book operates on several levels, which are all mingled together. On the one hand, it's a historical novel about Jews in Portugal, anti-semitism, forced conversion, reactions to the plague, kabbalah, and bonds of friendship and blood. It also deals with the masks that people wear in varying social situations, and losing yourself in those masks. Jewish religious practice and the Kaballah are, not surpisingly, very important to how the mystery plays itself out. Then there is the murder mystery, friends and family lost and feared dead, and stolen property. I'm making this sound too heavy, but Zimler keeps all those balls in the air, and doesn't ram his opinions down our throat.This novel isn't only for Jews or mystery fans. It's a brilliant work of fiction that most anyone would love. Buy a copy for yourself, and a copy to give away.

The inquisition came to Portugal later than it did to Spain. Jews were not tossed out of Lisbon as they were out of Madrid. Not right away. Prior to exile there was a period of " grace ", in which the Jews were given twenty years to completely convert to Chrisitianity. This period was characterized by pogroms, by terror, by ostracism and prejudice. In Lisbon as well as in Madrid (as in Germany some years later) Jews who had been valued members of a community rapidly became oppressed, feared, and despised. In a time of drought and plague, it was easy to blame the Jews, and also easy to burn them in huge bonfires, even those Jews who had converted to Christianity. Many secretly remained Jews, practicing their religion, and many of those who practiced studied Kabala, which is one of the roots of neo-platonism, and of the renaissance, and the source of a rich mystic tradition that continues to this day. Richard Zimmler's book is a wonderfully rich depiction of these terrible times. It is also a thrilling mystery, and an adventure story of the first order. And on every page, unobtrusively, without rancor, pretension, or arrogance, it meditates on the hard questions of life: how can GD tolerate a world of such cruelty; how can a world of such cruelty shine with such beauty; why is the world so constantly in need of redemption, and how is it that simple kindness and the complex passion for truth redeem it over and over again at every moment? Books, brothers, fathers and wives, masters and disciples, artists and thieves, murderers and schlemiels, illuminated manuscripts and minds illuminated by winged visions; all these things fill this book with unceasing interest and beauty. No wonder it's out of print.