The Brothers Ashkenazi (I.J. Singer, written 1933-35)

(427 pages)

story takes place mid-19th century into mid 1920s

set primarily in Lodz; the town springs up from something of a village; much heavier Jewish concentration than most places; commercial and manufacturing center for textiles

Poland then part of Russia; Lodz merchants doing business throughout Russia; growth and change

twin Ashkenazi brothers - more detailed focus on Max - feverishly working to be #1 in the local industry (textiles); Jacob less talented, less intelligent, less diligent - but natural personality and physical gifts and unnaturally good luck

two other primary characters - Nissan and Tevye "The World Is Not Lawless" - work in local factories and seek to organize them; socialist speeches, Marxist dogma that would have sounded right at home in '20 presidential campaigns (complete with deeply religious strands)

all four leading characters working hard for entirely different things but in parallel ways and with similar results

all four leading characters from deeply Jewish backgrounds; changing but some retention

lots of character development including families of the four; earlier generation deeply traditional from the countryside/shtetl (typically relatively new to Lodz, it being a new town); Hasidic; rabbis with vast authority; this changes over time

some - certainly the Ashkenazi brothers - seek assimilation; not accepted but keep trying; as shocks such as economic downturn, war, inflation hit - guess who gets blamed

boom years in Lodz; then 1905 war with Japan; WWI; German occupation (shut down businesses, strip assets and ship west); Poles reassert themselves after Versailles treaty; part of the plot moves to Russia (during the 1917 revolution and thereafter - business couldn't be conducted during German occupation)

throughout - Jews tolerated to a point especially when useful, otherwise look out;

strand about considering Palestine

Buddenbrooks comparison, which makes sense

no way to assess accuracy - but much liked that Singer painted this detailed picture of what that world must have been like - the level of detail indicates he knew all about it

recommended - there's a lot going on here

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume III (Edward Gibbon, 1781)

(527 pages)

Volume I addressed here.

Volume II addressed here.

Rankings are not easy, but I'm thinking Gibbon is definitely up there with my very favorites - Proust, Thomas Mann, Chekhov.  I'll keep thinking about this.  Gibbon's writing style really works for me.  (Also he's the only one in this group who wrote in English, not sure what that tells me.)

This volume ends with the fall of Rome and the end of the western empire - dated here to 476 - concluding the more well-known part of Gibbon's work.  (Volumes IV-VI pick up with the eastern empire through the fall of Constantinople).

This volume continues the themes from Volumes I and II - decline of civic virtue; transition from paganism to Christianity; emperor as a highly dangerous occupation; barbarian tribes moving to perimeter and then into heartlands of the empire, pushed from the east.

I keep thinking I've underrated Rome's accomplishments - a world of relative security and prosperity - sure it was selective, but isn't that always the case?  Look at how Europe lived for centuries after Rome - cowering behind walls, ruined trade (therefore lost prosperity), lost technical skills, lost learning of all types.

Amazing that Christianity entirely supplanted paganism; this volume discusses the continuation of this process, all the way through formally outlawing paganism.  Gibbon has quite the way of describing Christian hierarchy - sounding mild if not laudatory (to get past censorship) but absolutely skewering various folks.

He picks up on the martyrdom/relics scam and the many bad consequences - such a rac.ket.

Learned a bit about Ravenna - I hadn't realized that surrounding water features made it very difficult to capture (unlike Rome itself) - thus attractive to emperors in this days when "the army is our wall" no longer worked well.  Not as difficult to capture as Constantinople.

Lots of discussion about the various barbarian tribes, what motivated them to migrate.  Vandals in Africa; Visigoths taking southern France and into Spain; etc.  Many were Arian.  Then along comes the Huns - lots of discussion of Attila.

Down to Odoacer.  Talk about "end of an era."

Furious Hours (Casey Cep, 2019)

(276 pages)

Book club selection (via Nick; session held 16 February 2020).

Main hook here was Harper Lee - super trendy/popular right now in view of current politics - author researched a serial murder situation in Alabama that Lee - stuck for another hit after her one-time success - wanted to turn into another novel.  But she wasn't able to finish it.

Some interesting stuff here about Alabama in those days, but the core concept wasn't enough to carry along a book.

Or maybe I'm the wrong person - I am baffled that anyone can ever be interested in crime stories, let alone serial murderers.

Harper Lee may have written a popular book, but it seems she had trouble with life in general - sudden wealth, unclear personal connections, landing in NYC (rather a foreign place), some alcohol issues, etc.

Connected from childhood with Truman Capote - another hook for the author - but doesn't really solve the issue about lacking a coherent story line.

Quick read.