HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Reuben Sachs (Broadview Editions) by Amy…
Loading...

Reuben Sachs (Broadview Editions) (original 1889; edition 2006)

by Amy Levy, Susan David Bernstein (Editor)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1467185,821 (3.46)38
Oscar Wilde wrote of this novel, "Its directness, its uncompromising truths, its depth of feeling, and above all, its absence of any single superfluous word, make Reuben Sachs, in some sort, a classic." Reuben Sachs, the story of an extended Anglo-Jewish family in London, focuses on the relationship between two cousins, Reuben Sachs and Judith Quixano, and the tensions between their Jewish identities and English society. The novel's complex and sometimes satirical portrait of Anglo-Jewish life, which was in part a reaction to George Eliot's romanticized view of Victorian Jews in Daniel Deronda, caused controversy on its first publication. This Broadview edition prints for the first time since its initial publication in The Jewish ChronicleLevy's essay "The Jew in Fiction." Other appendices include George Eliot's essay on anti-Jewish sentiment in Victorian England and a chapter from Israel Zangwill's novel The Children of the Ghetto. Also included is a map of Levy's London with landmarks from her biography and from the "Jewish geography" of Reuben Sachs.… (more)
Member:Mazzieh
Title:Reuben Sachs (Broadview Editions)
Authors:Amy Levy
Other authors:Susan David Bernstein (Editor)
Info:Broadview Press (2006), Edition: 1, Paperback, 250 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy (1889)

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 38 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
Reuben Sachs is the story of a young man living in the heart of a large, conservative Jewish family in 19th century London. This was the book that was discussed at the September teatime reading group, and I didn’t expect to like it all that much. I don’t read very much Jewish fiction, so this book was a little out of my comfort zone; but I enjoyed Amy Levy’s descriptions of the family and Reuben’s relationship with Judith, a childhood friend he’s in love with but can’t marry. I thought Amy Levy was a little harsh on Jewish culture and traditions, and she was a little heavy-handed with the “tribe” theme. But in all, I thought this was a really interesting look into one family in 19th century London. Amy Levy was on 27 when she wrote this, and committed suicide just the year after, so you really wonder what she was thinking when she wrote this. ( )
  Kasthu | Nov 12, 2011 |
The story of two cousins who live in an Anglo-Jewish community in London in the 1880's. Reuben and his cousin Judith have secretly been in love with each other for years. His family is not so subtly trying to keep them apart. Reuben has a possibility of becoming the Conservative MP for St. Baldwins. He needs a wife with money and social connections. Judith is a poor relation with bleak prospects. Although it's only 148 pages long, not much seems to happen until the very end of the story. We meet the extended family, they have a few dinners together and attend a dance. Along the way we learn the social and material expectations for each character. You know the entire time that it will not end well. Recommended. ( )
  VioletBramble | Sep 15, 2011 |
This is a beautifully crafted little novel. The language is faultless, pared down to only that which is needed, yet at the same time painting an unforgetable picture of Anglo-Jewish life at the end of the 19th century. The story is that of Reuben Sachs abnd his cousin Judith Quixano. Much is expected of young Reuben, and Judith is a poor relation, and a romance between them would be unthinkable in the gossipy, snobbish community they live in. In terms of plot it might be fair to say that not much happens until then end of the novel, the families visit one another, go shopping, and there is a ball. Yet a world is created in such a way as the people that live in it step right off the page.
This novel was written (some say) in answer to the highly romanticized portrait of Jewish life created by George Elliot in Daniel Deronda, and therefore caused some criticism at the time. Amy Levy was still quite a young woman when she wrote this novel, who knows what she may have achieved had she not committed suicide a few years later aged only 27. ( )
1 vote Heaven-Ali | Jan 16, 2011 |
A remarkable (although irregular) novel, following the frustrated love story of two cousins set in the London Anglo-Jewish community. Its style is polished, pared down, ironic at times and mournful at others, sometimes remiscent of Wilde or contemporary women writers such as Menie Muriel Dowie. There is a tendency at times towards generalisations and oversweeping statements that undermine the precision and lucidity of other passages. The interlinked sequences of the ball and the conclusion are particularly successful. ( )
  MariaAlhambra | Oct 1, 2010 |
Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

Belongs to Publisher Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Amy Levy has begun to be 'rediscovered' in recent years after a long-lasting disappearance from the shelves of Victorian novelists and poets. (Preface)
Reuben Sachs was the pride of his family.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Oscar Wilde wrote of this novel, "Its directness, its uncompromising truths, its depth of feeling, and above all, its absence of any single superfluous word, make Reuben Sachs, in some sort, a classic." Reuben Sachs, the story of an extended Anglo-Jewish family in London, focuses on the relationship between two cousins, Reuben Sachs and Judith Quixano, and the tensions between their Jewish identities and English society. The novel's complex and sometimes satirical portrait of Anglo-Jewish life, which was in part a reaction to George Eliot's romanticized view of Victorian Jews in Daniel Deronda, caused controversy on its first publication. This Broadview edition prints for the first time since its initial publication in The Jewish ChronicleLevy's essay "The Jew in Fiction." Other appendices include George Eliot's essay on anti-Jewish sentiment in Victorian England and a chapter from Israel Zangwill's novel The Children of the Ghetto. Also included is a map of Levy's London with landmarks from her biography and from the "Jewish geography" of Reuben Sachs.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
"I wonder," cried Rose, throwing herself into the breach, "what Mr Lee-Harrison thought of it all."
"I think," said Leo, "that he was shocked at finding us so little like the people in Daniel Deronda."
"Did he expect," cried Esther, "to see our boxes in the hall, ready packed and labelled Palestine?"
"I have always been touched," said Leo, "at the immense good faith with which George Eliot carried out that elaborate misconception of hers."
"Now Leo is going to begin," cried Rose; "he never has a good word for his people. He is always running them down."
"Horrid bad form," said Reuben; "besides being altogether a mistake."
"Oh, I have nothing to say against us at all," answered Leo ironically, "except that we are materialists to our fingers' ends."
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.46)
0.5
1 1
1.5
2
2.5 2
3 8
3.5 4
4 7
4.5 1
5 2

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,197,875 books! | Top bar: Always visible