J: A Novel

I work in a milieu of children, many who have a thought disorder. J is a book about a NATION with a mandatory thought disorder, (at least most of the citizens). The theme of J, which crops up frequently, is, WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED, which would indicate a knowingness, but, for the most part, Jacobson's dystopian world, which takes place in the future (but still the 21st century), is constructed on a foundation of a kind of schizophrenic behavior, but complicit and fraught. The denial-of-reality behavior reminds me of the line in the Matrix, "Did you take the red pill or the blue pill?" This is a nation who took the blue pill--they don't want to know the truth. What is the truth? Read it, and you will realize it, after many oblique twists and turns and drops in the rabbit hole. It is evident that some sinister annihilation of population occurred those several generations ago. But, who? And why? And, the tragedy is, anyone wanting to find out will need to be silenced. In this strange new world, I was also reminded of Orwell's doublethink; the people in this story hold contradictory or paradoxical beliefs, and are at odds with themselves for questioning the societal norms, set by a standard called Project Ishmael, run by a monitoring group called Orfnow. "The overexamined life is not worth living." There's an official monitoring of the public mood, to ensure that everyone is under "moral hypnosis." "A compliant society meant that every section of it consented with gratitude -- the gratitude of the providentially spared." Most of the story takes place in Port Reuben, one of many renamed towns, inhabited by people with renamed (and often ridiculous) surnames. "The past exists in order that we forget it." The central characters, Kevern "Coco" Cohen and his new lover, Ailinn Solomons, might seem paranoid to members of the monitoring group, but they feel something or someone at their heels. It is dangerous to seek too much knowledge. There exists very little technology (except phones for local calls); art, music, and history have been varnished and saturated with the dippy philosophy of annoying optimism. Anything too deep, dark, or knowing is either outlawed--or, if not outlawed legally, it is frowned upon. Yet, ironically, this society is ever the more bleak for not allowing any shadows or clouds to obscure the bright and sunny disposition of life. Even the library books have pages missing, if any suggestion of "J" history is suggested or revealed. Suggestion, implication, intimation--this is how Jacobson slowly peels the layers of this story. The more WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED "folklore" is revealed, the more absurd this Orwellian-esque society becomes to the reader. And, not just absurd, but harrowing. I hesitate to say any more about the book. Like Kevern's father, who would place two fingers in front of his mouth any time he uttered a word beginning with the letter J, I will keep mum about most of this story. It is more a book of ideas than a plot, but the plot in itself is stunning. It is both comical and tragic, chilling, ludicrous, and devastating. Jacobson keeps the humor and tragedy dancing in a delicate balance on the head of a pin. If I have one complaint, it is that he was occasionally repetitive, and the story was strung out a bit sluggishly. However, these are small complaints for such a staggering story. "We've lived through the end of the world," says a character. "This is the aftermath. This is the post-apocalypse."

Interesting book about apology, remembering vs forgetting and moving on and about protecting ourselves.from unpleasantness. Colorfully written, and dense with language, this a challenging read, but engaging and unusual. There is some kind of something that has happened but we never find out exactly what it.was, or even for sure IF it was, but the time following is forever affected by it.

This novel is beautifully written and engaging, though not without flaws. It's both a love story and a dystopian sci-fi novel. At the start, the reader feels a bit disoriented: Where and when are these events taking place, and what is this mysterious event referred to as "WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED"? Clearly we are in some sort of weird future. The world has regressed economically and technologically, and some horrible event has caused a collective erasure of all record of the past. The readers disorientation matches those of the main characters, who are puzzled about their own background and history. It's not giving away too much (because the reader guesses this part early) that the "WHAT HAPPENED" was a second holocaust of some sort. Yet there are many mysteries right at the outset - for example, if the story occurs after a second holocaust, why do all the characters have Jewish names? By the end of the book, some mysteries (such as the one I just mentioned) are cleared up, others are not. I liked the novel, but also found it disturbing. OK, dystopian novels are supposed to be disturbing I guess. But here, too many unanswered questions. How exactly did the world get from now to this imagined future state? Is the backwardness of this future society a cause or an effect of the presumed second holocaust? There's also a disturbing implication in the novel that mankind's nature is inherently evil, and if you try to suppress that (e.g. by banning disturbing art, music, and literature), then the evil will pop out in other ways. I find this a very unsettling notion. Somehow this idea reminds me of a joke that Sarah Silverman tells (just to lighten this review up a bit) that goes like this: She says "If there had been blacks in Nazi Germany, the Holocaust wouldn't have happened". Her straight man asks "How do you figure that?". And she replies "Well, it wouldn't have happened to the Jews, at least". Anyway, "J" is a worthwhile and thought-provoking read.

If you're reading for fun, don't. It's interesting and well-written. The story is a slow burn in which the characters' journeys mostly seem to be a prelude to a fatalistic end. It's almost not plot, but tapestry. And the tapestry is grim and introspective, hence "not fun". For me at least, it was also neither particularly enlightening nor educational. I'm still on the fence as to whether it was edifying in some more nuanced way.

I had such high hopes for this book. However, by 26% in I had lost all interest and had no desire to pick it up again. In fact, in the first few dozen pages, I couldn't wait to resume reading. Imagine a chapter titled, "Twitternacht". Superbly interesting given our current times and communications. But it's a very vague story where the most alluring aspect, what happened to society and why, is only hinted at. Instead, we get two wan characters who can't penetrate their pasts and offer us no reason at all to be concerned about their present or future. Intriguingly, the writing is very fine. Deep, detailed and nice to see for anyone who likes the art of putting words together. But ultimately, so many words require a story what carries the reader through the abstractions. That's just not here. So if you are a reader who requires a story, there are many other books which satisfy that need. This is certainly not one of them, particularly with it's lost premise and promise.

Perhaps I cannot be blamed for returning over and over to thoughts of the Holocaust as this darkly brilliant novel unravels the fabric of a society determined to forget the past by law. No one is to remember the great brutality of a war gone by as if to examine it would resurrect more hatred in the opposing views of thought and blame. There are dark references to trains and selections, ruined cities, and toppled economies of greed and affluence. In Kervin's small town, the people congratulate themselves on their distance from the turmoil of the past and of the large cities. In the Ishmael law, itself a gifted riff on a doomed pseudonym, everyone has taken a new name. Heirlooms are limited. Everyone says sorry all the time. Yet the village is haunted with violence and unions are rarely monogamous. Fights are common. No one says J without a gesture across the lips. No one notes history. Kervin is a remarkable man, a Cohen unable to drop the significance of this made up name. He has fallen in love with Ailleen and it is their very temperance that does not allow them to give lip service to the inanities of the new civilization, thus cursing themselves in their small world. The writing is perplexing and often labyrinthine. The sense of unease and of being followed never abates. The irony of a society willed to a civility that never holds is ironic in the extreme. Yet this is a novel that brings to mind every denier, every person who is determined to bury the past, and every book that shades hatreds of history. It is not so very far to venture from this book to any determinedly pleasant day in the many blood soaked sands of the world. Yet the main characters remain vibrant in contrast and their determination to be human brings balm to the reader. I find this to be an inspired piece of fiction and one I will not forget.

I was not prepared for this book. While an interesting mystery I found the dawning realization painful and somewhat horrific. This is a thoughtful consideration of human nature and society but also a painful realization of the scapegoat scenario at its peak. Too close to home for my heritage.

As a Jew, I find Jacobson's take on us, his own tribe, both off putting and often downright unpleasant. His previous novel, "The Finkler Question," won the Man Booker Prize and this year, "J" was short listed for that same honor. The writing in both novels is excellent, no question or doubt about that. That said "Finkler" left me with a bad taste in my mouth. As I began "J," I was beginning to get that same sense of being in a well written novel I would rather not be reading. But as it gathered steam, this strange tale about Great Britain in a dystopian future well after "WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED" pulled me in. I am glad it did. Overall, the novel is unsettling, deliberately so. Within its pages, there is lots of humor and some fascinating thoughts on what makes for a stable society, but at the end, true to novel and its setting, the opportunity for a happy conclusion is studiously avoided.