Book Summary and Reviews of The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen

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Anthony_Conty

A Rare Dose of Humor
"The Netanyahus" by Joshua Cohen tells the story of a Jewish man in a prominent history department who does not study Jewish history. Instead, Ruben Blum is responsible for reviewing an application from a quirky Israeli scholar. The man is Benjamin Netanyahu's father and teaches us how theology and history interact in Jewish politics. You wouldn't think you could describe this type of book as funny, but here we are.

Blum has a life that seems familiar in American literature: he has achieved a high level of academia but does not impress his parents or in-laws with his status at the college. Think of how the media treats doctorates that are not medical. As we transition to scholar Ben-Zion Netanyahu, we see the jealousy and cynicism with which the scholars view their peers as historians of Judaism pass judgment on how historians consider Jewish suffering.

We take a while to meet the scholar as we experience family nostalgia with the Blums and the in-laws. Then, just when we think that Ruben has met his stress quota, the Netanyahus descend upon his idyllic existence. The best parts occur when we are reading about his household; you cannot imagine this entire life taking a back seat to the political aspects of the novel. The Blums need their sitcom by themselves.

When the family and the 10-year-old Benjamin arrive, the results are sitcom-esque but funny. I think the easiest way to poke harmless fun at a former world leader is to imagine him as a precocious 10-year-old with little self-control. The more incredible frustration comes from the adults; however, since social norms differ significantly, the Blums go along with the Netanyahus' hijinks as if they are improv actors who have no choice but to say "yes."

Cohen has a gift for writing about the mundane and making it funny and exciting. The history/theology debate works through several portions of the novel, and you may Google a few things if you are not Jewish or a historian. For such a short novel, you will find yourself engrossed and relate to the protagonist despite his regimented place in academia in a faraway time. I would love for one of you to read this and discuss it with me.

Cathryn_Conroy

A Bit Pretentious, but Laugh-Out-Loud Funny in Parts
Maybe I just don't get it? That was my initial thought (repeated a lot in my head) when I was reading this short Pulitzer Prize-winning (2022) book by Joshua Cohen.

But then—about one-third of the way through—it came together for me, and (I think) I got it. Or, at least, I started to get it.

Despite the title, this is not really about that famous (infamous?) Israeli family. It's really about a man named Ruben Blum, a professor of history at the bucolic Corbin College, a small liberal arts college in not-quite upstate New York. When Blum is hired on the faculty in the late 1950s, he is the only Jewish professor in the college. And not only that, the Blums—wife Edith, who is a librarian at the college and daughter Judith, a senior at the local high school—are the only Jewish family in town.

It's the very snowy and cold winter of 1959-1960. For various reasons, the Corbin College history department is forced, almost against its will, to hire a new professor, and the man applying for the job is Benzion Netanyahu. Because both men are Jewish, Rube is asked to serve on the hiring committee. During his extensive research of the candidate, Rube discovers some questionable and troubling facts about the man's curriculum vitae.

But the story isn't about Netanyahu's interview (until suddenly it is). It's about Rube, Edith, and Judy and their assimilation into this WASP town where Edith is bored and disconsolate, while Judy is angry at the move and feeling intense parental pressure to achieve and succeed. But when the Netanyahus show up—yes, the entire family, including the three sons (one of whom is Benjamin)—the book takes a humorous turn—as in laugh out loud funny—including a bit of dark comedy. Benzion, an obscure Israeli academic, feels stranded in the United States with no job, a half-finished history book on a topic no one understands or believes is true, a furious wife, and three wild young sons.

The book is a bit pretentious, quite long-winded, and overly verbose at times, making it sometimes feel like a slog. And then it shifts seemingly without warning to become a more compelling and interesting story. And sometimes a funny story. While some of it feels like a family sitcom gone terribly wrong, the novel is also a serious portrayal of modern Jewish history and the establishment of the state of Israel.

And end note: As bizarre and unlikely the premise, it turns out that it's based on a real event when Benzion Netanyahu applied for a job at Yale interviewing with renowned literary critic and humanities professor Harold Bloom. Do take the time when you are finished with the novel to read the "Credits and Extra Credit" for elucidation on how the novel came to be.