The Books of Jacob
39 hrs. 51 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Olga Tokarczuk
Author
Olga Tokarczuk
Narrator
Igor Knyazev
Narrator
Igor Knyazev
Description
“The Books of Jacob” are compared for historicity, scope, and plot to L. Tolstoy’s war and peace epic novel. For Olga Tokarczuk, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018, this work is a kind of magnum opus—so much so that it even made it onto the Booker Prize shortlist.
“Jacob’s Books” is indeed an impressive reading journey through centuries and countries, forcing you to rethink the norms of religion, language, fate, purpose, and ordinary human relationships—things that seem, for all appearances, to be unchanging.
The mid-18th century. New ideas and new unrest sweep across the entire continent. At this time, a young Jew, Jacob Frank, arrives in a small village in Poland. It is here that his pilgrimage begins—one that, over a decade, will gather an unprecedented number of followers.
Jacob Frank will cross the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, inventing himself again and again. He will convert to Islam, then to Catholicism, be humiliated in the pillory as a heretic, and will be revered as the Messiah. Behind the chaos of his thoughts, the whole world will watch, whispering about the strange rituals of his sect.
The story of Jacob Frank—a real historical person around whom disputes continue to this day—is the perfect canvas for Olga Tokarczuk’s genius and unmatched scope. Told from the perspective of his contemporaries—those who worship him, those who curse him, those who love him, and those who ultimately betray him—“Jacob’s Books” captures the world on the threshold of major changes and inspires faith in oneself and one’s own possibilities.
“Jacob’s Books” is indeed an impressive reading journey through centuries and countries, forcing you to rethink the norms of religion, language, fate, purpose, and ordinary human relationships—things that seem, for all appearances, to be unchanging.
The mid-18th century. New ideas and new unrest sweep across the entire continent. At this time, a young Jew, Jacob Frank, arrives in a small village in Poland. It is here that his pilgrimage begins—one that, over a decade, will gather an unprecedented number of followers.
Jacob Frank will cross the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, inventing himself again and again. He will convert to Islam, then to Catholicism, be humiliated in the pillory as a heretic, and will be revered as the Messiah. Behind the chaos of his thoughts, the whole world will watch, whispering about the strange rituals of his sect.
The story of Jacob Frank—a real historical person around whom disputes continue to this day—is the perfect canvas for Olga Tokarczuk’s genius and unmatched scope. Told from the perspective of his contemporaries—those who worship him, those who curse him, those who love him, and those who ultimately betray him—“Jacob’s Books” captures the world on the threshold of major changes and inspires faith in oneself and one’s own possibilities.
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