Yael Politis is an author and translator. Her three historical novels The Way the World Is, Olivia, Mourning and The Lonely Tree are exquisitely written. So I am deeply honored that she posted this review for my story, A Favorite Son:
Ms. Poznansky provides a new interpretation of the rivalry between Jacob and Esau - or Ya’acov and Esav as pronounced in Hebrew. In fact, she focuses on this story more as a power struggle between Rebecca and Isaac than between their twin sons, as well as a cautionary tale about the consequences of parental favoritism.
As Ya’acov muses: “But I think, it is one thing for me to cheat my brother. It is another thing altogether for her to do it to her son.”
And after stealing his father’s blessing and fleeing his camp Ya’acov finds himself alone in the desert, thinking, “Well, if that was a blessing, I wonder what a curse might look like; because here I am, lost, hungry, empty-handed, and stranded in the middle of nowhere.”
Ms. Poznansky has added to the story several elements that - to the best of my recollection - do not exist in the Biblical tale, one of them being a meeting in the desert between Rebecca and her two sons, after which: “Beware, my son!” said the voice. “Being the favorite son is as much of a curse as being the one rejected.”
This curse is bequeathed to the next generation - to Ya’acov and Yosef - and the author provides a novel idea for how Yosef came by his beautiful striped coat of many colors. Read A Favorite Son to find out how.
Re-reading the Bible, January 13, 2014
By
Yael Politis (Pardes Hanna, Israel) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Favorite Son (Kindle Edition)
Ms. Poznansky provides a new interpretation of the rivalry between Jacob and Esau - or Ya’acov and Esav as pronounced in Hebrew. In fact, she focuses on this story more as a power struggle between Rebecca and Isaac than between their twin sons, as well as a cautionary tale about the consequences of parental favoritism.As Ya’acov muses: “But I think, it is one thing for me to cheat my brother. It is another thing altogether for her to do it to her son.”
And after stealing his father’s blessing and fleeing his camp Ya’acov finds himself alone in the desert, thinking, “Well, if that was a blessing, I wonder what a curse might look like; because here I am, lost, hungry, empty-handed, and stranded in the middle of nowhere.”
Ms. Poznansky has added to the story several elements that - to the best of my recollection - do not exist in the Biblical tale, one of them being a meeting in the desert between Rebecca and her two sons, after which: “Beware, my son!” said the voice. “Being the favorite son is as much of a curse as being the one rejected.”
This curse is bequeathed to the next generation - to Ya’acov and Yosef - and the author provides a novel idea for how Yosef came by his beautiful striped coat of many colors. Read A Favorite Son to find out how.
No comments:
Post a Comment