Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
151st out of 394 books
—
295 voters
Joshua Then and Now
Through a suspenseful pattern of dramatic flashbacks the shattered life of Joshua Shapiro is reassembled. Now middle-aged, Joshua has overcome his inauspicious beginnings in Montreal's Jewish ghetto to become a celebrated television writer, yet he is an unhappy man. Incapacitated by a freak accident, anguished by the disappearance of his wife, Joshua is beleaguered by the...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
July 1st 1991
by Penguin Books
(first published 1980)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
691)
'Joshua' was written about mid-way in Richler's career. It is one of his better books, unfortunately it is usually forgotten in favor of other 'big' books written before and after. The big three in Richler's opus, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, St. Urbain's Horseman, and Solomon Gursky Was Here, should be a big four, with Joshua Then And Now. Richler's last, lesser effort, Barney's Version, is over-praised - it was even given an award -out of respect for Richler's career rather than any me...more
I’m going to cop out here and quote the book jacket because it’s perhaps the best one I’ve read:
Joshua Then and Now is about Joshua Shapiro today, and the Joshua who was, about being middle aged and being young, about being the parent and being the child. About Then and Now--and therefore set both in the Montreal of today’s [1980] ultra Separatists and in the smug class-and-race-ridden Canada of yesterday. As well as in London, in Paris, in Ibiza, in Hollywood.” [Not credited] Richler’s wit and...more
Joshua Then and Now is about Joshua Shapiro today, and the Joshua who was, about being middle aged and being young, about being the parent and being the child. About Then and Now--and therefore set both in the Montreal of today’s [1980] ultra Separatists and in the smug class-and-race-ridden Canada of yesterday. As well as in London, in Paris, in Ibiza, in Hollywood.” [Not credited] Richler’s wit and...more
[These notes were made in 1983:]. Richler gives us a jigsaw-puzzle - bits of a man's life out of time-sequence, but identifiable because of certain themes or circumstances, all eventually accumulating into the answer for the problem posed by the beginning (which is, of course, the end of the story): who and what is this man, apparently homosexual (but only apparently), apparently a recluse, apparently guarded by some very strange characters indeed. One of the answers is that he's a writer, and i...more
Joshua Then And Now is a compelling novel penned by Canada’s most intriguing writer. Joshua now is in hospital with broken limbs and a battered visage. Journalists are snooping around his house looking for tips. Joshua is a local writer, a celebrity of sorts, and there is rumour he has done something illegal, has had a split with his wife, and has been involved in a homosexual affair. Scandal is in the air. His father, Reuben, a former prize fighter, keeps the reporters at bay; he doesn’t seem c...more
I just reread this after some 20 years. It's good - well, excellent really - but not as good as Barney’s Version. In fact you can see all the themes and character styles forming here, right down to the same complexity of time shifts that BV has. As in virtually all of Richler's novels, it's from Montreal to Europe and London, between the 30's and the present (well, the 70's - that still feels like the present to me). I think the reason it is not as good as Barney is that it is too self-conscious...more
This book is even better than Duddy Kravitz, in my opinion. The whole book is scattered episodes from the life of Joshua, a man whose life has been a real Odyssey from a lower class childhood to fame and wealth as an adult. The scenes carefully reveal more and more information about Joshua's life, from the time his mom performed an exotic dance at his childhood birthday party to the time his wife was committed in a mental hospital. Joshua is an eccentric but believable character, whose story is...more
Mar 03, 2013
Ayelet Waldman
added it
Once again I picked up a Richler for research purposes only to find myself absolutely enamored. I have one quibble, however. Why are men of this generation so damn obsessed with sex? Is it because they got so little of it when they were young?
Loved this book. My son is actually, in part, named Joshua because of it. Great movie too.
this book took me a long time to read. I found it was very hard to get into.
Good book with lots of fun characters and angst.
funny, sweet, good summer cottage read
I thought this was a much easier read than "Soloman Gursky", but at the same time, I didn't find it quite as rewarding. Still loved all the Canadian history that Richler effortlessly tosses in, and I was pleased with the ending.
Amazing, as always. Like a fairly tale for grownups, that just happens to lack the more typical 'magic', and that has some fun, if crude, laughs, to boot!
There was just WAY too much going on in this book. Too many characters (all Jewish men of similar age, description and name - just to ensure optimal confusion), too many time periods, too many sub-plots. I'd have to read this book a couple of times to make sense of it, and I didn't enjoy it enough to try.
This is a book that I struggled to not be offended by. That being said, the characters were strongly drawn & were interesting, but I didn't come away with the sensation that I had read something that shaped something in me.
A surprisingly jet-setting novel on the part of Mr. Richler...but he gives it the same humour, gravitas and attention to detail as he does to his well-worn, Montreal-centred tales. This one comes highly recommended.
NCL.2006-10-01
May 12, 2013
Ian
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2013
Ryan
is currently reading it
May 01, 2013
Buried In Print
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2013
Stef Smulders
marked it as to-read
Apr 29, 2013
Susan T
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Mordecai Richler, was a Canadian author, screenwriter and essayist.
His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Barney's Version (1997); his 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-Two children's stories. .
The son of a Jewish scrap yard dealer, Richler was born in 1931 and raised on St...more
More about Mordecai Richler...
His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Barney's Version (1997); his 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-Two children's stories. .
The son of a Jewish scrap yard dealer, Richler was born in 1931 and raised on St...more
Share This Book
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
