Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
74th out of 402 books
—
1,449 voters
The Last of the Just
Published in sixteen languages and winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt, Andre Schwarz-Bart's The Last of the Just is considered by many the single greatest novel of the Holocaust. This classic work -- long unavailable in a trade edition -- is one of those few novels that, once read, is never forgotten.On March 11, 1185, tn the old Anglican city of York, the Jews of the...more
Paperback, 374 pages
Published
February 1st 2000
by Overlook TP
(first published January 1st 1959)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
789)
it is difficult to find words to describe a book that i look back upon as one of the most brilliant yet difficult reads of my life. andre' schwarz-bart, winner of the Prix Goncourt, is an author extraordinnaire. a genius of a writer who might not appeal to the "average" reader (please forgive the sound of arrogance) yet will titillate the juices of the discriminating, deep reader. i cannot say too much nor do i want to write so-called "spoilers." this work of genius and art ranks as one the more...more
All I can say is that this book made me weep. Literally. If you read this book and are unmoved by the terrible inhumanity we are all capable of exhibiting, you may not have experienced a healthy dose of love in your life and therefore have no heart. Seriously. This book follows the Jewish experience through pograms to an entire family's extinction during the Holocaust. It examines anti-semitism and an all-too-human reaction to atrocity of "not my problem." It is tough to read, but worth it.
This is an exceptional book. The story of the persecution of Jews is structured with the legend of the 38 Just Men. From the death of Rabbi Yom Tov Levy in York, England, in 1185, to the end of Ernie Levy's life in the gas chamber at Auschwitz, we follow the sufferings and joys of Jewish people over the centuries, through the lineage of one of the Just Men.
Schwartz-Bart created characters that drew me into the story. He shows human suffering so effectively that I found myself pulling out of the...more
Schwartz-Bart created characters that drew me into the story. He shows human suffering so effectively that I found myself pulling out of the...more
Aug 17, 2007
Jim
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who want to understand Jewish persecution
This is an epic book. Okay 383 pages isn't that epic but it covers a long period of time, from the 12th through to the 20th centuries. I have to say, from my point of view, the Jews vanished from history by the end of the first century and then reappeared just in time for the Holocaust. I never had any idea what happened to them and I was never that interested. This book redresses the balance. I would not pretend for a moment that it's an easy read but I would say it is a necessary one.
Nov 9
I'm as universalist as the next person, but I've been looking for an essentially Jewish book -- that is, a book that's as essentially Jewish as "Underworld" is essentially Catholic or "The Windup Bird Chronicle" is essentially essential. This might be it. I'm about to get to the Holocaust part (this is no spoiler -- you knew it was coming!)
Nov 15
I can't say I'd recommend this wholeheartedly. It drifts away from the tone I liked in the beginning to offer a Jews-as-the-suffering- body-of-Chr...more
I'm as universalist as the next person, but I've been looking for an essentially Jewish book -- that is, a book that's as essentially Jewish as "Underworld" is essentially Catholic or "The Windup Bird Chronicle" is essentially essential. This might be it. I'm about to get to the Holocaust part (this is no spoiler -- you knew it was coming!)
Nov 15
I can't say I'd recommend this wholeheartedly. It drifts away from the tone I liked in the beginning to offer a Jews-as-the-suffering- body-of-Chr...more
One of my favorite pieces of realistic fiction, Schwarz-Bart's book is nothing less than a masterpiece. The book examines antisemitism throughout historic Europe up to WW2. The story goes through several pogroms throughout Europe's history and ends with the worst act of evil to ever befall the Jewish people of Europe, the Holocaust.
The story is heavily based on the Tzadikim Nistarim, a notion prevalent within mystical Hasidim. Having some background knowledge about Europe's history after establ...more
The story is heavily based on the Tzadikim Nistarim, a notion prevalent within mystical Hasidim. Having some background knowledge about Europe's history after establ...more
How common is a phase of Shoah exploration? I found it rather odd and off-outting when I fell into a period in my early 20s, I was nearly obsessed and read constantly from scholarly analyses, memoirs and novels. I found the subject nearly untenable for most people in Southern Indiana: why would you want to read about that? Since then I have encountered a half dozen kndred souls who likewise went inexplicably overboard on this darkest of subjects.
I read this novel in 1994 and was ripped as if by...more
I read this novel in 1994 and was ripped as if by...more
This is one of the greatest books that addresses the Holocaust. The book is the generational story of Ernie Levy, who is one of the 36 Lamed Vav Tzadikim (just men) that exist at any and all time that keeps the world from ending by justifying the purpose of mankind (unknown as such by Ernie himself). A tall metaphysical order when facing life under Nazi Germany. Of course Ernie's existence is both difficult and very different from other men as he tries to relate to the world in general and final...more
The first third of the book is dedicated to the Levy family’s ancestry, an ancestry filled with legendary Lamed-Vovniks throughout the generations. The reader is shown how they have martyred themselves in the name of suffering for mankind. The last two-thirds of the book concerns itself with one person, and his name is Ernie. We watch Ernie grow from a child into a man, and through overwhelming imagery, see him suffer for mankind during the Holocaust.
Antisemitism runs rampant throughout the page...more
Antisemitism runs rampant throughout the page...more
Jan 02, 2012
Mike
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone
Recommended to Mike by:
Sheer Happenstance
"THE LAST OF THE JUST," Andre Schwarz-Bart's novel of remembrance
As an under grad at the University of Alabama, I often spent my time between classes at a college bookstore, Malone's, or at The Alabama Bookstore. Malone's was ultimately gobbled up by their competition. However both stores offered shelves of literature that frequently caught my eye and my meager funds.
The Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart was one of the many books I bought during my college days. I skipped lunch that day to...more
As an under grad at the University of Alabama, I often spent my time between classes at a college bookstore, Malone's, or at The Alabama Bookstore. Malone's was ultimately gobbled up by their competition. However both stores offered shelves of literature that frequently caught my eye and my meager funds.
The Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart was one of the many books I bought during my college days. I skipped lunch that day to...more
Amongst the literature of the Holocaust, this is an absolute masterpiece. It's based on a twist of the Chassidic legend that there are 36 righteous people hidden in the world whose very existence justifies the existence of the rest of it, even evil. The author made mistakes with the concept, though. In his book, the status of being one of the righteous is passed from father to son, which is NOT part of the Chassidic tradition. Also, they seem to know that they are the hidden righteous, which is...more
Five star ratings should not come easily. This work falls over the line so far that I ought to search for a sixth star. Schwartz-Bart follows the lamed-vovs of the Levy family from twelfth century York to the gas chambers of the Shoah. At each step, leading to its inevitable conclusion, it questions the evil of the world and the meaning or lack of meaning in a people's suffering. I cannot do this book justice. It is a must read.
this is a hard book to characterize. it begins in the 11th century with a Pogrom against the Jews. The family Levy who have one man each generation called the Just Man, travels all over East Europe searching for a place to call home and finally settle in Zemyock, Poland and find peace for a few generations. When the last son of the family, Ernie is born, it is the beginning of the 20th century, and most people knwo what happened to the Jews in the thirties in Germany and other countries invaded...more
Sad and beautiful and evocative. This book has been on my to-read list for a long time because I've been interested in the stories of the tsadikim nistarim — the "just ones" referred to in the title — but I got more than I bargained for in this book. The language is sparse, and doesn't drag as it covers eight centuries of suffering. I thought the translation was done very well, too.
I have read this three times in English and once in the original French. It is based on the Jewish legend of the 36 Just Men who bear the sorrows of the world on their shoulders - this "gift" being hereditary. It traces a family from the Middle Ages through to Nazi-occupied Paris, through many pogroms to the ultimate "final solution". It is beautiful and harrowing.
Goodreads suggested that I read this book, execpt I've already read it. Since I read it so long ago, I don't remember anything about it (so it's not fair to rate it). Might be time to read it again...
The legend says that there are 36 just men who take on the world suffering onto their own shoulders, a kind of pact with God whereby He allows the world to continue.
Ernie Levy is one of those Justs, and while the book nominally covers eight centuries, Ernie's destiny is at its center, a destiny that will set him adrift through WWII Europe with an inevitable ending in a concentration camp.
This is one of the great books of my life, so powerful, moving and shocking that I literally had recurring dr...more
Ernie Levy is one of those Justs, and while the book nominally covers eight centuries, Ernie's destiny is at its center, a destiny that will set him adrift through WWII Europe with an inevitable ending in a concentration camp.
This is one of the great books of my life, so powerful, moving and shocking that I literally had recurring dr...more
Nice story line, but this man is obviously not a true writer, at least not of fiction. His writing is plain to say the least, and if not for the power of the subject matter, not readable in the least...
I wanted to read this book because one of its closing paragraphs is inscribed on the wall of the Auschwitz exhibit at Yad Vashem in Israel. That paragraph, along with the emotional content of Yad Vashem, almost made me faint--I got dizzy and my knees shook and my heart pounded when I read it. It seemed so perfectly to sum up the enormity of what had happened. When I checked the book out from the library and began reading it, I realized that I read it once in college. I have fond memories of it a...more
God only knows why this book isn't taught in every school. Okay, so on the surface, it's a story of Jewish oppression in WWII, but it's so much more.
A really tough read, with an unswerving eye to the horror of the Holocaust. To find such poetry in that human catastrophe is beyond remarkable
One of the most moving stories/historical novels of all times. Tracing the descendants of a righteous man (Lamed-vov) from generation to generation
It convinced me that life is between the good of birth and the evil of death in the hands of man. The gluttony of acts of hate were exhibited less than 200 years earlier during the French Revolution. Only the technology improved in increased daily murders.
The book is written poetically as if the reader is a butterfly, following each 'last of the just.'
The book is written poetically as if the reader is a butterfly, following each 'last of the just.'
A nice peak into a rather obscure corner of Jewish culture and how it faded into obscurity. Very nice to read.
One of the most beautifully written novels of all time So sad, but one of those books you must read in your lifetime.
A great book with much historic effect.
Story of the sacrificial Jews throughout history.
Recommended to everyone.
Story of the sacrificial Jews throughout history.
Recommended to everyone.
I only give this a two because I couldn't finish it. The humor in it didn't resonate with me.
S historical novel. A blend of folklore, history and the tragedy of the Jews during the Shoah.
All I can say that after that one has read this novel, one can not be the same as had been before.
this was one of the most fascinating books i have read in a long time. a must read,,,,,
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
André Schwarz-Bart (May 28, 1928, Metz, Moselle - September 30, 2006, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe) was a French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins.
Schwarz-Bart is best known for his novel The Last of the Just (originally published as Le Dernier des justes). The book, which traces the story of a Jewish family from the time of the Crusades to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, earned Schwarz-Bart the Prix...more
More about André Schwarz-Bart...
Schwarz-Bart is best known for his novel The Last of the Just (originally published as Le Dernier des justes). The book, which traces the story of a Jewish family from the time of the Crusades to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, earned Schwarz-Bart the Prix...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“It is night at the front, a shadow, a shot. The Jew who has just fired
hears a moan...
"And then, mother, the hair stands up on his head, for only a few feet from him in the darkness the enemy voice is reciting in Hebrew the prayer of the dying. Ai, God, the soldier has cut down a Jewish brother! Ai, misery! He drops his rifle and runs into no man's land, insane with shame and grief. Insane, you understand? The enemy fires at him, his comrades shout at him to come back. But he refuses; he stays in no man's land and dies. Ai, misery, ai...!”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
hears a moan...
"And then, mother, the hair stands up on his head, for only a few feet from him in the darkness the enemy voice is reciting in Hebrew the prayer of the dying. Ai, God, the soldier has cut down a Jewish brother! Ai, misery! He drops his rifle and runs into no man's land, insane with shame and grief. Insane, you understand? The enemy fires at him, his comrades shout at him to come back. But he refuses; he stays in no man's land and dies. Ai, misery, ai...!”
Nov 05, 2012 05:14pm