Eric's review
The Ministry of Special Cases
by Nathan Englander
Eric's review
The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander
Eric's review
rating:
Like Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," this is the tale of hard-boiled Jewish protagonist trying to make sense of a world that is rapidly deteriorating around him. But while Chabon went for affect and genre mimicry, Englander goes for a more soulful approach—the results are both more sober and more satisfying. Yet, Englander's book is far from perfect. There's not a whole lot going on during a long central act, and uninterrupted anguish can be as numbing as riveting. For a book in which time and place are so important—Buenos Aires, 1978, at the height of the junta's murderous campaign against its own citizens—the city itself remains strangely opaque. It's a setting, but not a living, breathing place.
At his best, Englander conveys the horror of the period with tremendous power and respect, eschewing sensationalism for grim restraint. A short, stand-alone chapter on a young girl who is one of the many victims of the government's atrocities is the book's high ...more
At his best, Englander conveys the horror of the period with tremendous power and respect, eschewing sensationalism for grim restraint. A short, stand-alone chapter on a young girl who is one of the many victims of the government's atrocities is the book's high ...more
