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The Jewel Trader of Pegu A Novel PS Jeffrey Hantover 9780061252716 Books

Download As PDF : The Jewel Trader of Pegu A Novel PS Jeffrey Hantover 9780061252716 Books

The Jewel Trader of Pegu A Novel PS Jeffrey Hantover 9780061252716 Books

The story is entertaining enough. The protagonists are carefully developed. The insight into the Jewish culture/religion is informative and deftly handled. The power of this book however, lies in its subject matter--humanity. If I were teaching a high level college course on the philosophy of life, this novel would be mandated reading. Indeed, there is so much meat on the bone, that this book could well serve as the centerpiece of course material. There is more than enough to consider, to reflect on, to define, to think about--to chew on--for an entire semester/quarter. The Jewel Trader of Pegu is so deeply beautiful, so well crafted (the story is told in letters and ruminations), that this book becomes its namesake, an absolute jewel. Indeed, one that is a must read so that one can enjoy, appreciate, and behold its beauty.


Tags : The Jewel Trader of Pegu: A Novel (P.S.) [Jeffrey Hantover] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In the autumn of 1598, Abraham, a melancholy young Jewish gem merchant, seeks his fortune far from the imprisoning ghetto walls of Venice. Traveling halfway across the world,Jeffrey Hantover,The Jewel Trader of Pegu: A Novel (P.S.),Harper Perennial,0061252719,Jews;Italy;Venice;History;16th century;Fiction.,Jews;Venice (Italy);History;Fiction.,Pegu (Burma);Social life and customs;16th century;Fiction.,16th century,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,FICTION General,FICTION Historical General,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction-Historical,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical - General,Historical fiction,History,Italy,Jews,Pegu (Burma),Social life and customs,United States,Venice

The Jewel Trader of Pegu A Novel PS Jeffrey Hantover 9780061252716 Books Reviews

This book is beautifully written. The words are delicious and the story insightful. There are many levels to the story which keep you reading and reading. The story of a man's journey personally, spiritually, romantically, ethically, etc. It is a book anyone will glean a pearl of wisdom from.
Great read fast interesting story and plot. Takes place in the late 1500's yet it could be later. Author seemed to have researched this well. I am not certain I liked the ending
The book was interesting at first. But then it became tedious, with the emphasis on deflowering brides. The writing did not flow easily and got bogged down with intricate descriptions. The ending was too artificial. I do not recommend this book.
Although beautifully written, Hantover's basic plot premise lacks believability. This gives the main character's moral struggle a specious feel. Additionally, Hantover's decision to switch between telling the story through Abraham's written letters and some vague first-person communication on the behalf of illiterate Mya is inconsistent at best. Mya seems to be a terribly one-dimensional character and I found the end of the story to be nothing more than a convenient way of wrapping up loose ends, lacking any real emotional or moral involvement on the part of the reader.

Hantover's eloquent prose shows that he has real promise as a writer, but clearly needs more attention to premise and theme to produce a work worthy of attention.
Jeff Hantover took me along on the best literary road trip I've been on in memory. From the first pages, the reader is there in the moment with the main character, Abraham, as the young man steps off the boat and is drawn into the exotic, slightly creepy, utterly sensual kingdom of Pegu.

One of the great pleasures of this book is Hantover's writing. He is like an artisan diamond cutter who obsesses over the tiniest details The words, sentences and paragraphs of this book sparkle, and were clearly crafted with great precision. The result is a book that is luxurious, elegantly understated, and flawless.
This beautifully written book was our Book Club choice from 2 months ago. It was well received by most members of group. Besides generally discussing the book characters and story, our big discussion was regarding the historical prejudice against the Jews in Europe even though this book took place so many centuries ago!
It was also interested to see how the main character felt so much for freedom in a culture so different from his because he did not have to where identifying clothing and to be curfewed and restricted to his ghetto after darkness. While this book is not fast paced, it is still very interesting from so many standpoints.
The Jewel Merchant of Pegu
This novel is written in the form of a series of letters to a cousin. Our traveler is Abraham and he writes to Joseph in the Venice ghetto. The Jews of Venice have been walled into what was once a shipyard and armory. In the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare tells us that Jews when leaving the Ghetto were required to wear red hats to identify their Jewishness. Here in the Pagu tale we are told that a yellow hat was required in Venice by Jews visiting outside the Ghetto. Also in the Pegu story we are told that the windows were bricked over, in MOV Shylock tells his daughter Jessica to come away from the casements lest they be disturbed by the Gentiles' revelry. A minor point, surely, but was only the ghetto wall bricked up or all the houses not clear.

The central theme is not the trade in uncut jewels ( I would have liked to hear more about that) no, only one page deals with gemstone trading. Most of our time is taken up with a supposed marriage ritual that Pegu brides were given to a visiting merchant for their first sexual experience and the blood-stained sheet was reverently handed over to the family in proof of the virtuous daughters' defilement. Virginity was highly prized by most Cultures and we have much historical evidence for that, why a complete reversal in the Pegu society. I don't buy it for a moment! The young groom wouldn't allow it for his bloodlines sake. Nonsense! Our Jewish gem merchant falls in love with one of the deflowered brides and these tender moments are well done and shows promise of the authors writing skills.

What destroyed the enterprise for me was that it is written with 21th century word structure, modern idioms, modern phrases and purports to know about things like astronomy, lenses, planets, and other philosophical ideas which had just or were just about invented or discussed in the early 17th century by the leaders in Science and Philosophy. It would have taken 50 years for these innovative thoughts to have filtered down to our Jewish trader. Not one of the reviewers on this page has mentioned this fact. Many have alluded to a feeling of inauthenticty but have not perceived why the tale hangs limply. A phony tale told by a not too imaginative writer.
The story is entertaining enough. The protagonists are carefully developed. The insight into the Jewish culture/religion is informative and deftly handled. The power of this book however, lies in its subject matter--humanity. If I were teaching a high level college course on the philosophy of life, this novel would be mandated reading. Indeed, there is so much meat on the bone, that this book could well serve as the centerpiece of course material. There is more than enough to consider, to reflect on, to define, to think about--to chew on--for an entire semester/quarter. The Jewel Trader of Pegu is so deeply beautiful, so well crafted (the story is told in letters and ruminations), that this book becomes its namesake, an absolute jewel. Indeed, one that is a must read so that one can enjoy, appreciate, and behold its beauty.