Don't judge a book by its cover, or by its title. However, how could you not have great expectations from a book with the title "Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde" and with a strip of bacon on the cover? It turns out that what could have been funny, moving and profound (in "The Finkler Question" vein), is just a self-centred, mostly inarticulate succession of anecdotes and pseudo-insightful thoughts. As an avid reader of biographies, I can assure you that many lives or passages of them are fascinating; this one is not.
This extraordinary book is much more than the biography of the great Tiziano Vecellio. It is a fascinating account of the history of Venice during the sixteenth century, and from the city's unique viewpoint a thorough depiction and analysis of the main events in Italy and Europe. This renaissance fresco of a book brings the reader an appreciation of the greatness of Titian in the context of his time, set against his contemporaries. We see the man and the artist as was seen by patrons, friends, family, authorities, and other artists. Sheila Hale gives us as well insight into some of Titian's masterpieces providing her well-founded interpretations, descriptions of the tools and techniques at… Read more
It is hard to believe that this is the same author of The Finkler Question. Save a few isolated passages of good writing and an equally seldom number of funny bits, Zoo Time is nowhere near the depths of the story and the humour in The Finkler Question. In Zoo Time, Jacobson just rants in repetitive fashion as he tries to extend a pseudo plot to a novel-length book. In short, skip this one.
