The Penitent

by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Book Overview

The Penitent tells the story of Jospeh Shapiro, his rapid climb to prosperity, his quick plunge into promiscuity, and his subsequent flight to Israel in order to find salvation. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449206122
• ISBN13: 9780449206126
• Release Date: December 1984
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 10 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

The Master of Turning

I have read The Penitent several times over through the years and find it a rich and symbolic story. Singer is one of my favorite authors because he combines a love of life and nature with the longing to move beyond this world in order to embrace God Himself. This story is particularly meaningful today as we face tremendous crises in the material world. The Penitent (original Yiddish title is " The Master of Turning") shows the way to turn from empty self-seeking to a life aligned with God's purposes. In this case, he finds a way to do this through obedience to the Law of Israel or Torah. He and his first wife are living a life of financial success and acedemic accomplishment. Their moral life together is a life of extreme poverty. The Penitent knows this and has known it all along. Finally, in a break with the past he makes an end to his New York life. He yearns for and leaves for Israel. He faces constant temptation of the flesh and of the spirit, but makes his way to the Beautiful Land and finds a worthy mate as well. Piety and devotion, prayer and study replace greed and self-will which he formerly has found to be profoundly toxic for him. The penitent is ultimately nostalgic for the life of holiness to be found in Hasidic Judism. He is described by the narrator as a man with a shining and intelligent presence.

Powerful tale of one man's spiritual journey

"The Penitent," a novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, tells the story of a Jewish man named Joseph Shapiro. Joseph flees Poland during the era of Nazi aggression. He comes to America but eventually embarks on a spiritual journey that brings him to Israel. This is a relatively short book (117 pages in a paperback edition)."The Penitent" is masterfully written by Singer. The book actually consists of one story "nested" within another; the "frame" story is told by a first-person narrator, a writer who meets Joseph in Israel at the Wailing Wall. This brief frame story leads into the main part of the book: Joseph's first-person narration as told to this frame narrator. Thus the book could be read as an extended character study.Joseph turns from worldliness to orthodox Judaism, and "The Penitent" is essentially the story of this spiritual journey. Joseph's story is fascinating. He is a very opinionated narrator, and although you may disagree with many of his declarations, I found his voice to be consistently compelling. In his story he touches on many significant issues: sexual and ideological temptation, the complex linguistic world of the Jewish people, the relationship of the Jewish Bible to rabbinical writings, vegetarianism, etc. The shadow of the Holocaust is a key theme in Joseph's story.Throughout the book Joseph is a harsh critic of the modern world, especially of its literature and sexual values. Joseph has constant arguments with "the Evil One" throughout the book. Are these actual conversations with a demonic being, or just representations of Joseph's inner psychological state? Whichever they are, this device is used brilliantly by Singer. "The Penitent" is a richly peopled, remarkable work of fiction.

good book

Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Penitent is a captivating novel of lust, luxury and eventually Jewish orthodoxy. It begins with a pious man by the name of Joseph Shapiro meeting up with his long time favorite author Isaac. After meeting, the two begin talking and Joseph goes into detail about his metamorphosis from an immoral sinner to a pious Jew. Singer's writing style is one of elaborate detail and heartfelt emotion. Some of his major themes in the novel are suicide, the purpose of life, sexism (specifically the role of women) and mainly Jewishness. Being a Jewish man, Singer's knowledge of the religion is greatly reflected in this novel surrounded by debauchery and sinicism. Anyone questioning his faith or in need of entertainment should read this book.

Recommended

This is a very short novel about a holocaust survivor who later moves to America and becomes a successful businessman. Eventually he becomes disgusted with his immoral lifestyle. He decides to get away from immoral influences by moving to Israel. Once he is there, he finds that there are immoral people everywhere, even in the Holy Land. Throughout the book he struggles with a little voice that tells him not to worry about morals and to just have fun no matter what. When he finally does meet some moral people in Israel he decides to stay there and commit his life to being a good person. This is a book that most people can relate to. We struggle to be good and often blame our immoral actions on the bad influences of others. There is probably not one person in the world who is not in need of some improvement, so I recommend this book to everyone.