Town Hall Schmooze
Yori Yanover on Broadway: Biodegradable Hero
Yori Yanover Radio Interviews Put this Apocalyptic Fantasy Novel on your Summer Reading List About Yori Yanover Watch Yori Reading from "The Cabalist's Daughter" Read the first 20 pages of "The Cabalist's Daughter" Read Reviews of "The Cabalist's Daughter" Yori's Neighborhood Magazine Yori's Hi-Rez Images  "How Would God REALLY Vote?" (with Larry Yudelson) Home |
Reviews of "The Cabalist's Daughter"
Five Star Review Yori Yanover has crafted the Jewish answer to the blockbuster TV action series "24." The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption by Yori Yanover is the most clever action-packed Jewish novel ever written. This book is informed by Yanover's deep knowledge of Jewish religion and beliefs and his wide learning of kabbalah and Jewish messianism. Yori maintains a pace of action in this book that can rival that of any of the best screenwriters in Hollywood today. Tzvee Zahavy, Tzvee's Talmudic Blog Read More Humorous Tales of Woe and Apocalypse While the plot in the second half moves quickly and creates a great deal of suspense, my favorite parts are the work’s strange and wonderful theological discourses. For example, Abulafia writes that "some scholars suggest Creation is the handiwork of a sadistic celestial child, who delights in pulling the wings off butterflies and babies from their mothers’ bosoms. Soon, they surmise, God’s mother will come into the room and smack him, and thus bring an end to our suffering." (This is one of the milder interpretations of celestial behavior offered.) When explaining Abulafia’s interpretation of Samael’s behavior, Yanover notes that the unfortunate angel is only doing his job: Samael "is in charge of destroying the Jews, and so followed orders like a loyal soldier." Even though Jewish prophesies usually predict his defeat, that doesn’t stop him: "If Samael were to take every blasted prophecy seriously, he might have as well closed up shop and concentrated on his real passion, creating crossword puzzles for the New York Times." Rachel Esserman, The Reporter Read More Crazy & Serious The Cabalist’s Daughter is a bipolar sort of book. On one hand, it’s a crazy, unhinged vision of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, starting with a wild supposition and growing steadily wilder from the first page onwards–what if the Lubavitcher Rebbe had a clone? On the other, it’s a pretty serious book that touches upon messianism, rape, global warming, peace in the Mideast, and those perpetually-impending nuclear crises that the news people are so fond of reporting about. Matthue Roth, Mixed Multitudes - My Jewish Learning Read More It's One of a Kind -- Yet Funny If you're fascinated by mysticism, if you like techno-thrillers, redheads, tough Jews, New York City and Scranton, Pennsylvania... If you think the end is nigh, if you're bemused by government ineptness but hate terrorists and evil angels... If you levitate or have spent any amount of time meditating in a cave, buried up to your neck... If you want to read only one book this year that features both a (pseudonymous) Lubavitcher rebbe (the Grand Master) and musician Leon Russell (the Master of Space and Time)... If you want to think about the Bible in new ways and have a laugh in the process... Then pick up Yori Yanover's "The Cabalist's Daughter." It's better than whatever you're reading now. David Holzel, Customer Review on Amazon Thrilling, Funny--and Deep The Cabalist's Daughter is a modern day thriller dresssed in the garments of a three thousand year old tradition. The action is gut-gripping and the tongue-in-cheek humor lively and intelligent. But underneath the suave surface the author grapples with the fundamental concepts of the Jewish tradition and the ageless question regarding human suffering. He takes nothing at face value and through his questioning arrives at a deeper understanding of the stories and ideas that have long been taken for granted. The machine that drives and connects the far flung ideas of terrorism, cloning, Kabbalah, and messianic redemption is a brilliant creativity and refreshing absurdity that rivals The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. D. Caplan, Customer Review on Amazon |