Listen Live
Donate
 on air
    Schedule

    KCRW

    Read & Explore

    • News
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Culture
    • Events

    Listen

    • Live Radio
    • Music
    • Podcasts
    • Full Schedule

    Information

    • About
    • Careers
    • Help / FAQ
    • Newsletters
    • Contact

    Support

    • Become a Member
    • Become a VIP
    • Ways to Give
    • Shop
    • Member Perks

    Become a Member

    Donate to KCRW to support this cultural hub for music discovery, in-depth journalism, community storytelling, and free events. You'll become a KCRW Member and get a year of exclusive benefits.

    DonateGive Monthly

    Copyright 2026 KCRW. All rights reserved.

    Report a Bug|Privacy Policy|Terms of Service|
    Cookie Policy
    |FCC Public Files|

    Back to Bookworm

    Bookworm

    Howard Jacobson: The Finkler Question

    The Finkler Question is the winner of this year's Booker Prize, an amazing novel in that it's many things at once: comic, melancholic, philosophical and paradoxical.

    • rss
    Download MP3
    • Share
    By Michael Silverblatt • May 26, 2011 • 29m Listen

    The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury) is the winner of this year's Booker Prize. It's an amazing novel in that it's many things at once: hugely comic, melancholic, philosophical and paradoxical. If that were not enough, it explores two seemingly unrelated subjects: the relationship between men and women, and just what it is that makes someone a Jew. We talk about how Jacobson accomplishes all this in a novel in which the main characters are men and "Judaism" is not referenced.

    Read an excerpt from The Finkler Question.

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Michael Silverblatt

      host, 'Bookworm'

      CultureBooksArts
    Back to Bookworm