The one book that Adam Levin’s book The Instructions
Gurion Maccabee is a 10 year old prodigy with violent tendencies according to his school records. But he is so much more than that in this book which covers four days in his life, culminating in an event called the Gurionic War. Gurion’s mother is an Ethiopian psychiatrist who moved to Israel when she was young and joined the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and his father was training to be a rabbi when he decided to be a civil rights lawyer (who is currently defending the free speech of a neo-nazi). His mother loves when Gurion wins physical battles and his father loves when Gurion wins mental/linguistic battles. Gurion is a religious prodigy who has surprised many a rabbi with his knowledge and questions about the Torah. He also believes that there is a chance he might be the messiah.
The book really begins when Gurion is in the office at school and meets June. He instantly falls in love. It ends three days later with a war in the school. Along the way Gurion debates and fights and loves and deals with the meaning of words and loyalty. Gurion has been thrown out of 3 Hebrew schools for violence, so he is now in Aptakisic school in Chicago in a special section known as the Cage. The kids in the Cage are there because of the problems they have in school (violence, disruption, etc.) and while in the cage, they are forced to work on assignments while facing away from all other students and rarely being allowed to move. Gurion and his friend live for getting around the rules and making the job difficult for the faculty.
There’s not much I can go on about the plot. The book’s been described elsewhere as a one thousand page short story and that is basically what it is. The book plays out with the characters going on three page long speeches about their actions and motivations. Gurion has a love of wordplay and an interest in not only religious questions, but about words and their meanings. He wrestles with the thought that he might be the messiah and wonders how he would know and how he should act if he is the messiah. When a friend betrays him, Gurion turns the meaning of the word loyalty over and over in his mind to determine if it was a betrayal or not. And even the bad guys get into the act with one of the opposing students talking about how having Gurion’s best friend as an enemy, but not fighting him is the best thing possible for everyone. No one is shown as all good or all bad (with the exception of the neo nazi).
The tensions in the community, at school and with his father’s defense of the neo nazi come to a head at the end of the the third day and the fourth day is the culmination of not only the events in the book, but literally years of boiling under the surface issues. The last two hundred pages are the battle that is known as the Gurionic War.
The book is written in an interesting manner. It’s set in 2013 with Gurion writing about the events of the four days in 2006. This allows all kinds of freedom for Gurion to digress into the issues with the shovers (fans of the school basketball team that wear scarves and have recently had religious issues break out), what really happened when he was thrown out of the previous three schools, the past of his parents and extended interludes about religion and the meaning of words. This is not an easy book to read. It is extremely long and very dense. But it is fairly straightforward and understandable. By the time of the Gurionic War, you really understand what side everyone is on and why the War had to happen. You also see some of the effects of the war on the participants and losses many people suffer.
As I mentioned in the beginning, this book has been compared to Infinite Jest. If that style of book interests you then I highly recommend it. Otherwise stay away as it would only frustrate you.