Only Yesterday

Rating:
Summary: Pure Poetry
Review: "Only Yesterday" is, perhaps, Agnon's greatest work. In it, he displays the skill of a consummate novelist with the sensibilities of a poet. For those who are familiar with Hebrew poetry, particularly Biblical poetry, "Only Yesterday" conveys in English the rhythms and structure of classic Hebrew poetry while transmitting a sensual and, ultimately, tragic story. It is really not comparable to Singer; it is something far above and beyond Singer's work.

Rating:
Summary: Pure Poetry
Review: "Only Yesterday" is, perhaps, Agnon's greatest work. In it, he displays the skill of a consummate novelist with the sensibilities of a poet. For those who are familiar with Hebrew poetry, particularly Biblical poetry, "Only Yesterday" conveys in English the rhythms and structure of classic Hebrew poetry while transmitting a sensual and, ultimately, tragic story. It is really not comparable to Singer; it is something far above and beyond Singer's work.

Rating:
Summary: Finally in English -- one of the great novels of the century
Review: Agnon deserved his Nobel Prize. His most important work, Only Yesterday, casts an array of lights into the inner world of Judaism. Anyone who enjoys Bashevis Singer or Sholom Aleichem will kick themselves for the years they wasted without Agnon, who surpasses them. The translation itself is a wonder. It reproduces the Biblical style of narrative which Agnon brought to modern Hebrew literature. Agnon melds the traditional elements of Rabbinic parable and folkloric animal stories into the modern narrative of the turn-the-century Jewish settlers of Palestine. All in all, the appearance of the English translation is a great event, a must read for lovers of Jewish literature.

Rating:
Summary: Agree and Disagree
Review: As a lover of Yiddish writers I disagree with the reviewer who compared S.Y. Agnon to Isaac Bashevis Singer. I enjoyed Only Yesterday but don't think it compares at all to anything written by Singer. I found many passages in this book seemingly pointless and rambling, the grammar, in parts, was simplistic as was the style. This could have been the "fault" of the translators. I did enjoy parts of the books and wanted the whole book to be as good as the best parts but it wasn't the case. If you love books written by Yiddish authors I wholeheartedly recommend reading Only Yesterday by S.Y. Agnon but I urge you to read everything by Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Rating:
Summary: Agree and Disagree
Review: As a lover of Yiddish writers I disagree with the reviewer who compared S.Y. Agnon to Isaac Bashevis Singer. I enjoyed Only Yesterday but don't think it compares at all to anything written by Singer. I found many passages in this book seemingly pointless and rambling, the grammar, in parts, was simplistic as was the style. This could have been the "fault" of the translators. I did enjoy parts of the books and wanted the whole book to be as good as the best parts but it wasn't the case. If you love books written by Yiddish authors I wholeheartedly recommend reading Only Yesterday by S.Y. Agnon but I urge you to read everything by Isaac Bashevis Singer.