Dec 19, 2009
The Book of Lights | The Book of Lights
At a glance:
- Author: Chaim Potok
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1950-1957
- Setting: Brooklyn, Manhattan, Boston, Philadelphia, Korea, Japan, and Jerusalem
- Principal Characters: Gershon Loran, Arthur Leiden, Jacob Keter
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, New York City, War, Military life or service, Israel or Israelis, Atomic bomb, Chaplains, Japan or Japanese people, Judaism, Korea or Koreans, Talmud
- Locales: Manhattan, NY, Boston, MA, Philadelphia, PA, Brooklyn, NY, Jerusalem, Japan, Korea
The Novel
The Book of Lights is divided into three sections. The first details the seminary days of
Gershon Loran and Arthur Leiden at Riverside Hebrew Institute in Manhattan. The second section
follows Gershon in his year of chaplaincy duty in Korea right after the war. The third is a moving
account of the visit to Kyoto and Hiroshima by Gershon and Arthur who are now reunited.
After his parents were killed in terrorist cross fire in Palestine in 1937, Gershon was taken in by
his aunt and uncle. His aging uncle, afflicted with emphysema, attempts to run the...
[The entire page is 2211 words long]
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