O Último Cabalista de Lisboa (The Sephardic Cycle #1) (2024)

The Strength of Weakness

Mystics are the smart alecks of the religious world, always exhibiting some degree of ironic detachment from the average believer. They're tolerated but generally everyone is annoyed by their aloof strangeness. The main gripe comes from religious leaders. Religious authority is exercised through two channels: creedal attestation and conformity to ritual. But mystics have as much regard for creeds as the average computer user does for the Microsoft Users Agreement. You sign it but who knows what it really means, and really, who cares. And mystics live in their heads whether they’re in public or not. So established ritual is of little importance even though they might participate in it fully.

It's the fact that mystics can't be reached by the organisational control-tools of doctrine and liturgy that really irritates religious leaders most. Medieval bishops were intensely suspicious of Meister Eckhart and his pals among the Rhineland Mystics. Sufis are still persecuted by fellow-Muslims. And Orthodox rabbis often eschew the Kabbalah and its devotees. Mystics are only rarely shown as heretics. But they also rarely fit the desired mould of a true believer.

Early 16th century Portuguese Jews who delved into the arcana of Kabbalah were hit with a double-whammy of hostility. First from Christians who suspected any Jewish practice - but especially those of the forcibly converted - as intended to hurt them either spiritually or physically. And then by fellow-Jews who felt Kabbalah was another name for magic, which is expressly forbidden by the Torah. Turning inward to unlock spiritual discovery may be objectively harmless but it remains an abiding threat to those in charge.

This is the central theme of Zimler's narrative, and, I think, the basis of its literary merit. While The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon is structured as a mystery and contains immense historical detail, the book, not unlike Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, is more than a simple genre study. What semiotics was to Eco, Kabbalah is to Zimler. And it’s the real subject of the piece.

The fundamental concepts of semiotics are familiar enough to most readers of literature: 'signifiers' and 'signifieds'. The first is comprised of sounds or words and the second of, not things, but concepts. Signifiers and signified are united in a sort of linguistic dance in which each influences the other continuously. This theme runs continuously in Eco, as it does in other writers like Borges. In fact Zimler borrows Borges's technique by claiming an entirely factual base to his story in the discovery of a set of documents.

Kabbalah is a different matter entirely. Kabbalah breaks the links between signifiers and signifieds even more radically than in the Borges-like pretence of fact. It is literally a language without referents, except referents to itself. In theoretical terms Kabbalah has a grammar and a semantics but no pragmatics. That is, it can be used for communication among human beings but that communication is only about itself. Everything is signifiers, nothing is signified in Kabbalah. But as with the non-signification of the idea of zero in mathematics, this has enormous significance. Borges, for example, used it to create an entirely new genre of ‘factional fiction’ inspired by kabbalistic 'method'.

Kabbalah's vocabulary, therefore, is viciously and solely defined circularly - by and within its own vocabulary. One submits to it trustfully, if at all, but any attempt to analyse its terms is fruitless. Kabbalah makes no claim to know what the connection is between its vocabulary and things in this world or any other, concrete or conceptual. It does point beyond itself, like a Greek icon. But it does not claim to express truth as a correspondence between words and things since it is not concerned about truth but about reality. Epistemology the science of how we know what we know, therefore, is completely irrelevant to Kabbalah.

What is relevant to Kabbalah is the expression of subjective experience. Call it the experience of transcendence to give it an indicative category. But even this is misleading because Kabbalah doesn't trade in the subjective/objective distinction. Like all mysticism, it seeks, in fact, to destroy any trace of this distinction in one's experience. Even the term 'one's experience' is antithetical to the spirit and intention of Kabbalah. The meaning of Kabbalah is what it allows: the perception of the real totality of existence.

Or so they tell me.

And this is what Zimler is getting at amidst the mass of narrative and historical detail in The Last Kabbalist. Zimler's use of mystery, with just a sprinkling of kabbalistic vocabulary, is enough to keep the reader interested. But notice that the genre of mystery depends on the reader's trust in what the deconstructionists now call, echoing Kabbalah, the 'deferral of meaning’. The reader must trust the author to provide ultimate enlightenment. This is precisely the function of kabbalistic language: the involvement of a person in the cosmic mystery, which will eschatologically reveal its meaning. The genre therefore isn't at all arbitrary but entirely appropriate as hinted at by the author in his preface.

Zimler's story also makes much of the factual perfidy of the Portuguese Christians who in the first instance force mass Jewish conversion and subsequently slaughter these Jews for reasons that are incomprehensible. It is this incomprehensibility which is also so clearly a part of Kabbalah. Not in the sense that Kabbalah as such is irrational or impenetrable but that the world itself is so. And it is so both 'here' in the visible world and 'there' in that 'above' since these two are images of one another. Kabbalah does not rationalise the mess of the world, it reveals it.

The gross injustices done to the Jews of Lisbon, therefore, are a reflection of similar injustices endured even in heaven. There is no gnostic tendency in Kabbalah. That is, there is nothing which suggests that this world will be saved by its destruction and assimilation into a heavenly ideal. Improvement is not a matter of apocalyptic upheaval but of constant, often tedious, sometimes dangerous graft, sheer hard work. Consequently, it is necessary for Zimler's protagonist, Berekiah, to pursue justice for his slain uncle at the risk of his own life.

By seeking retribution Berekiah is, in fact, doing his duty to improve both the world Below and the world Above. In theological terms, it is the responsibility of mankind as agents of the divine to continuously re-create a defective (but not inherently evil) cosmos. This is not a tale of blind, obsessive, revenge but of cosmic improvement. The protagonist knows this from the moment he receives the keys to his family home in Lisbon. He returns from his exile in Constantinople only with great apprehension, and certainly not with any blood-lust.

Finally, as I mentioned above, Kabbalah, although it intends no explicit opposition to established authority, implicitly undermines all authority by isolating itself from the instruments of political power. The political powers involved in the book include not just the Catholic Church and the Portuguese Crown as the direct instigators of injustice to Judaism, but also the powers-that-be within Judaism itself, rabbis and other leaders of the community. These latter would like to suppress if not persecute kabbalistic practice. Peaceful relations not justice is their principle goal. So in a very specific sense the book, is about the Kabbalah as a strategy of resistance to power, as a liberation not just from power, but from the need for power to escape power.

There is of course an overriding irony to the entire story. Followers of Kabbalah essentially just want to be left alone. But the demands of Kabbalah force the issue of justice, thus involving the Kabbalist intimately in the sordid affairs of the world. A remarkable tale, therefore, that has far more to say that is apparent at first reading.

Zimler is a smart aleck of the first rank. More power to him. Or perhaps less if he is indeed a follower of Kabbalah.

Erudite and historical, this story transported me to Portugal during the Inquisition. It is a beautiful reading, even if sometimes misfortune "weighs down" these pages.

Se eu fosse uma pessoa mística diria que nos últimos dias os deuses reuniram esforços para que esta leitura ficasse na memória. Mas não sou, logo, acredito que não passou de uma feliz coincidência, ter conhecido a história da Igreja de São Domingos, ter ouvido no rádio um historiador contar com todos os pormenores o hediondo massacre dos judeus em Lisboa e no mesmo dia ter assistido a uma entrevista com Richard Zimler.
Não fiquei por aqui; visitei a igreja, pisei a calçada onde na Páscoa de 1506, os padres dominicanos incitaram a população a perseguir, esquartejar e queimar seres humanos culpados de professarem uma religião diferente. Ignorância ou pura maldade?
Não gostei deste episódio histórico do nosso país mas gostei de calcorrear as ruas onde aconteceu; se as pedras falassem contariam certamente muito mais.
Da historia do livro também gostei mas fiquei um pouco baralhada com tantos nomes judeus e nem sempre foi fácil seguir o seu percurso. Das teorias da cabala é melhor nem falar...
Ainda assim, gostei do ritmo e suspense da investigação; o autor tem uma escrita fluída, mas por vezes um pouco repetitiva. Todo o enredo é explicado (o que não invalida que às vezes tenha ficado a léguas de entender todos os pormenores) e ainda desvendou o desenrolar das vidas de todas as personagens ao longo dos 44 anos após a matança. Para quem gosta de históra é uma leitura imperdível.

Este é um livro que abrange os nossos conhecimentos sobre a cultura judaica, e narra os acontecimentos passados no século XV com a passagem da Inquisição que levou à morte de milhares judeus à fogueira.
Em paralelo é contada a história de Berequias disposto a todo para descobrir o assassino de seu tio. Uma obra que nos leva a reflectir sobre as perseguições religiosas.

The hero of this historical mystery is Berekiah Zarco, a Portuguese secret Jew who is determined to find out who murdered his uncle, even though Lisbon is teeming with maddened Christians determined to attack anyone they suspect may be a Jew.

This was my favorite of the 54 books I read in 2011 for several reasons:
• It takes place in fascinating time period, about a century after the Spanish Reconquista, when the Inquisition was wreaking terror in Spain and Portugal was in danger of being next.
• Part of the book takes place in Istanbul, a city I love.
• Zimler writes beautifully.
• The book is rich in period details that bring both Lisbon and Istanbul (then Constantinople) to life.
• The plot is complex.
• This is a book about relationships as much as it is a mystery novel. The interactions between Berekiah and his Uncle Abraham, between Berekiah and his best friend, and between Berekiah and his extended family both moved the plot along and made one care about all the characters.
• I enjoyed learning about kabbalism in the early 16th century.

This is a book I plan to read again, in part because the plot was so complex and in part just to enjoy being with these characters again.

I recommend The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon to anyone who likes historical fiction or historical mysteries or who has an interest in the history of the Sephardic Jews.

Lido já há muito tempo, numa época "pré-goodreads", adiciono-o agora às minhas leituras realizadas porque as actualizações de uma "amiga goodreads" mo fez relembrar 😊

Relembro uma belíssima história, cativante e interessante que gostei muito de ler.
Mas mais que isso, relembro a descoberta que fiz com ele sobre a nossa história e a dos judeus em Portugal. Na altura pouco ou nada sabia sobre este assunto e lembro-me de ficar estarrecida com muito do que aprendi com este livro e com as pesquisas que ele me motivou a fazer.

Recordo-o como uma belíssima experiência de leitura.

This historical novel creates the time and place of the 1506 Lisbon massacre in which hundreds of "new Christians" were accused of being secret Jews and were tortured, killed, and burnt at the stake. However, in this book the pogrom against the Jews serves merely as surrounding environment while the focus of the book's plot is on determining the identity of the murderer of a respected Jewish mystic (Kabbalist). With hundreds from the community being murdered in the streets one would think that the death of this one individual would not be of that much concern. But there's evidence that the killer in this case was an insider from within the Jewish community. Thus the mystery, who did it?

The story depicts many of the Jewish traditions being practiced in secret with considerable detail. It also includes experiences and rituals of Jewish mysticism and does so with sober respect. Thus it describes seeing apparitions, visions, and issuing prophetic warnings. There's one instance of demon possession and exorcism.

The book goes into considerable detail at the beginning of the book describing the original text for this story as having been written in the sixteenth century. Readers of this review can refer to my comment in "Reading Progress" to learn my opinion about that. The book's ending claims to be a warning from the sixteenth century to Jews of the future to leave Europe because of coming persecution. If written in the sixteenth century that would be very prophetic. However, predicting future persecution for the Jewish community has historically been a fairly safe prediction to make.

One prediction for the future that I found interesting is that in the future there would be only mystics and atheists, no serious religionists. It's sort of a description of the Enlightenment--a time when people wouldn't care enough about religion to kill others. Those who value the spiritual would would be lost in their own mystic experiences and would leave others alone.

I was impressed by the writing skill that is on display in this book. However, the murder mystery plot was too drawn out for me, but in all fairness I need to note that I'm not a fan of murder mysteries. This book does have an interesting publishing history. The author couldn't get it published in the United States, so he published in Portugal. The book was a best seller in many countries of Europe before American publishers were willing to take it on.

This was not a book but a landscape: the landscape of Portugal into which the Spanish Inquisition had spread. The author gives us many details of the daily life of the "New Christians," the Jews forced to convert to Christianity, and then shows in graphic detail how that life was shattered and the blood ran out.

What he doesn't give us are characters who make any sense. I couldn't sympathize with the main characters or visualize the minor ones: they all ran together. The Muslim friend of the hero of the book is a magic token, much like the "magic Negro" in a lot of American literature. The prose is florid and overwrought, while the mystery is half-baked. A Dickensian chapter at the end reveals what happens to all the characters in later life, but since I didn't care for them in the main body of the story, I had no interest in their further adventures. I also believe that some of the thoughts in the mind of the major character belong to our century, not his--and they are thoughts about Judaism from someone who thinks that belief or secularism are the only two options, and mutually exclusive. That's not how Judaism has been lived, and certainly that is not the choice today.

It's disappointing that a book with a promising premise (a kabbalist is murdered at home, in a locked hiding place, during anti-Jewish riots in Lisbon, and his nephew and heir has to figure out what happened without getting killed himself) lost so much in the execution.

3.5? This book, set in Portugal just after the Inquisition, where Jews (New Christians) were massacred, the nephew of the famous Kabbalist Abraham is at the center of both a mystery, and the race to save the lives of his remaining family, neighbors, and community, while also saving a genezia full of books and torahs, and other sacred writings, largely done by members of his family.

What is it about Geniziahs these days? I swear to God this is like the fifth book I have read in the last six months which features a geniziah as its central character and plot twist. And it sounds like the author wrote the novel out of actual pages, from an actual person detailing his adventures leaving Portugal in 1506 as the Last Kabbalist in Lisbon.

The book was filled with violence and hatred, and that was painful, but also mysticism and mystical experiencing, and the unveiling of all the characters of how they survived keeping pieces of their old identities alive, as their very lives were at risk. It was interesting, painful, and the whole mystical mystery, and the saving of the sacred writings and illustrated works, is at the center of the tale.

Just one detail to mention that for me makes the book - and in no way destroys the plot. Its the friendship Beri has with his deaf Arab friend Farid. As children they played together, and they had developed a sophisticated language of communication using sign and spelling, totally that they had devised. Watching the friends communicate in a deeply profound way, and witnessing their precious friendship, even in the most perilous of times, was the absolute heart and soul of the book for me. Just beautiful and enduring. And private. Seemingly no one else had the relationship with Farid, no one valued him, nor knew how smart and insightful, committed and loyal he was. What is unknown to most, is that Arab-Jewish, or Gentile-Jewish tight friendships like these have existed for centuries and still today. So glad that was an element featured in the book.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the horrific descriptions of the Jewish pogroms in Lisbon during Passover, 1506, I could not put down this book. No detail is spared of the horrendously violent deaths of ‘New’ Christians, Jews who had been forcibly converted a few years beforehand, at the hands of ‘Old’ Christians, led and encouraged by Dominican friars.

This is essentially a murder mystery, a well written and exciting one, but what makes it different is its historical and religious setting. The main character, Berekiah Zarco, has been educated by his uncle, a renowned Kabbalist, and the book is steeped in mysticism. If you’ve been to Lisbon, you will think of it differently after reading this book, I promise you.

I have to give this 5*. It fulfilled my expectations of historical fiction because I learned so much and it was a real page-turner of a murder mystery. The occasional lapses into American English jarred with me as they always do when a book has a historical setting like this but it would be churlish and pointless to say that it detracted from its strengths. Strongly recommended - a great read!

Já andava para ler este livro há uns bons anos.
Gostei de ter aprendido mais sobre a vida dos judeus em Portugal na altura da inquisição,sobre a sua forte presença em Lisboa e sobre as horríveis perseguições de que foram alvo.Era bastante ignorante nessa matéria e por isso foi muito enriquecedor.
A história em si já não me interessou tanto. É um policial e esse estilo nunca me cativa.
É um livro com vários personagens e confesso que a certa altura já os confundia todos, ou quase todos.
Valeu a pena porque está muito bem escrito e porque contribuiu para a minha cultura geral, e só isso já é muito bom.

Primeira leitura em Junho de 1999 - 5 Estrelas.
Re-leitura em Fevereiro de 2016 - preparação para passeio turístico temático pela Lisboa judaica do século XVI, com base no texto da obra de R. Zimler. Mantenho as 5 Estrelas.

O autor começa por dizer no prefácio que a obra é baseada num manuscrito da época que encontrou uma casa de um amigo em Istambul, na Turquia (antiga Constantinopla, onde o protagonista irá morar), escrito por Berequias Zarco, o último cabalista de Lisboa, após o assassinato do seu Mestre e tio Abrãao Zarco e o Massacre dos Judeus de 1506 em Lisboa. Acompanhamos o seu percurso pelas ruas de Lisboa em busca da verdade relativamente à morte do seu tio, mas também à sua verdade interior. A obra tem também um carácter místico, relacionado com a Cabala.

Tinha uma vaga lembrança da história deste livro, sabia que falava do Massacre dos Judeus que ocorreu na Páscoa de 1506 em Lisboa (de 19 a 21 de Abril) e que o protagonista Berequias Zarco deambulava pelas ruas de Lisboa da época em busca de respostas para o assassinato do seu tio Abrãao Zarco. Já não me lembrava de pormenores, nem de quem era o assassino. Foi uma leitura de redescoberta, noutro tempo, noutra idade. Dei importância talvez a aspectos para os quais não estava desperta nessa altura.

Em Lisboa, no Largo junto à Igreja de São Domingos, palco deste sangrento e insano massacre, existe um monumento que o recorda e que valoriza a tolerância portuguesa. À luz da época, foi um acontecimento imenso, foi relatado por cronistas portugueses (Garcia de Resende, Damião de Góis, por exemplo) e estrangeiros. Tratou-se de um verdadeiro "pogrom", despoletado por uma questão mesquinha e sem importância, mas com uma questão política, económica e social por trás. Não terá sido por acaso que o Rei D. Manuel I não interveio mais cedo para acalmar os ânimos na cidade e deixou que a carnificina se prolongasse por 3 dias, com o resultado segundo alguns relatos de mais de 4000 mortos.
O que aconteceu posteriormente foi que, tal como o Mestre Abrãao Zarco previu e Berequias narra na obra, Portugal deixou de ser um país com futuro para os judeus, pois em 1540 deu-se a entrada da Inquisição e do Tribunal do Santo Ofício em Portugal.
A obra dá-nos um relato interessante da loucura que se viveu nesses dias, rodeado de suspense devido ao enigma do assassino e só perde no epílogo por ser uma conclusão mais de 20 anos depois dos acontecimentos, em que tomamos conhecimento do destino das personagens, mas de uma forma um pouco pobre comparativamente ao resto do livro. Ainda assim, merece as 5 Estrelas.

It's difficult for me to express just how much I adored this book. I picked it up intending to read a couple chapters in the tub before going to bed early. I ended reading until the water was cold and my room mates banged on the door. When I finally finished I immediately wanted to reread it to get more of the details.[return][return]It's captivating and exciting, making you want to devour the text in big gulps. Putting this down is painful because you want to know more. The loose ends are not neatly tied up at the end of each chapter, nor at the end, which is wonderful. I hate it when an author ties up the story with a neat little bow.[return][return]The book operates on several levels. It's a historical novel about Jews in Portugal, anti-semitism, forced conversion, reactions to the plague, kabbalah, and bonds of friendship and blood. It also deals with the masks that people wear in varying social situations, and losing yourself in those masks. Jewish religious practice and the Kaballah are, not surpisingly, very important to how the mystery plays itself out. Then there is the murder mystery, friends and family lost and feared dead, and stolen property. I'm making this sound ponderous, but Zimler keeps all those balls in the air, and doesn't ram his opinions down our throat.[return][return]This novel isn't only for Jews or mystery fans. It's a brilliant work of fiction that most anyone would love. Buy a copy for yourself, and a copy to give away.

Para quem não se interessa minimamente por religião, pensei que seria difícil chegar ao fim deste livro. No entanto a maneira cativante como a história está escrita transportou-me para aquela época e criei afinidades com os personagens. A narrativa envolveu-me. Gostei da interessante reconstituição histórica e de aprender mais sobre os judeus em Portugal de quem só tinha ouvido falar quando li O JUDEU na escola. Aconselho a quem goste de história de Portugal e a quem tenha curiosidade por uma Lisboa do início do séc. XVI e que por vezes parece que não mudou assim tanto.

“God comes to each of us in the form we can best perceive Him. To you, just now, He was a heron. To someone else, He might come as a flower or even a breeze.”

Um relato interessantíssimo daquele que foi um dos capítulos negros da história de Portugal. Um retrato muito interessante sobre o judaísmo, com avisos premonitórios e lições de quem não queria ver a história repetir-se.

A busca incessante do assassino do seu tio, leva Berequias Zarco, um judeu a viver em Portugal, a traçar-nos um retrato de Lisboa no início de 1500, sob o reinado de D. Manuel I.

No seio de uma família judia e adepta da cabala, o narrador da história relata-nos as atrocidades levadas a cabo por um povo português que se revelou ignorante e preconceituoso.

Um livro baseado numa história real, escrita em manuscritos antigos encontrados pelo autor na Turquia.

Este livro marca o 1º do ciclo sefardita de Richard Zimler, e os restantes já estão à espera na prateleira.

Um retrato surpreendente, chocante e pormenorizado da Lisboa intolerante pré inquisição em Portugal, em 1500, na demanda de acabar com o povo judeu. É incrível revisitar a cidade aos olhos de Berequias Zarco e perceber que, em tantos locais por onde já passei, morreram e foram torturadas tantas e tantas pessoas numa outra época, em nome da religião.

Neste primeiro livro de uma série de quatro, Richard Zimler narra detalhadamente o massacre de cerca de dois mil judeus (marranos), em Lisboa, na Páscoa de 1506, no reinado de D. Manuel.
O leitor não fica imune à crueldade dos factos ocorridos e instigados pelos frades dominicanos que incitam os cristãos ávidos de violência e de vingança em perseguição aos judeus. A veracidade histórica que perpassa ao longo da narrativa inculca, indelevelmente, ao leitor o medo, a suspeita, o ódio, a traição vividos pelos cristãos-novos que não conseguem abjurar a sua fé e que, por isso, clandestinamente continuam a praticar os seus rituais judaicos, sendo então perseguidos e atirados para a fogueira da Inquisição.
O leitor embrenhado na narrativa sente, igualmente, o cheiro das fogueiras, o cheiro nauseabundo dos corpos mortos, o cheiro do esterco que se acumula e estende nas ruas de Lisboa e assiste à fome, à seca severa e à peste que assolam na capital e matam tantas pessoas anónimas, inocentes.
Para narrar este episódio duro da nossa história, o autor enveredou por uma estrutura etiquetada de thriller. E assim, o mistério criado à volta do mestre cabalista Abraão Zarco, um dos judeus mais influentes da época, e do seu sobrinho Berequias Zarco vai permitir absorver mais facilmente toda a loucura, crueldade, intolerância e ignorância do ser humano. O enredo é um autêntico puzzle de figuras, intrigas e acontecimentos que se arrodilham ao longo da trama, mas que no final se esclarecem.
Para os apreciadores desta temática recomendo a sua leitura.

I've seen this book praised for its historical detail, but I found it grating because it imposed a lot of modern sensibilities on the past. It proposes itself as a translation of a period manuscript, but it captures nothing of the writing style of the era, and asks us to suspend our disbelief that a 16th century Portuguese Jew would have written a thoroughly modern novel, complete with sexual references. I've read medieval texts and while they talk about sex, sometimes in a ribald way, they don't-- how can I put this-- focus on it the way we moderns do. For medievals, sex is a plot element, not a scene or character development.

Another modernity: the protagonist has a deaf gay sidekick-- which I wouldn't mind except that the other characters seem to find this completely unremarkable because being gay (a modern construction) in the early 1500's in one of the most Catholic countries in the universe is perfectly normal. At the end the gay man even has a long-term committed relationship and adopts two kids and nobody bats an eyelash. It reminds me of this horrible novel some of my suitemates had to read our freshman year in college. It was pretty clear the characters were designed to meet some sort of diversity quota.

I only gave it three stars because I'm so interested in the era in which the book is set.

Terrível e belo. Terrível o que os homens conseguem fazer a outros homens, seja por diferenças religiosas, por interesse económico ou por medo, chamemos-lhe inquisição, ideologia nazi, ou qualquer outra que vai perdurando pelos séculos.
Gostei muito do que o livro me conta sobre um período negro da nossa história e fiquei a querer saber mais.
São belas as relações familiares, de amizade ou de simples contacto entre as personagens. Somos sempre responsáveis pelo futuro.
É de leitura compulsiva.

Um policial passado em Lisboa de 1506, focado na perseguição, extermínio e expulsão dos judeus pelos Dominicanos e Reis Católicos.
Interessante na medida em que retrata um época histórica muito marcante da cidade de Lisboa e por conseguinte, bastantes aspectos da cultura judaica, mas tenho de confessar que não me encantou a escrita e estrutura do livro. Achei um pouco confuso mas concedo que parte do problema resida no ritmo lento em que o li.
Relacionado com esta temática mantenho a curiosidade de ler outras obras a retratá-la, designadamente O Último Judeu e O Mercador Português

1 NOV 2015 - it's a re-read.

7 NOV 2015 - this is a book to read slowly in order to savor the goodness. It is still a 5.

Primeiro livro que leio sobre o brutal massacre de 1506 em Lisboa. Precedeu o holocausto em quase 500 anos e parece que a história se repete e nada se aprende.
Um livro que mexeu comigo nos capítulos sobre o dia do massacre, com descrições que visualizamos muito bem e que nos faz revolver o estômago. Descreve muito bem a velha cidade de Lisboa pré-terramoto de 1755.
A estrutura do livro parece ser de mistério para saber quem matou quem, mas faz um resumo para os leigos das tradições judaicas, dos códigos da cabala, com o uso de muitas expressões hebraicas e que me deixou por vezes confuso sobre quem era o personagem ou o objecto em uso. Muito interessante para uma introdução ao estudo da época, do mix de raças e credos que compunham esta cidade no século XVI em plena época dos descobrimentos, que consideramos uma época mágica para os portugueses, mas com muitas zonas cinzentas e de que normalmente ninguém refere. É importante considerar a época como um todo com escravatura, matança pela religião, miséria, doenças... Todo esse conjunto enriquece o nosso conhecimento e melhor percebemos como coisas tão simples, pequenas podem atear o rastilho e de novo assistirmos a massacres. Recomendo a quem gosta de História e de não foge dos assuntos difíceis de falar.

"Do you know what it means to look at a headless baby sitting in a shovel? It is as if all the languages in the world have been forgotten, as if all the books ever written have given up to dust. And that you are glad for it."

In this extraordinary book, Zimler takes us back to the beginning of the 16th century in Portugal, a time of unspeakable cruelty against Jews for no reason but their faith, making us live the bloody and horrific events along with Berequias Zarco, who, being a new Christian, witnesses first-hand the terrible consequences of that irrational hatred.

But The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon is even more than that report about the cruelty humans are capable of. It is a story about loss, pain, revenge and faith; all of them so well conjugated with the plot that I couldn't help feeling like I was there too. I was there when Berequias found the dead body of his beloved uncle (the reason why everything started) and felt his loss and pain. I was there when inside him started to burn a desire of revenge, a need stronger than anything else to find the assassin and kill him. I was there when the Jews were mourning the loss of so many loved ones, burned alive by the old Christians. I was there when Berequias realized that there are things his faith can't survive, that he was losing his faith in God. I was there during the whole time he was investigating the murder, unconvering secrets his uncle kept from him, while dealing with everything else. I was there when he finally found the killer; felt his rage, his pain, his loss.

And along with such an amazing, well-built plot comes also realistic and extremelly well created characters. Berequias, our clever protagonist, who found in himself the strenght to go after an assassin while dealing with his inner demons, his own grief and his pain that were making him doubt everything, even his faith, and allowing an intense hatred towards the old Christians to grow inside him, an undeniable proof of what irrational hatred can receive in return. Farid, a deaf mute Muslin, who was Berequias' best friend and help while solving the case, gifted with an eye for detail and an unwavering faith. Simão, Carlos and Diego, friends of Berequias' uncle and living proofs of what fear is capable of.

However, a book like this isn't the type of book anyone can read. References to the Judaist tradition and philosofic conversations can be found almost every page, making the reading even harder than it had necessarily to be, considering the theme. The little and sudden appeareances of the supernatural out of nowhere in a book that seems such an awfully realist report of human cruelty are also a negative point as it broke my whole mood while reading, making me feel confused.

But overall, this book is good. The way Zimler is capable of picturing all that unreasonable violence, all that hatred and its devasting consequences - the struggles to keep faith alive when you can't help but wonder how God could allow something like that happen, the fear that makes people capable of the most awful actions, the pain of losing the loved ones under such terrible cirscunstaces - at the same time that develops a mystery plot is surely extraordinary and proof of his talent. Therefore, I would recommed it to any reader who is fan of Historical Fiction stories.

"Blesssd are all of God's self-portraits."

You can also find this review on my blog

3,75*
Gostei muito.
Apesar de não ser uma história complexa e de grande mistério, Zimler oferece uma visão sobre um período trágico da história de Lisboa que talvez muitos não conhecem. Não sabendo muito acerca deste período, vi-me bastante envolvida nesta parte histórica tão vivamente retratada. Para além disso adorei ler acerca de Lisboa do século XVI.
Com certeza que continuarei a ler as obras deste autor.

The Inquisition and the persecution of Jews are topics that always interested me, so I was curious to read this book because it’s focused precisely on them and it's set in ancient Portugal. If you like historical fiction and to learn more about historical events which are entangled in a fictional narrative, you should probably give this novel a try. I really enjoyed Zimler’s writing style as well as his way of narrating, and I sure want to read more from him.

A fascinating story of the Jewish remnant hidden in Lisbon in plain sight. Living as Catholic and holding to their own religion behind the facade and eventually fleeing or worse. A beautifully written story laced with historical truth.

I must get around to a re-read of this.

O livro que acabei de ler é historicamente muito interessante e revelador.
De facto, explica aos leitores a perseguição que foi movida aos judeus no início do século XVI, no reinado de D. Manuel I, e que já se tinha iniciado no final do século XV com a conversão forçada dos judeus.
A intolerância religiosa no reino de Castela acabou por se instalar em Portugal e o anti-semitismo crescente de que foram alvo os cristãos-novos pelos cristãos-velhos culminou na Páscoa Judaica de 1506, com o assassínio de muitos judeus levado a cabo pela população lisboeta, incitada pelos frades dominicanos, muitos deles queimados em fogueiras no Rossio, sob o pretexto de serem os causadores da seca, fome e peste, fazendo já prever a instalação da Inquisição em Portugal e dos consequentes autos de fé.

É irónico que os séculos XV e XVI que, na Europa Cristã, tenham sido a época dos Descobrimentos, do Renascimento, do final da Idade Média, do florescimento da cultura, das artes, do desenvolvimento das ciências, sejam também a época da perseguição religiosa contra outras religiões, sobretudo, contra o judaísmo.

A parte final do livro além de constituir um aviso, é também uma profecia para os judeus: o conselho do narrador para que saiam da Europa cristã para sua própria segurança, sendo que no século XX o Holocausto perpetrado pelos nazis na Europa foi o culminar de todo o ódio contra um povo.

Lamento que na escola, tanta relevância se dê aos Descobrimentos e tão pouco se fale sobre a perseguição de judeus e muçulmanos que culminou com a Inquisição.

Como policial, o livro está também muito bem escrito, e até ao seu final o "suspense" está sempre presente; aliás, o autor consegue confundir-me: nunca imaginaria que o assassínio do tio do narrador fosse o cristão-novo Diego, que veio para Portugal para fugir da Inquisição em Castela.

Contudo, dou 3 estrelas e não 4 ao livro por dois motivos: a) a descrição excessivamente pormenorizada de todas as agressões, torturas e violências cometidas contra os judeus conversos é de uma crueldade extrema e muito repetitiva, pelo que pode ter um efeito inverso ao pretendido - a indiferença; b) a vingança cega que move Berequias Zarco para descobrir o assassino do seu tio e puni-lo acaba por desumanizá-lo, porque o faz esquecer da sua família que perdeu, além do tio, o seu irmão de cinco anos, tornando-o indiferente ao sofrimento da sua pequena irmã, mãe, tia e prima e até de si próprio, bem como às preocupações do seu melhor amigo com o desaparecimento do seu pai.