narrative happiness companion commentary

books:

2 reviews
Robert Alter

Basic Books, 1987

This book should never be out of print
This is one of the books that I was supposed to read for a class but didn't get around to it until now. I am halfway through this book and it is one of the most readable academic books that I've read. It is no wonder that Robert Alter has set and will set the standards by which Biblical litery criticism is judged. The Bible comes alive under his translations and his insights into the text make ...

The Literary Guide to the Bible

2 reviews

Belknap Press, 1990

Massive, insightful and a little daring
It's a major task "analysing" a book with so many variations and long historical scope. Limiting the parameters to "literary" aspects is hardly a pruning - even when historical elements are essentially stripped away. Alter and Kermode saved themselves some of the labour by farming out much of the analysis required for this job. The result is a collection of essays readable only in selected ...

Genesis: Translation and Commentary

13 reviews

W. W. Norton & Company, 1997

Life Changing
There are hosts of people for whom reading the Bible has been a life-changing experience. Reading this book was a life-changing experience for me as it changed the way I read the Bible. Alter shows Genesis as a work of literature. This doesn't mean that it holds no timeless truths. Rather the reverse. The fact that Genesis was written with a spirit beyond that found in a mere journalistic ...

Good Husband, Great Marriage: Finding the Good Husband...in the Man You Married

36 reviews
Robert Mark Alter

Grand Central Publishing, 2007

Very helpful for some couples
This book is ideal for women who wish their husbands would treat them with a little more kindness and respect, but who feel too intimidated to insist on it. After reading it, I did four things. (1) I told my husband that I no longer though of him as "imperfect," but instead as being "90% perfect". I said he's not an abuser, adulterer, or an addict; he works hard for the family; he loves ...

The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary

20 reviews
Robert Alter

W. W. Norton, 2007

(you will) shout for joy, (you will) even sing (Ps 65)
Not being a scholar, I cannot review this book appropriately. But I can tell you why I am enjoying it and why I recommend that you read it and use it for reference (or reverence) Alter writes, "What I have aimed at in this translation - inevitably, with imperfect success - is to represent Psalms in a kind of English verse that is readable as poetry yet sounds something like the Hebrew - ...

The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel

19 reviews
Robert Alter

W. W. Norton & Company, 2000

A really incredible translation of a really great story
It's really a shame that Robert Altar has "only" translated Samuel I and II and the Five Books of Moses because once you read one of his translations with all of their glorious commentary, using another commentary on another book of the Bible feels sort of empty. I am terribly sad about finishing this book. It's amazingly readable; the footnotes are ample and very satisfying. If you want to read ...

The Song of Songs: The World's First Great Love Poem (Modern Library Classics)

9 reviews

Modern Library, 2006

Profoundly Sensual
How wonderful you are, O Love, how much sweeter than all other pleasures! But to try to quote from the Song is like hunting for a rabbit's foot. Or trying to cook only a spoonful of soup. The lovers are stoked with the such desperate passion, that no matter the circumstance, the politic, or the law, they bestow on themselves and, now, thanks to the translation, on us, a profound ...

The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary

21 reviews
Robert Alter

W. W. Norton, 2008

Very Helpful Commentary
I've been using this text as part of a Bible Study I conduct. The commentary is primarily a translator's. What I mean by that is that it's not mainly a theological commentary, but one which seeks to understand the Hebrew text and explain how the translator sees the text. I like that insofar as what I'm looking for is an attempt at an accurate translation rather than as someone promoting his own ...

The Art Of Biblical Narrative

12 reviews
Robert Alter

Basic Books, 1983

Alter did it again
Simply the best reading I have done in months. The first chapter is worth paying for the entire book. Robert Alter just did it again.

Israel: A Traveler's Literary Companion

2 reviews
Robert Alter

Whereabouts Press, 1996

Best two stories
The best two stories in the collection, in my opinion: You Never Can Tell by Gad Taub, and Idoletry by Yoram Kolerstein.

How Long Till My Soul Gets It Right?: 100 Doorways on the Journey to Happiness

15 reviews
Robert M. Alter, Jane Alter

HarperOne, 2001

What a beatiful book!
I found this book to be very different from many other books I read on spirituality and psychology. For one, as I read it, I could sense the deep love that the authors have for their readers throughout the book. This alone helped me in lonely moments when I would go to read a few pages and my soul would no longer feel lonely. Secondly,its power lies in the fact that one needs not believe in ...

The Window: New and Selected Poems

1 review
Dahlia Ravikovitch

Sheep Meadow, 1998

The Window
Poorly translated. Doesn't match poetic intent nor tempo. Translation is a bit of an word for word english repetition of text rather than concentrating on the poetry. After all it is poetry that is being translated. Without knowledge of the Hebrew, poems appear very bland and soul-less.

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