The Instructions by Adam Levin

Here in the US (at least in central Arkansas) Thanksgiving break has descended on the land. A relatively free week to enjoy while being generally thankful. To celebrate, I plan to take on The Instructions by Adam Levin. At 1030 pages, this does not promise to be a swift read but from every review and comment I have encountered, it promises to be enjoyable.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for giant, potentially unwieldy novels.

Here is a description from the publisher, McSweeney’s:

Beginning with a chance encounter with the beautiful Eliza June Watermark and ending four days later with the Events of November 17, this is the story of Gurion Maccabee, age ten: a lover, a fighter, a scholar, and a truly spectacular talker. Ejected from three Jewish day schools for acts of violence and messianic tendencies, Gurion ends up in the Cage, a special lockdown program for the most hopeless cases of Aptakisic Junior High. Separated from his scholarly followers, Gurion becomes a leader of a very different sort, with righteous aims building to a revolution of troubling intensity. The Instructions is an absolutely singular work of fiction by an important new talent. Combining the crackling voice of Philip Roth with the encyclopedic mind of David Foster Wallace, Adam Levin has shaped a world driven equally by moral fervor and slapstick comedy—a novel that is muscular and rollicking, troubling and empathetic, monumental, breakneck, romantic, and unforgettable.

The plan, as it stands, is to finish the novel before classes resume next Monday. I will be updating my progress here and giving my impressions as I go along. In addition to the blog, I will be relatively-live tweeting the reading with the hashtag #TGivingInstructions.

Feel free to join and let me know how it’s going.