The Instructions

An award-winning short fiction writer, Levin's first novel, is, ironically, roughly a thousand pages long. Ostensibly, this is the story of Gurion ben-Judah Maccabee, ten-year-old lover, scholar, rebel and potential messiah. Expelled from multiple Chicago Jewish day-schools, Gurion ends up in the Cage, a special lockdown program for hopeless cases at Aptakisic Junior High, where, over a four-day period, he foments a revolution of troubling intensity. This is a book far beyond an ordinary coming-of-age story; it is packed with dark humor, with political, religious, social and moral commentary that combines elements of Philip Roth and David Foster Wallace. It is definitely an unforgettable reading experience. A collectable copy of the first major work by a very promising author. [Sorry, given the book's size and weight, we cannot accept priority orders or orders outside the continental U.S.]