The scope of this novel is magnificent. Set in New York in the 1940s, it begins with a dinner party attended by a handful of Jewish intellectuals and then follows the fate of these contrasting characters. Throughout their various journeys, they never stop questioning themselves and the modern world, troubled by the holocaust and the weight of the Jewish tradition that many of them have rejected. Most of the characters were born in Poland in the Jewish shtetl, where life was insular and simple. Arriving in New York they are faced with a different world entirely, and its picture painted by Singer is not a pretty one. Morality and humility are lost and replaced with money and desire. Grein, the central character, acts on his impulses, leaving his wife and children for a younger woman, a former pupil and the daughter of a religious friend of his. As we follow his passions and his wanderings, we are also subject to his emotional and philosophical turmoil. His strife is the backbone of the novel, as he attempts to resolve the Jewish tradition, God, humanity, the holocaust, his desires, and modern society. I have not been so absorbed and fascinated by a book for a long time, and highly recommend it. It is a dark yet uplifting book, a bleak look at enlightenment.