The Illuminated Soul

by Aryeh Lev Stollman

Book Overview

A few years after the Second World War, a stranger enters the lives of Joseph Ivri and his family in Windsor, Canada. A dazzling beauty telling tales of wondrous places and wartime dangers, Eva... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 157322975X
• ISBN13: 9781573229753
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

The Illuminated Soul

In Aryeh Stollman's outstanding short novel, I found particulary revealing a scene past the mid-point of the story. The main characters, the widowed Adele Ivri, her two children, Joseph and Asa, and their mysterious houseguest Eva Higashi, are returning home from synagogue in Windsor, Canada. Adele Ivri remarks upon the beauty of an old gnarled elm tree she had not noticed before. Eva remarks that there is much to be learned from a fresh sighting of a beautiful object. And she explains that "in the end, neither knowledge nor wisdom makes a person good". (pp. 172 -- 173) I found this passage striking in a book which describes eloquently the love of learning, both secular and religious, the attractions of beauty, and the power of the imagination. The passage also illuminates the theme of the book in which the values of learning, beauty and imagination are juxtaposed against the realities of loss, suffering and guilt. This novel is set in Winsdor, Canada following WW II with the recently widowed Adele raising her two sons Joseph and Asa. Joseph is the narrator of the book. He is physically unattractive but possessed of great intellect and of the drive to study. The younger son, Asa, is possessed of great physical beauty and of artistic talent. Unfortunately, he is slowly but inexorably going blind. During the summer when Joseph is 14, the Ivri family takes in a mysterious boarder, Eva Higashi (nee Laquedem), a beautfiful young woman possessed of great knowledge. Her father had been a scholar in Prague, and Eva is trying to complete his final manuscript, "Clouds of Glory". Eva brings with her a priceless illuminated manuscript, the "Augsburg Miscellany" dating from the fifteenth century. Eva soon leaves the Ivri's home as mysteriously as she arrived. Joseph's and Asa's experiences with her during these few short summer months become the formative moments of their lives. Joseph, the narrator of the story, ultimately becomes a famous research neuroanatomist who, following his retirement, enjoys great popular acclaim upon the publication of his short philosophical and mystical meditation, "The Illuminated Soul". This short book, in turn, is based upon Joseph's recollections of his family's few summer months with Eva. This short book is filled with discussions of Torah study, of biblical archaeology, Japanese literature, neuroanatomy, and much else. (The author is himself a neuroradiologist.) I was much taken with the discussions of birds and their intelligence, (the story features a pet parrot named Nebucadnezzer) because it reminded me of my own pet bird. There are also many beautifully allusive stories and themes of unicorns and giraffes, of early Japanese novels, and of changing and shimmering colors in the sky that deeply influence the young boys and are captured in the mysticism of Joseph's "Illuminated Soul". Each of the characters in the story have their own secrets, their own tragedy, and their own guilt. We learn to see i

Dreamscape

Stollman creates a marvelous work of fiction in "The Illuminated Soul." His characters are so real that they acquire a life of their own. Joseph, through whose eyes we see the story, is a noted scientist in the field of neuroanatomy who has written a book called "The Illuminated Soul." Thus, we have a book within a book. His brother Asa, is blind. Both men are unmarried and take care of each other. For them as for the story, the past overshadows the present. Their mother Adele was an earthy woman who supported her sons as a kosher caterer. Their lives are forever changed by a vistor, the luminous Eva Higashi. It is through the power of these characters that the story affects us. Stollman's prose is among some of the most lyrical and affecting. His concluding paragraph is stunning, "For a short while, a long time ago, we were like those celestial beings, arrayed in the higher realms, looking out over the heavens, and we saw so much farther than we had ever imagined." He writes from the transforming magic love exerts.The historical detail makes us believe that Stollman is an antiquarian of the highest order. The devotional aspects of the Jewish Apocrypha give us a real feel of this community in Canada. Stollman is masterful in this sense.The story somewhat falls apart for me with the ending. Trying not to give the ending away, we are asked to believe that Joseph was able to execute the story's final act without his mother intervening, Eva discovering this prior to her departure or returning to rectify it, or his brother discovering and making some intervention. Perhaps I'm a bit too logical for the conclusion of this wonderful dreamscape. Unfortunately, the ending is the only false note in an otherwise exquisite novel! Even so, there are so many strengths here, that it is a great and pleasurable reading experience, one not to be missed.

Beatiful and Memorable

Many years ago a beautiful, exotic woman came to live with Joseph and his family. Eva Higashi has been wandering and traveling, a refugee from the Holocaust, carrying with her a precious relic, a rare book saved from destruction at terrible cost. The encounter with Eva, though brief, changes Joseph forever. Now an old man, a neuroanatomist, he lives and relives those childhood days.The author writes in beautiful, lucid prose, moving back and forth in time, as he ties together the loose ends of memory. Memory is real, he says. People you have known become a part of you. Everything is connected in what he calls "the net of reality." In a few delicate brush-strokes he creates a compelling portrait of his Jewish faith, for memory is at the heart of Judaism.His characters, with all their oddities, came powerfully alive. Their meetings and their partings are heavy with beauty and sadness.This is a most beautiful book and I recommend it highly.

Personal Transformation

In "The Illuminated Soul" Stollman clearly illustrates how each and every thing that a person encounters changes them forever. Through the eyes, ears and voice of the protagonist the book portrays a sense of relatedness of all things and people in the world. And, yet, at the same time, portrays the difficulty of life's vicissitudes. But throughout, the book shows the reader, that each person can truly make a difference to others in this world. By starkly illustrating how one person's enlightened presence can have a profound effect on those around them, the reader soon realizes that Stollman does more than just tell a story. He scratches off the surface, and reaches deeply into the thoughts and feelings of young Joseph, as he develops an insight and depth of feeling for a person, that he has only known for a very short time. Yet this brief acquaintance changed Joseph and his character for the rest of his life.Stylistically, Stollman presents a rather wondrous mix of temporal wanderings. The story switches from the present life, to the past life of Joseph. The alternation between the two time frames within his life, further enhances the reader's ability to draw these conclusions and to clearly envision how this brief encounter with one other person, who has a depth of feeling and understanding far surpassing the average human being, can make an indelible impression on the thought patterns of others. Using a style that is easy to read, yet highly thought provoking, Stollman achieves a synergy between the mundane day-to-day world and the ephemeral spirituality that exists within each person. Contained within this synergy is a new way of thinking, which in turn leads to a new way of life. It enhances the ability of people to perceive the inner feelings of not only oneself, but also of others. If the reader follows Stollman's portrayal of this transformative experience, one can learn and understand not only ones own inner feelings, but in addition, one can increase their sensitivity to the feelings and presence of people and things that exist all around us. Finally, the story elucidates how just one act by a person, can change the entire direction of that person's future. This change can be both positive and negative simultaneously. Yet, through this act, an individual can redirect the entire activities of one's life with respect to the act. In Stollman's own words, "Anything you have ever seen or heard or held in your hand changes you forever. When we encounter each other, we become part of each other." Once done, this process cannot be undone. The book is highly recommended for anyone seeking further inner understanding and peace. Through the book one can learn how a soul can be truly illuminated and revealed by the manner in which one approaches life and acts. It allows the reader to truly empathize with one's inner self and thus, increase self-understanding many fold.

An Illuminating Novel

I loved this book. It is mysterious, sensual, full of tension and moments of beautiful release. It is the story of a long and impossible love, of a terrible betrayal and the toll it takes on the betrayer. In a time of war and death, a priceless manuscript leaves Prague for Japan. But it carries with it the lifelong duty of its care and the dangerous task of its preservation.The Illuminated Soul is an unusual mix of the historical and the imaginary, the scientific and the fantastic.This is a book to keep forever.