cover image CONSPIRATORS

CONSPIRATORS

Michael Andre Bernstein, . . Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (506pp) ISBN 978-0-374-23754-7

A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review.

CONSPIRATORS Michael André Bernstein . Farrar, Straus & Giroux , $25 (512p) ISBN 0-374-23754-9

Bernstein strives for the authority of a modernist classic in this complex and serious-minded first novel, which tells how the Jewish and Gentile upper classes of an eastern border town of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are riven by revolutionary passions on the eve of WWI. In 1913, various conspiracies brew to overthrow the current regime, locally represented by fearful and Machiavellian Count-Governor Wiladowski. Wiladowski is morbidly obsessed with the possibility of his own assassination; he hires ex-rabbinical student Jakob Tausk to keep an eye on the Jews under his dominion as a precaution. Meanwhile, wealthy and powerful local financier Moritz Rotenburg teams with Tausk to keep his son Hans out of trouble. It seems the impetuous young heir has been dabbling in radical politics as a means of rebellion against his old man. Moses Elch Brugger, a charismatic rabbi with a fire-and-brimstone messianic message, has also established himself in the area, and Tausk and the elder Rotenburg attempt to penetrate and subvert his flock. When Hans's plotting becomes entangled with Brugger's beguiling fanaticism, it seems the Jewish community—the true hero of the novel—is headed for political disaster. The various political and religious conspiracies come to a head during Passover and Easter weekend, as Wiladowski faces the assassination attempt he's so often dreaded. Bernstein weaves a rich tapestry of Jewish life in the twilight of the Hapsburg empire, though he lingers too lovingly over period details. Similarly, the life-and-death stakes the various characters face lose their urgency in long-winded digression and after-the-fact recounting. Although Bernstein's story never quite shrugs free of its weighty influences, the book is a solid and multifaceted first effort with a sure sense of its time and setting. (Apr.)