This is a retold version of the story of Jacob and Esau, or, in this telling, Yankle and Esav, their bitter rivalry, and the conflict between Isaac and Rebecca, about who is the "favorite son."

It's a modern retelling, with cars and planes and a chain of restaurants named after Yankle, who is the true chef in this family. Yet in many ways it retains the setting of the Bible's original story, with the family being desert nomads, with herds to care for, and the constant concern over enough water, and, most bemusing for me, we're explicitly told that the Scriptures haven't been written yet, and that Yankle and Esav's story will be part of those scriptures. To me, this last bit seems a very strange choice.

I did not at first immediately love the story. Yankle, especially at first, is just not likable. As the story proceeds, though, Yankle becomes, if not exactly likable, at least human and understandable, and anyone who has been Not the Favorite Child will surely have some understanding of where he's coming from. Rebecca is also an interesting character, while Isaac, a little oddly, is barely present.

As I listened, the story grew on me, and I came to really care about the ultimate fates of both Yankle and Esav, and the price Yankle eventually pays for his trickery.

It's definitely worth a listen.

I received a copy of this audiobook as a gift from the author, and am reviewing it voluntarily. ( )

This was an interesting look at the story of Jacob and Esau (fr0m Genesis) as told by Jacob to his son, Joseph - one favorite son to another. An interesting take on the story as Poznansky does an imaginative job of fictionalize this paradigm story of conflict and legacy. ( )

This is a retelling of a couple of themes from the Bible. Retold in more modern language, visual artist and author Poznansky tells a story of greed and jealousy related to which son will get an inheritance from a soon to die father. The father favors one son; the mother favors the other. The son trying to acquire the inheritance, the mother,s favorite, is still on a journey of seeking his own identity which includes a seeking of clarification of his relationships with his mother and father.

I think this book would not be interesting unless the reader had previous knowledge of the original bible story. I do not feel this book can stand alone. I chose to read it because I wanted to give the story to my son to motivate him to read more history of the Bible. I read what I recommend him to read in order to have an informed discussion. ( )

Sometimes it is helpful to hear a familiar story from a different perspective in order to understand more of what the story says and doesn’t say. A FAVORITE SON does that with the biblical story of Jacob (Yanklel), his parents, Isaac and Rebecca, and his twin brother, Esau (Esav).
Uvi Poznansky tells the story from both a biblical and modern perspective emphasizing the psychological aspects. Basically it is the story of sibling rivalry and parental favoritism and highlights a rather dysfunctional foursome who still manage to occupy a positive place in religious history. Yankle questions how that came to be. Most of the story is identical to the biblical version but there are a few changes, some to relate to modern times.
The story, told from Yankle’s perspective, opens from him saying Esav pulled ahead of him to become the first born by a split second. That was very important because the first born child inherited everything from his father. But Yankle questions why his mother told him that (“Why would [a mother] pit one son against another?”) because of how that knowledge affected his life and made him feel “a burning desire to surpass my brother....I had to win it all–or be left with nothing.” He was her favorite, as Esav was his father’s. Poznansky does not mention the Biblical story which has God telling Rebecca before the twins were born that “the older would serve the younger.”
There are hints of Yankle’s future relationship with his own sons. Rebecca gives him the sleeve of her goatskin coat to deceive Isaac (in the original version he wears Esav’s clothes and has the animal skin on his arm) and Yankle pledges he will never show favoritism to any of his own children. (I saw Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat the night before I read this novella. So much for his remembering his vow.) Yankle offers Esav lentil stew, Esav asks if it’s kosher. The laws of kashrut, in fact the entire Bible, were still in the future. He decides the Yankle-in-the-Box restaurant chain was established in honor of his stew.
In the Bible, after sending Yankle away to escape his brother’s wrath, Rebecca is not mentioned again. A FAVORITE SON has him seeing her in the desert, telling him part of her story while her dress, her black veil, tells him his father had died.
Yankle considered his father to be wimp–his father sent a servant to find a wife for him, but, until he fled Esav’s fury, Yankle had never ventured away from home, either. (Isaac realized that they were very similar but that angle is not explored.) Yankle blames Isaac as well himself for his own weaknesses and notes the name his father gave him means “follower:” “How can a follower become a leader?”
As he plans to give parting advice to his sons before he dies, Isaac observed “I have come to the conclusion based on many, many years of experience, that I can expect with perfect certainty, that my advice will be utterly and immediately ignored.
While the discrepancies between A FAVORITE SON and the Bible are the writer’s prerogative, there was at least one contradiction: When Rebecca visits Isaac as he is dying, she asks “What will I do without you?” On the next page she tell him, “You have a long life ahead of you.”
Beautifully written, A FAVORITE SON tells the story behind the legend.
This book was a free Amazon download. ( )

"A Favorite Son" by Uvi Poznansky is a skillful, creative modernization of the Biblical story of Isaac and Rebecca, and their twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Ms. Poznansky creates a story full of jealousy, spite and even hate, which competes with compassion, family ties and love. This is a quick read that was entertaining and often funny. The author appears to take turns respecting and mocking tradition, doing both in a delightful manner. One of the many lessons in this book is to be careful what you wish for, as is so brilliantly illustrated in the character Yankle, whose voice carries the story.

This is a real good book and I look forward to reading more of Uvi Poznansky's work. ( )