I never tired of Daniel's descriptions of his time in the old city and of his efforts to be a bridge builder. I would recommended this book to anyone looking to really hold on to multiple truths.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

This novel recounts the history of Daniel Jacobs' 40+ year love affair with the old city of Jerusalem and with a Jewish Israeli woman, Shoshana. Daniel, who is Christian, first visits the Israel in 1969 for his junior year abroad. It's then that he has a kind of religious awakening on a rooftop that leads him to switch him major from poli sci to religion. He eventually becomes a professor of theology at a Christian seminary in Ohio, returning to Jerusalem a number of times with an interfaith group and with his students. At each visit he spends time with Shoshana, even after both are married to other people.

Maybe you have to love the old city the way I do and accept the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to appreciate this book. I never tired of Daniel's descriptions of his time in the old city and of his efforts to be a bridge builder. I would recommended this book to anyone looking to really hold on to multiple truths.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book really peaked my interest, cause I’m trying to learn as much as I can to help engage in really meaningful conversations with people who know significantly less. Thank you for getting a chance to read this early. I hope others find it as interesting and important as I do.

Thank you to NetGalley and Köehler Books for the ARC! This is my honest review:

I wanted to love this book. And for the first 1/3? I did. I personally love Jerusalem and have spent many happy hours wandering the Old City, so the beginnings of this novel absolutely captured me. It was a brilliantly realistic description of what it feels like to be in that specific place, amongst those specific people. Unfortunately for the reader (much like the main character) what follows can’t live up to that first sublime experience.

There is a throw-away line about midway through the book, where the MC’s wife tells him that he talks about his time in Jerusalem like a former high school quarterback reliving his glory days. Sadly, that’s an incredibly apt description for the author too, in the most tiresome ways.

What begins as rich and evocative quickly becomes repetitive. MC’s first experience of the Holy Sepulcher? Sublime. His return visit? Lovely. Every subsequent mention, where our protagonist tells tour group after tour group (each member of whom are mentioned by name) the same darn story? Boring and aggravating. And unfortunately, this is a problem repeated for every single place visited by the protagonist.

Speaking of aggravating, let’s take about our MC: a man so deeply committed to Jerusalem and interfaith dialogue between Christians, Muslims, and Jews that he devotes his ENTIRE LIFE to teaching these topics and working with these people… but never bothers to learn Hebrew or Arabic, never mentions his religious affiliation and (for reason never fully explained) repeatedly nags the Jerusalemite woman of his dreams to pack up her life and move to Ohio, rather than choosing to live in the city that’s at the heart of both his character, their relationship, and this whole novel. By the end? This protagonist’s myopic self-centeredness had lost me as a reader.

I suspect this novel is at least partially autobiographical. It reads like it was written by someone who wants to prove they’re “in the know” by casually name-dropping references only a fellow insider would recognize. “Rabbi Shlomo” makes an appearance, for example, which is referenced again several times throughout the novel… but the author never bothers to explain that this is the real-life Shlomo Carlebach, who he is, or why the reader should care. This does a disservice to the reader by denying them important context that would add meaning, depth, and richness to the story they’re reading.

The Carlebach cameo highlights my biggest issue is with this novel- namely, the author’s various decisions about what information he chooses to include and which details (big and small) he chooses to omit. The MC’s path to becoming a religious studies professor, for example, is triggered by his experience in Jerusalem; and yet his actual spiritual journey is never discussed. We go rather quickly from rooftop contemplation to full-time academic/religious work, and yet we never learn what our protagonist actually *believes*. The novel talks about his “denomination” and includes one vocal character described as a “denominational leader” but it never gets specific about what this actually is … a weird choice from an author who felt the need to give every single person the MC ever meets a name and a specific religious/political alignment. The obvious avoidance of disclosing the same for the protagonist gives the impression of a narrator (and possibly an author) with an over-inflated sense of his own neutrality.

This surface-level inclusivity shines through in the many, MANY, cardboard-cutout characters that make a one-time appearance just to editorialize or explicate a specific perspective on the Israel/Palestinian conflict and then disappear, never to be heard from again. Once again, who the author chooses to include and who he does not (the latter includes religious Jews who are referred to throughout the book as “awful Orthodox” which was frankly offensive to me as a non-Orthodox reader) belies any attempt to present a nuanced or sensitive portrayal of a very complicated situation.

For a story focused on the most contested city on earth and covering a span from 1969-2010’s, I found it shocking that the same protagonist who recounts the incident of the Al-Aqsa mosque fire over and over and over again would glide right over any mention either the Yom Kippur War OR September 11th- events which certainly would have impacted the characters experiences of both interfaith dialogue AND Jerusalem. The authors decisions about which ideas, perspectives, places, and events were included and which were left out became a serious believability barrier for me as I read.

In the end, after composing the longest review I’ve written yet; I’m giving a rating of 3 stars to the first third of the novel; which really did capture my soul in a way few novels do. But it devolved quickly and the MC- along with his creator- lost me due to a frustrating lack of self-awareness.

The Old City of Jerusalem has enchanted me from afar for years. A Rooftop in Jerusalem is beautifully written and descriptive, a multi-sensory experience. I could taste the delectable food, hear the bustling souks, see the celebrations and ancient sites. The fictional story is vibrant, colourful and poignant, a love story to Jerusalem. In 1969, American Christian Daniel Jacobs became besotted with the culture, history and the people when he decided to study there. He met new friends and fell in love with Israeli Shoshana. Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures simultaneously melded and clashed. As time went on, Daniel visited Jerusalem off and on into the 2000s. Over the span of four decades, his life changed in many ways but his passion for Jerusalem never waned, even when suicide bombings occurred with Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

My favourite aspects of this book are the vivid descriptions, Jewish festivals, history, and learning more about cultures. I really connected with Daniel's obsession with Israel as I feel the same way about a country I live in part time, too. The story is raw yet tender, moving and fascinating. It's unique and special.

The Vibe
Christian theologian in Jerusalem reflects on living among Jews, Muslims, & Christians.
Faith meets reality.
🧠❤️🌍

Best Moments
• Quiet conversations with neighbors
• Real talk about justice and peace
• Walking the streets of a sacred city with an open heart
🚶‍♂️🗣️🕍

Emotional Impact
Thoughtful, honest, deeply human.
Felt more like a shared prayer than a memoir.
🙏💭

Underrated Insight
Peace is a practice, not a theory.
⚖️❤️‍🔥

Thank you NetGalley for the arc

I really enjoyed this book. A quick book with lots of twist that make you want to read more and hooks you in.

I’ve always wanted to visit Israel and you can tell that the author fell in love with Jerusalem because he writes about it so vividly. It’s easy to imagine yourself exploring the laneways of the Old City, enjoying falafel and fresh pomegranate juice at Samir’s café and climbing the rickety staircase at dusk to see the view of Mount of Olives from the titular rooftop.

Israel is often discussed through either a Jewish or Muslim lens but Daniel, the main character in A Rooftop in Jerusalem is Christian.

The author doesn’t shy away from delving deeper into the rich and complicated history of the country and includes both Israeli and Palestinian voices. One of the most interesting parts of the book is when Daniel leads an interfaith group on a tour around Israel and you get to experience the various historical sites (Yad Vashem, for example) from the perspectives of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian group members. Overall, I found it very thought-provoking.