A dark comedy, set in the ghetto of an unnamed Polish city towards the end of World War II, and obviously drawing on Becker's own childhood experience of the Łódź Ghetto. Jakob Heym, an undistinguished man who has spent the last twenty years in a snack-bar serving up potato pancakes in winter and ice-cream in summer, accidentally overhears a news report about the progress of the Red Army towards Poland. He can't keep this to himself in the information-starved ghetto community, but he equally can't admit to the humiliating circumstances in which he overheard it, so on the spur of the moment he is inspired to tell his friend Kowalski, in the strictest confidence, that the has a secret radio receiver. Naturally, the news is all around the ghetto in a matter of hours, people are soon pestering him for more news, and he finds himself gradually led from one lie to another.

We hear a lot about "the information war" these days: that's exactly what's going on here, and what was going on in the DDR at the time Becker wrote the book: the news that Jakob is able to pass on, sketchy and mostly false though it was, gave the Jews in the ghetto the glimmer of hope that help was on its way, which they needed to carry on living and fighting back at least within themselves, even if there was no real way they could resist the Germans.

But this is also a moving and often funny book about human beings and the way they act under pressure. Little acts of bravery, irrational bits of pettiness and generosity, and especially the wonderful description of the long friendship between Jakob and his neighbour Kowalski, who aren't quite sure any more after several decades whether they love or hate each other. ( )

This novel is written in a discursive, colloquial style. As in Conrad’s Lord Jim, a garrulous storyteller — perhaps he sits at a table in a tavern — just talks. If you’ve ever tried to write like that, you know what an achievement Becker’s result is.
The title figure is Jakob Heym. One evening, through a comic but frightening misadventure, he hears a bit of news that was only meant for German ears. The next day he uses what he heard to save a fellow ghetto-dweller from a foolhardy act that would have cost him his life. When the fellow doesn’t believe him, Jakob improvises. He knows, he says, because he has a radio — something he and the other Jews are strictly forbidden to own.
The news is about a battle just a hundred miles or so from their town. That means that the Eastern front is moving west. It’s no wonder that his companion doesn’t keep the news to himself. Before long, it has been whispered throughout the ghetto. People Jakob hadn’t previously known sidle up to him, hungry for the next tidbit of information. A young couple begins an affair, a middling old actor draws up a list of twenty roles he’d be suited for, a barber dreams of renovating his shop, or perhaps even changing to another business. There are no more suicides. As one of the characters explains it, “yesterday there was no tomorrow.”
This creates a problem for Jakob. The first bit of news was based on a real radio report. But now he has to invent. But, as he laments, he is no Sholem Aleichem. Nevertheless, he does his best. Finally, when he’s had enough, he entrusts the truth to his best friend, Kowalski. The next morning, Kowalski hangs himself.
Becker creates a moral dilemma — one faced by the original patriarch Jacob in Genesis: when is a lie better than the truth? But he doesn’t moralize. Nor is there a happy end. Yes, the Russians truly are drawing closer. But for the inhabitants of this ghetto in an unnamed Polish city, this means not liberation but hasty deportation to the ovens. Jakob’s lie doesn’t save them from death, but it does give them life in the meantime.
In the course of telling the story of Jakob, Becker creates vivid portraits of many others: Kowalski, Mischa and his fiancée Rosa, Rosa’s father, the mediocre actor, renowned heart specialist Dr. Kirschbaum, the pious Hershel, who refuses to cut his payotim and hides them under a fur hat that causes him to sweat profusely as he works. Perhaps the most poignant is Lina, the little girl overlooked when her family is deported, taken in and hidden by Jakob.
The book is masterfully written. By turns comic and tragic, it is above all a deeply humane book. ( )

Jacob the Liar by Jurek Becker
★★★★
Jacob the Liar is the story of life in a Nazi-occupied Jewish ghetto. Protagonist Jacob Heym is sent to the military office and overhears a radio broadcast about a nearby Russian victory. He finds himself in a predicament when he decides to share the good news but lies to cover up where he heard the news by claiming he owns a radio. The news instills hope and curbs the stream of suicides in the ghetto. The subsequent plot centers around Jacob’s struggles to maintain the lie about his radio in an effort to maintain a glimmer of hope in the lives of those surrounding him.

This is a powerful story. The emotional restraint (e.g., the matter of fact way of describing beatings, daily hardships, and death) of the narrator makes the story hit you that much harder.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
Hope is a dangerous thing in this story. On the one hand Jacob’s stories give his community a sense of purpose and meaning to continue fighting for survival, yet on the other hand the reader is told up front that the conclusion likely will not be one that deserves hope. What happens to Kowalski when he learns the truth is gut wrenching.
END OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I ended up really liking this book despite thinking about halfway through that it was just “okay.” It grew on me throughout the book. It was heartbreaking at times, and uplifting at other times. There are many good WWII books but I found it interesting that the book focused on life in the ghetto rather than life in concentration camps – making the book unique in its own way. I also liked the way the book makes you feel conflicted about ethics of Jacob’s behavior. I found myself thinking a lot about whether the instillation of hope is always a good thing.
( )

Jacob the Liar by Jurek Becker is a book you might have heard of, probably because of the movie version starring Robin Williams [it's actually the second adaptation, the first was a German movie in the 70s].

The plot is quickly summarised: A ghetto in Poland during World War II (probably meant to be Lodz), near the end of the war. Jakob is one of the inabitants. One evening, he hears in a radio transmission that the Russians are around 500 km from their ghetto. He passes on the news, but has to pretend that he secretely owns a radio to be believed. As these things usually do, they get out of hand and Jakob has to start to lie and make up news so the people won’t lose hope.

I didn’t like the writing very much. I found Becker’s style tiring and tedious.
And I didn’t really like Jakob, although he definitely had good sides. But mostly, he was grumpy, moody and had a bad temper.

Unfortunately, this lessened the impact of this otherwise very powerful story. I somehow couldn’t access Jakob and both endings (yes, there are two) left me unsatisfied. [The Hollywood ending (yeah, they created a third one) would be the happiest version, but also the one most out of tune with the rest of the story. (Go figure.)]

So, summarising: good story badly told. ( )

Jacob the Liar takes place in a Jewish ghetto in WWII Germany, when simple everyman Jacob Heym accidentally overhears a war report and leads his community to believe he has more insider knowledge than he really does. It becomes taxing and frustrating for him, being pestered for news continually since nobody else is allowed access to radio, newspaper, or any other form of news - but he has to sustain this lie and create hopeful reports that very very soon the Jews will be delivered out of their situation by approaching Russian troops.

It is a simple story of sustaining unsubstantiated hope in a very bad time, as goodhearted Jacob does the best he can "to make use of the very last possibility that keeps them from just lying down and dying - with words, do you understand? I try to do that with words! Because that's all I have." ( )