How Does The Netanyahus End?

The ending of 'The Netanyahus' is this brilliant, chaotic crescendo that somehow ties together all its absurd threads while leaving you with this weirdly profound aftertaste. The novel builds to this climactic dinner scene where the Netanyahu family (yes, that Netanyahu family, fictionalized) visits the modest home of Ruben Blum, the hapless history professor tasked with hosting them. What starts as a stuffy academic exchange spirals into this surreal, almost farcical disaster—food fights, ideological rants, and a bizarrely poignant moment where Blum’s daughter, Edith, challenges the family’s worldview. The final pages linger on Blum’s quiet realization that history isn’t some tidy academic debate; it’s messy, personal, and often ridiculous. Cohen’s writing nails this tone of tragicomedy, like watching a train wreck that somehow makes you rethink your life.

What’s wild is how the ending doesn’t neatly resolve anything. The Netanyahus leave, Blum’s career remains middling, and life goes on—but you’re left with this lingering sense of how ideology and academia collide in the most human, awkward ways. The novel’s genius is in its refusal to moralize; instead, it lets the absurdity speak for itself. I finished it and immediately wanted to reread it, just to catch all the subtle jokes I’d missed the first time.