The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

Finkler is a Jewish character in this novel, but his name is used also to stand for Jews in general; so you can read the title as "The Jewish Question." The story takes place in London and centers around Julian Treslove who is NOT Jewish but who would like to be and starts to live as if he were. As a twice divorced middle aged man, Julian spends his leisure time hanging around with his college friend Sam Finkler and their former professor Libor Sevcik and listens as they debate Zionism. The Finkler Question won the 2010 Man Booker prize; it is highly nuanced about the nature of Jewishness and also amuses with low key, tongue-in-cheek humor. It is an excellent piece of literature, but I found it a little slow going because there is really not much of a plot.