I really enjoyed this book, but I have to admit I didn’t understand it. The story line kept coming in and out of focus. Nevertheless, his descriptions of shtetl life in eastern Europe were as authentic as any that Isaac Bashevis Singer or his contemporaries wrote 150 years earlierr. Foer was a master at creating scenes that came to life.
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East of Eden by John Steinbeck **** (of 4)
A retelling of the stories of Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel transposed to three generations of two families living mostly in Salinas, California during the turn of the nineteenth century. Steinbeck, with good reason, won the Nobel Prize for this book. It contains a complete geography of place, mind, and character: Not a falling leaf, nor a raised eyebrow escapes his notice and his recounting makes every leaf and eyebrow unflaggingly important for six hundred pages. Particularly interesting to me, is that the crux of the story hinges on a Jewish analysis of Genesis (related to readers from the original Hebrew by a Chinese protagonist) and how that contrasts with English translations used by Christians. Hoo Ha. An unbelievably excellent read. June 2006.
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Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All its Moods by Michael Wex **** (of 4)
Wex is three-fourths scholar and one quarter stand-up comic. In departure from say Rosten’s books on Yiddish, which list words, definitions, and accompanying anecdotes, Wex puts Yiddish in its sociological and historical context. So more than learning a few words, which by and large go by too fast and in constructions that are too long to recall, I learned an immense amount about why Yiddish was an essential language for people living apart — both by choice and by force — from their European goyish neighbors. If it is at all possible, I recommend listening to Wex read his book on CD. September 2006
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Betrothed by S.Y. Agnon *** (of 4)
A wonderful little novella that I listened to on tape about a botanist who arrives in Palestine in 1909 (I think) is quickly surrounded by six lovely and lovable Jewish women and his abiding love for his childhood sweetheart.
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon *** (of 4)
Written for a thinking reader, treats you like you are intelligent, though he could have used a bit of editing to cut some of the excessively long passages.
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The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs **** (of 4)
Jacobs takes a year to live strictly adhering to the bible. He doesn’t know bubkes when he begins and figures he’ll start reading Genesis and do whatever the bible says he should as he moves from chapter to chapter. His book contains a series of short, humorous anecdotes whose collective weight provide profound insight into the value of religious observance and the dangers of fundamentalism. -
Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis. **** (of 4)
This short collection of short stories is a wonderful piece of honey cake with a glass of tea. A Jewish Russian immigrant to Toronto describes the transition he makes with his parents and uncle and aunt as they climb from helpless newcomers to weary acceptance of life in the new world, without ever losing the cultural imprinting that Russia plants within its citizenry. The book is full of smiles of recognition, truthful while remaining fictional–but who knows where autobiography is replaced by a little relish — and I think quite accessible even to people who neither know Russians or Jews. In fact, it’s probably a wonderful introduction to both. The book is short, the stories chronological, the characters continue to grow from one to the next, yet it’s not quite a novel with contiguous chapters. July 2005.
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Joy Comes in the Morning by Jonathan Rosen *** (of 4)
An assistant Reform Rabbi slowly loses touch with God while she falls in love with the son of a Holocaust survivor who slowly finds God while the two of them find one another. A nice portrait of the essential tenets of Reform Judaism that what matters most are your actions in life and how the adherence to ritual can help you maintain your religiosity even when – as all Jews do – you must wrestle with the utility of believing in God. The story and the characters seemed real, but the writing was a little stiff. I could put the book down whenever I wanted to. December 2004.
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East of Eden by John Steinbeck **** (of 4)
A retelling of the stories of Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel transposed to three generations of two families living mostly in Salinas, California during the turn of the nineteenth century. Steinbeck, with good reason, won the Nobel Prize for this book. It contains a complete geography of place, mind, and character: Not a falling leaf, nor a raised eyebrow escapes his notice and his recounting makes every leaf and eyebrow unflaggingly important for six hundred pages. Particularly interesting to me, is that the crux of the story hinges on a Jewish analysis of Genesis (related to readers from the original Hebrew by a Chinese protagonist) and how that contrasts with English translations used by Christians. Hoo Ha. An unbelievably excellent read. June 2006.
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The Coffee Trader by David Liss *** (of 4)
A Jewish escapee from the Spanish Inquisition makes his living on the Amsterdam stock market, where shrewd trading skills run up to the border of legality, morality, and safety. The book’s strength is its insight into the lives of Jews trying to maintain their religious and economic identity with the memory of Spanish persecution fresh in their minds. Moreover, the description of how stocks, in this case coffee is making its very first appearance in Europe, are bought and sold is fascinating. The plot is rather ordinary, however. It is a quick read. April 2007.
