05 March 2012 | Uncategorized | salomd
This is it. Here is this year’s National Book Award winner (or at least a nominee)–that’s my prediction, and I’m sticking to it. To call Shalom Auslander’s new novel a “Holocaust novel” would be like calling For Whom the Bell Tolls a “war novel.” Solomon Kugel is going through a crisis. He has just moved his family into a new home in upstate New York, but before they even get settled, he makes a disturbing discovery. Anne Frank is living in the attic of their new home. Yes, that Anne Frank. At least, it seems like it’s Anne Frank. She’s old. She smells. She seems close to death. She’s working on a new piece of writing–a novel. Although she’s sold 32 million copies of her diary, she’s finished with, as she puts it, “that Holocaust shit.” Kugel is in crisis. A Jew by birth, if not by practice, how can he throw Anne Frank out of his house? Add to this that his mother has moved in, living out what is supposed to be her last days. Kugel’s mother tells horrific tales of the concentration camps and the millions who were killed by Hitler and the Nazis. There’s one problem–Kugel’s mother was never in a concentration camp. She was born in the USA in the 1940s. She is dealing with a heaping load of survivor’s guilt. Her hero is Alan Dershowitz, who she believes will save her, and anyone, from potential atrocities.
This book is at times hilarious, heartfelt and evocative. Auslander tackles many of the “Holocaust issues” that today’s generation of Jews–who were not even alive at the time–are dealing with. Survivor’s guilt is just the tip of the iceberg. Irreverent? You bet. Insightful? Without a doubt. This is the book of the year.
Shalom Auslander. Hope: A Tragedy. New York: Riverhead Books, 2012. 978-1594488382. $26.95 292pp.
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26 February 2012 | Uncategorized | salomd
This wonderful second novel by Liz Moore weaves two stories simultaneously. As one would expect, the two intersect by the book’s conclusion. Arthur Opp is a retired academic living in Brooklyn. Not much to rave about there. However, Opp is 500 pounds and rarely, if ever, ventures out of his house, having his food and all else he needs delivered to his front door. When he asks a maid service to clean his house, Yolanda is sent. Pregnant, under-educated, in a lousy relationship, Yolanda is just what Arthur needs to get out of his huge shell. She actually, at one points, gets him to leave the house for a walk! Alongside Arthur’s story, we get the store of (Arthur) Kel Keller, a high school baseball fanatic (he is hoping for a spot with the Mets), whose mother Charlene is quite ill. Charlene’s path, it turns out, crossed with Arthur Opp’s years ago when she enrolled for one semester in college. Ever since, Arthur and Charlene have had a friendship and, more importantly, a rich correspondence.
When Charlene dies, Kel begins to investigate his own origins. Is he Arthur Opp’s son? Perhaps. The novel is well-written, humorous, and compassionate. A thoroughly enjoyable read that will keep you wanting a resolution until the final page. Reading this book compelled me to search out Moore’s debut novel, The Words of Every Song. It now sits on my “to-read” pile.
Liz Moore, Heft. New York: Norton, 2012. 352pp. 978-0393081503. 24.95.
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02 January 2012 | Uncategorized | salomd
I think I first read this slim novel almost 25 years ago when it was first published, but I’d forgotten how witty it was. Charles Simmons first published under a pen name but was later revealed as the editor of the NY Times Book Review. This novel is a rather scathing indictment of the New York City publishing world of the late 70s and early 80s. Though by now not relevant (with today’s use of technology to track bestsellers), The Belles Lettres Papers affords insight to the ego-driven world of book reviewing, particularly given the reviewers’ intentions to sway the reading public to read this book over that book.
Charles Simmons, The Belles Lettres Papers. New York, 1988. Out-of-print but widely available in used copies.
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