Upbeat and pious, but the relentless cheer wears thin.
A follow-up to A Miracle for St. Cecilia’s (2002) is all heart and hope: miracles happen, faith is rewarded, people are ever ready to help in a dizzying mix of challenges: mobsters, foreclosure, cancer, hit and run.
All-is-possible-with-God seems to be the subtext of this unapologetic faith-centered tale, set again in friendly Dorsetville, that begins as ailing Sister Regina Francis dies while visiting Medjugorge in Bosnia. The Virgin Mary has been appearing there for nearly two decades, and the good Sister, just before she dies, is handed a rosary—it glows—by one of the three villagers who first saw Mary. The Sister who’d accompanied Regina to Bosnia brings the rosary back to Connecticut, but not before Bob Peterson, a fellow pilgrim and Dorsetvillian, picks up the rosary and his painful arm is cured. Also back in Dorsetville, builder Barry has been swindled by a con man and is being threatened by two who claim to be the Mafia. His best friend Chester has terminal cancer, and Nellie, a middle-aged teacher, is being courted by Harry, who owns the town's favorite gathering spot, the Country Kettle. Nellie is also worried that she might lose the house her family has owned for nearly two centuries. When Father James of St. Cecilia’s is run over by the speeding mobsters, the only witness is Molly, a homeless person new in town. Then the terrible young Galligan twins set a fire in the church from which Bob Peterson’s daughter is rescued with the help of the glowing rosary. As Nellie secretly takes on extra work and begins writing a children's story, Harry worries that she's seeing another man, since she has so little time for him. Revelations, marvels, and miracles—Nellie finds an agent, who just happens to be the father of a new student, and he sells her book immediately for mega bucks—are normal in lucky Dorsetville.
Upbeat and pious, but the relentless cheer wears thin.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2003
ISBN: 0-670-03229-8
Page Count: 275
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.
Pub Date: April 28, 1967
ISBN: 0449911543
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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