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MALKEH AND HER CHILDREN

Name: MALKEH AND HER CHILDREN
Author: Marjorie Edelson
ISBN: 0-345-37971-3

by Marjorie Edelson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1992

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Inspired by family legends of life in pre-Revolutionary Russia, Edelson creates a refreshingly earthy first novel featuring an obstinate provincial Jewish woman whose children are destined to emigrate to America. The Jews of Dagda might have predicted that pretty young Malkeh, daughter of an impoverished local teacher, would not be satisfied with the traditional life of the generations of women who preceded her. To begin with, proud and headstrong Malkeh married an itinerant tailor, Yoysef Mandelkern, for the simple reason that he loved her. And once married, Malkeh proceeds to found a school for Jewish women, allow the steward of the local estate to become her patron, and raise a brood of adventurous children who will stir up all kinds of gossip at home before they set sail for America. Not all of Malkeh's actions are appreciated, even by her family—her children's frequent complaints that she neglects them in favor of her work seem deliberately aimed at today's readers—and there are social repercussions when one son joins the Revolution and a daughter lives in sin with a decidedly non-Jewish gambler. But, fortunately, the second generation's chutzpa is perfectly suited to the life they will design for themselves in San Francisco—the city to which they escape one by one. Having weathered pogroms, epidemics, war in their native Russia, and crippling poverty in their adopted land, the Mandelkerns have learned the value and importance of family solidarity. Edelson's exploration of the wisdom and generosity with which her characters accommodate one another's shortcomings makes this a satisfying tale. Life-affirming fiction—sentimental, perhaps, but enjoyably so.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-345-37971-3

Page Count: 720

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.