An odd, outmoded story with little for modern readers.
Salita (B Is for Brighton Beach, 2014, etc.) tells a tale of love and Jewish conversion in a new short story.
As the opening material tells readers, giyur is the act of converting to Judaism. For men like Volodya—the Russian-born, Miami-based seller of medical equipment who likes to date gentile women—the giyur is something of a Holy Grail: a way to transform a non-Jewish woman into a Jewish woman (i.e., an acceptable woman to marry). On a cruise ship in the Caribbean, Volodya spies one such shiksa (tall, curvy, blond, with Russian features) but is so intimidated by her beauty that he doesn’t approach. Instead, he falls into conversation with Simon, another transplant from Odessa’s Jewish community, and they discuss their backgrounds and the various ways to woo a woman as beautiful as this one. Luckily for them, they don’t even have to try: the woman, Natasha, is also from Odessa, and, overhearing their Russian dialogue, she walks up and inserts herself into their conversation. Soon, Volodya and Natasha move quickly into a relationship and are forced to confront their disparate religious identities. This story isn’t a comedy; it takes these theological designations quite seriously. In fact, the tale may offend some secular readers, as it suggests that conversion is a sensible prerequisite of marriage. The truly devout may find it unsavory as well: the giyur in this case seems to be made for the sake of romantic love, not for any love of God. The greatest sin committed, however, is against good storytelling: nothing is at stake here, nothing changes, no one grows. One character’s significant revelation makes the whole conversion angle seem less of a leap and more of an empty, vestigial formality. The most interesting part of the story is the early conversation between Volodya and Simon, wherein they speak of the former cultural character of Odessa and the nature of immigrant speech. This proves to have little bearing on the story, however, and Simon soon disappears from the page; the reader is left with only the two one-dimensional lovers and their old world fairy tale.
An odd, outmoded story with little for modern readers.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Best Seller Press Publishing House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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