A solidly uplifting story of a plastic surgeon seeking redemption.
An unexpected tragedy in the life of a selfish man leads to sweeping changes.
In his fiction debut, Goldsmith (Lost and Found, 2011, etc.) wastes no time in acquainting readers with the many personal shortcomings of one of his main characters, popular and successful South Florida plastic surgeon Marc Cohn, a narcissistic, unfeeling jerk. One positive force in Marc’s life, in the years before this story begins, was his wife, Cathy, beloved by everybody in her community. When Cathy suddenly dies of a brain hemorrhage, Marc is shattered—and left as the sole caretaker of their moody and problematic teenage son, Max. Marc is gingerly trying to reach out to his son (whose care he mostly left to his wife) when his brother Norman, a public prosecutor in Alaska, asks him to help cover the shifts of the prison physician. Transplanted and out of his element, Marc encounters Hannah “Chani” Weissfogel Kahn, the rabbi of Resurrection Bay, Alaska, whose back story readers get in a handful of slightly overlong early chapters. Gradually, in short and straightforward chapters told with a refreshing lack of artifice, Goldsmith expands the narrative as Marc and Chani begin to feel attracted to each other, Max starts to get interested in Alaska’s famous Iditarod race, and Marc decides to become involved in relief medical work in Africa. Goldsmith’s ear for dialogue is superb, and his careful plotting allows an otherwise slightly outlandish tale to unfold naturally. The subplot centering on Max feels a bit rote, but the story of Marc’s rediscovery of his own humanity—and the pivotal but unassuming role Chani plays in that process—is believable and absorbing, as are the book’s depictions of its various locations. In particular, Alaska’s vistas and people are evoked with obvious affection. The novel’s emotional payoff in its concluding scenes is smoothly and confidently orchestrated, emotional without being saccharine, and the expansions on Jewish life and culture never feel forced. This is an accomplished debut novel.
A solidly uplifting story of a plastic surgeon seeking redemption.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5150-9434-0
Page Count: 354
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
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
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