A profoundly funny meditation on how one can find strength in religion.
In Greene’s novel, the director of a new Jewish boarding school rankles the community with his offbeat style—and there are rumors that he might be the Messiah.
Nudelman, a successful and irrepressible truck salesman, proposes a novel idea to the Synagogue Board in the Jewish community in Bolton, a small town in Western Pennsylvania: Starting a Jewish boarding school. Although they initially reject the proposal, Nudelman wins them over, suggesting that an old retirement home has plenty of room to house incoming students, and the endowment that sustains it is considerable enough to be partially repurposed. The board hires a Russian school director, Lev Kyol—“tall, angular man, weathered as an unpainted barn”—whose resume boasts experience as a school superintendent in Moscow. Although he impresses everyone with his “aura of self-possession and strength,” he also shocks the board with a series of surprising decisions; he admits a Palestinian boy to the school, inaugurates a celebratory Palestinian Day, and organizes a fundraiser for a Catholic hostel. Some members of the community are apoplectic—teacher Martin Schweig schemes to get Lev deported—while others think that he’s the Messiah. Greene, the author of The Seed Apple (2016), hilariously entertains this latter notion in the narration by Mendel Traig, the community center administrator: “Lev had suddenly become a diabolical, socialist dupe, a naive and irresponsible idealist, and a courageous advocate of brotherly love and understanding.” Mendel earnestly tries to figure out the newcomer while also dreaming of a romantic relationship with his best friend, Estelle Cantor. The author’s artful brew of farcical comedy and theological provocation may remind readers of the work of Booker Prize–winning novelist Howard Jacobson. Overall, it’s a delightfully satirical exploration of the intersection between the quotidian and the absurd. Lev is a particularly memorable character; it turns out that when he said “superintendent,” he actually meant “janitor,” and he neither encourages nor repudiates the strange notion that his arrival is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Throughout, Greene wisely explores the salutary power of faith, which Mendel calls a “kind of spiritual walker for the psychologically disabled.”
A profoundly funny meditation on how one can find strength in religion.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5439-7374-7
Page Count: 248
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A charming and incisive debut.
Four young nuns wind up running a halfway house full of quirky characters in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Four Catholic sisters live with the elderly Sister Roberta in upstate New York. All on the edge of turning 30, the young women are at loose ends: Their day care is shuttered, and Sister Roberta is retiring. However, the four women refuse to be parted: “We were fixed to one another, like parts of some strange, asymmetrical body: Frances was the mouth; Mary Lucille, the heart; Therese, the legs. And I, Agatha, the eyes.” Eventually, the Buffalo diocese decides to transfer them to Rhode Island, where they are put in charge of running Little Neon, a “Mountain Dew”–colored house for residents trying to get sober and get back on their feet. When the local Catholic high school needs someone to teach geometry, the sisters volunteer Agatha, who is labelled as the quietest but the smartest of the quartet. As Agatha immerses herself in her new life, she finds the residents of Little Neon, from parolee Baby to Tim Gary, whose disfigured jaw prevents him from finding love, open her eyes to new realities, as do her colleagues and students at the high school. Eventually, Agatha can no longer ignore that the church, and most of all she herself, is changing. Luchette’s novel, her first, is structured in small chapters that feel like vignettes from a slightly wacky indie film. The book is frequently vibrant with resonant images: Agatha learning to roller skate in Little Neon’s driveway or a resident drunk in a sequined dress riding a lawnmower through the snow. But even though the book feels light, Luchette does not turn away from the responsibility of examining the darkness undergirding the institution of the Catholic Church.
A charming and incisive debut.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-26526-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A moving, magical holiday romance.
Exes are reunited during a chaotic, miraculous Hanukkah season in Manhattan.
Evelyn Schwartz is at the top of her game at work, and all her effort and long, thankless hours have led to a project that will let her truly make a name for herself: executive producing a live televised musical of A Christmas Carol, which will have her working all through Hanukkah. When an injury lands her in the studio’s medical bay, she’s shocked—and infuriated—to see her ex-husband filling in for the usual on-set doctor. David Adler hasn’t seen his wife since he left her two years ago, moved out of the city, and started an animal rescue farm. Despite their unresolved history, they agree to be professional and get through this production. When Evelyn encounters the ghost of a former co-worker, she thinks she must be hallucinating even though that’s never been a symptom of her chronic migraines before. Throughout the eight days of Hanukkah as Evelyn counts down to her show, solving one problem after another, more spectral and outlandish visitors appear to show her eight heartbreaks of Hanukkah past. As Evelyn relives the things that brought her and David together and then tore them apart, her love for him is reignited. It’ll take a Hanukkah miracle, though, for them to work through their past heartache. Meltzer blends the deep, somber emotions of heartbreak and loss with moments of pure hilarity and adds a dash of holiday-season magic to create an affecting, heartfelt story. Tough topics are deftly handled with tenderness, care, and compassion, while the characters are allowed to be realistically messy and complex. Evelyn’s growth as she faces her grief feels more substantial than the romance, although the two meaningfully weave together and the couple’s happy ending is well earned.
A moving, magical holiday romance.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780778334422
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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