In this modern-day allegory, Trott (Divorcing Daddy, 1992, etc.) infuses the popular notion of the wise man on the mountain with a keen intelligence and a surprisingly wry humor. Joe runs a hermitage (not a hermitage in the strictest sense, since fellow monks keep him company) atop a mountain in an unnamed country. During the summer months, thousands of hopefuls line the single-file path leading to his door for a chance to bend his ear. Each day during visiting hours, a small, nondescript man opens the door to the next pilgrim in line, asking, ``Yes?'' Invariably, the pilgrim, anxious after such a long wait, replies with a hasty ``I have come to see the holy man.'' The man then asks the pilgrim to follow him and takes off at breakneck speed through the house until he reaches a door—a door that turns out to be the exit leading to the single-file path down the other side of the mountain. When the visitor whines, ``But I have come to see the holy man,'' the monk replies, ``You have seen me.'' Most times, he adds, ``If you look on every one you meet as a holy person, you will be happy.'' Eventually, the initially stunned pilgrims find the jewel in the monk's words: If everyone deserves to be treated as holy, then they are holy in some way too. If this rings cheesy, it is...and it isn't. Because Trott surrounds the clichÇd nuggets of wisdom with sharp wit (the story of the famous man who, in his attempt to bypass the line by stealing the robes of a monk in town for supplies, winds up beating up the holy man himself) and weighty experiences (the drunkard who, while waiting in line for advice, makes the nine-mile journey back into town for more booze so often that he becomes fit enough, physically and mentally, to give up alcohol). Endlessly entertaining and gently profound. (Book-of-the-Month Club/Quality Paperback Book Club selections)
Pub Date: March 22, 1995
ISBN: 1-57322-002-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
A gentle, soft-focus affair that doesn’t entirely avoid queasiness and cliché in its efforts to charm.
A Jewish immigrant goes to extreme lengths to become British in a bittersweet, uneven comic debut.
Handed a book of helpful hints on assimilation as he arrives in England from Berlin in 1937, Jack Rosenblum takes the list of suggestions to heart in this story based on the experience of the author’s grandparents. Jack quickly establishes a successful carpet factory in London, which pays for his oh-so-English expenses: a fine house, a Savile Row suit, a Jaguar car. But money can’t buy him what he craves most deeply, membership to an English golf club—undeclared racism keeps Jews tidily excluded from these. So Jack decides to construct his own golf course, on an idyllic plot of Dorset countryside. Neglecting his business and his sad wife, Jack hurls himself into the task, thereby discovering a different kind of Englishness colored by country characters, landscape, history and myth. Solomons’ prose tips between the awkward and the rhapsodic in a meandering tale in which grave issues such as anti-Semitism, survival and ruin never seem to weigh too heavily. Setbacks mount, but fairy-tale turns of event and acts of loyalty mean the golf course is completed in time for the coronation of Elizabeth II, a crowning moment of achievement and acceptance for Jack Rose-in-Bloom.
A gentle, soft-focus affair that doesn’t entirely avoid queasiness and cliché in its efforts to charm.Pub Date: June 21, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-316-07758-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Seven Footer Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing and captivating novel that bridges the uncomfortable political gap between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
In his first novel, Mandelman (Talking to the Enemy: stories, 2005) writes of identity, intrigue, Israeli politics and murder.
On learning of the murder of his father, David Starkman, an ex-pat now living in Canada, returns to Israel to find that his father’s will has put him under an unusual obligation—to produce a play, The Debba, within 45 days of his father’s death, a play that had been performed only once before, in 1946, and had at that time created a riot. (A debba is a mythical shape-changing beast from Arab culture, one that can turn from a hyena into a man. While Arabs see it in heroic terms, Israelis see it as inflaming political tensions.) Starkman is so bitter about being both Israeli and being his father’s son that at first he willingly forgoes the opportunity to produce the play even though he will only realize his modest legacy of $65,000 if he meets the theatrical obligation. He believes it’s just not worth the trouble, but after reading the play he begins to get intrigued by the possibilities. In Canada he left behind his girlfriend, Jenny, but once back in his home country he begins a torrid affair with Ruthy, an old flame (also an actress) now engaged to be married to his best friend Ehud. The novel follows multiple narrative threads, from policemen trying to crack the case of the father’s violent end to the endless difficulties of getting the play on the boards. Actors are threatened or physically assaulted, possible venues for staging the play are vandalized, young Israelis—followers of radical rabbi Meyer Kahane—protest the whole idea of putting on the drama…and this action plays out against the backdrop of the 1977 Israeli elections. Through it all Starkman perseveres, moving from cynical indifference to rabid commitment. Along the way he finds out secrets about his identity and especially about his father’s past.
An absorbing and captivating novel that bridges the uncomfortable political gap between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.Pub Date: July 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59051-370-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Other Press
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
