WHISTLING IN THE DARK

Bloch muses on growing up as an immigrant in New York City in this collection of essays.

In this self-described “refugee’s tale of internalized outsiderhood,” the celebrated author offers readers an eclectic collection of 19 essays that blend memoir with broader observations on topics that span from isolation to typewriters. Many of the pieces focus on her childhood as a Belgian immigrant whose family fled Nazi Europe during World War II and settled in New York City. The introductory entry, “An Island Education,” recounts Bloch’s childhood quest to not only learn English, but to perfect its “peppy affable voice,” which she contrasts with the “hissy dignity” of her native French. She believed that the language had “magical powers” and that after mastering it, she “would be transformed, an American.” Yet, despite a successful career writing in English, she notes that it has yet “to make me a real American.” Adolescent longings to belong are at the center of “Sounding the Territory,” which touches on Bloch’s love of periodicals; Life Magazine gave the European-born Manhattanite a glimpse into the “real whole big thing” of America, from evangelical revivals in the South to Midwestern bake-offs. Even the “Anglophile-Ivy-Establishment” New Yorker introduced her to a world “that was as foreign to my experience as hot rodding on a highway in Texas.” Other essays explore topics ranging from her brief babysitting career working for novelist Howard Fast, who had recently been targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee for his affiliation with the Communist Party, to her father’s career in the diamond trade. The recipient of multiple poetry awards, author of two novels, and columnist for the New York Times, Bloch is a talented writer whose prose effectively balances an erudite writing style with accessibility. Though its stories are based on the author’s unique experiences, the book eloquently captures global feelings of adolescent optimism, postmodern ennui, and the ubiquity of alienation among immigrants. Fans of Bloch may be left wanting more recollections pertaining to her writing career and work inside New York’s publishing industry.

A moving collection that uses memoir to explore universal human experiences.