A moving family tale with a strong cast that readers will love.
An indomitable man guides his Jewish family through the horrors of World War II in Eastern Europe in this debut novel.
Readers meet Elazar Gershovich in 1922. But the backstory is that, in 1903, the Gershoviches were living a comfortable life in Kishinev, Moldova, when the Christians attacked the Jews in a pogrom. Little Elazar was thrown from a window, his brother Hershel had his leg broken, their mother was gang-raped, and two siblings were murdered. The family fled north to Kalarash, Moldova, and started over. Now, Elazar is an accomplished violinist in his musical family (Papa loves the accordion, Mama prefers the clarinet, and Hershel plays percussion). Yet the protagonist longs to test his wings. But first, what he really wants is a girlfriend. He becomes smitten with Ita Kaplan, a winsome young artist from a wealthy family. Unfortunately, she plans to join her three sisters in Paris, and France is too daunting for Elazar. Then there is Mariam Gabashvili, but, since she’s not Jewish, Papa forbids the match. Soon, plans change for Ita (because of the political landscape), and so she marries Elazar and they have two children, Rivka and Ira. When the war comes, Elazar and his family and Hershel and his wife—their two sons are conscripted by the Russians—flee east ahead of the German bombardment. After a monumental trek—on foot, by train, and by boat—they end up in Uzbekistan for the duration of the war. Lice are a constant scourge, and these pests are probably responsible for a family member contracting typhus. At war’s end, Elazar and his clan make their way back to Moldova and the bombed-out ruins. But will the treasure that Elazar buried in the backyard in Kalarash and the violin he hid in the cellar still be there? Will there be music as these irrepressible survivors try to rebuild their lives?
Turner and Gorbaty’s engaging debut novel is promising and timely, considering what is going on in the main protagonist’s part of the world. Elazar, the narrator, carries the story and will win readers over right from the start. There is subtle humor in his desperate search for his dream girl, equal parts idealism and lust. And Ita is a surprise. Readers will expect that coming from an affluent family, she would not be able to handle adversity. But when the world comes crashing down, she is by no means a quitter. She is in fact a resourceful mother and loving wife through thick and thin (mostly thin). And Elazar is forever the optimist because positivity costs nothing, and pessimism is pointless, at least in his eyes. A scene involving the family member fighting typhus is beautiful and poignant (Dickens would approve). Of course, in war everyone suffers, and one would hope that the misery would bring common understanding and forbearance. But not in Moldova. In the Kalarash shtetl, a simple code evolves. In a precarious universe, you live every day as if it’s your last, so “one: have some fun, two: try to do some good, and three: don’t screw anyone over too badly.” Surely, there are more exalted codes of conduct, but these people are not given to moral preening.
A moving family tale with a strong cast that readers will love.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2023
ISBN: 9798218267544
Page Count: 242
Publisher: Bessarabian Publishers
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
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