A poetic, searching novel about fates hanging in the balance.
A novelist speculates about what would have happened if his Jewish family had stayed in Poland in the 1930s.
A Genizah is a place where worn-out religious books are kept until they get a proper burial; when death is everywhere and proper burial is no longer possible, Karlin suggests, everyone starts to live in a Genizah, an in-between space. Inspired by his mother’s stories about life in Kolno, Poland, and her family’s subsequent reinvention in America, Karlin’s heartfelt book asks, “What if they had stayed?” Leaving becomes a focus of the main characters: Elazar, a talented boxer, and Rahel, the daughter of a smuggler, leave the small, heavily Jewish town of Kolno on horseback together, after Elazar leaves wealthy widow Rivka Mendl literally at the chupah. Rivka curses them as they leave, and their troubles begin shortly thereafter, when they learn the cost of getting to America. To fake your documents and get you a ticket, gangsters like Leo Bombas will ask for anything—and do. With a beautiful horse named Argamaka in tow, Rahel and Elazar decide to give up on their expatriate dream and return to Kolno. Their welcome is not warm; everyone thinks they should have gone. As they settle back into their lives, the town starts to chatter about a possible German invasion. Kolno’s descent is swift, as Polish neighbors are pitted against Jewish neighbors. Rahel and Elazar decide they must try to escape one last time. As history starts to unfold, the author enters his pages: “I know what has to occur, and this is not a folk tale nor a fairy tale; this is about what happened and what didn’t happen and what will keep happening.” The fact that we know how the story will end doesn’t make it any less emotionally devastating.
A poetic, searching novel about fates hanging in the balance.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9798986617824
Page Count: 297
Publisher: Publerati
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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