Tag: jewish

Why We Fly

Why We Fly

by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal

Sourcebooks Fire, October 5 2021

320 pages

Review by: E Broderick

Writing as part of a team requires a level of patience, communication and trust that most people can’t even achieve in their marriages. The two authors must share the same vision and work together to bring it to fruition. The fact that Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal have managed to do this not once, but twice, is a feat of epic proportions.

Their latest offering, Why We Fly, showcases those skills in the very themes of the book. The narrative is told in dual point of view, alternating between Chanel Irons and Eleanor Green, best friends that compete on the same high school cheer leading squad. While Eleanor is struggling to make a comeback after suffering from several debilitating concussions, a condition that will be with her for the rest of her life, Chanel is hyper focused. Her own internal demands for perfection lead to anxiety and isolation from the rest of the cheerleaders.

When the cheer squad decides to take a knee during the national anthem in support of an alumna things take a turn. The moment is charged and joyous – my heart almost exploded when the Jewish Student Union and Gay Straight Alliance both joined the protest – but left alone it would have been the stuff of saccharine morality tales. It is in the aftermath of this event that we see the true power of a shared narrative. Both girls must necessarily go on very different journeys and through them Jones and Segal show us the many forms of discrimination that high school athletes and activists face.

Chanel and Eleanor jumped in without a plan, and it shows. However, in true to life fashion, the repercussions hit the minority students disproportionately. The two girls, who have always shared everything with each other, are suddenly pushed apart by forces outside themselves. They must each find the strength to understand and fight the forces that would silence them.

For Eleanor, this means truly listening to those around her. There are several moving scenes with her Rabbi in which we are reminded, as Jews, that our job is not to rest on the laurels of previous generations but to actively take part in supporting our marginalized peers. That true leadership often takes the form of asking someone else what they need.

Chanel, on the other hand, forms a strong relationship with another student that has prior experience with advocacy. Together with Chanel’s older sister they show her that perfection is not necessary or even desirable. That she can’t try and be everything to everyone all the time. Combined with her experience at the legacy weekend for her mothers sorority, Chanel discovers how important mentorship is for minority students seeking to perform advocacy work.

The book resists the urge to give us a happily ever after with a neatly tied bow. The girls relationship is forever changed. Life is messy. So is this book. In the best possible way. Because it is written by two authors who know how to listen to each other. If only we could all learn to do the same.

*BookishlyJewish received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.

Starglass

Starglass

by: Phoebe North

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014

464 pages

Review by: E Broderick

Finding the perfect comparison titles, the one or two books that perfectly encapsulate the ethos of a newly written piece of fiction, is the bane of many querying authors existence. For me, it was damn near impossible. As a writer of Jewish sci-fi, my options were severely limited.

The prevailing advice was to choose a popular sci-fi title, no matter its content, and tack on “but Jewish!” at the end. Somehow, it didn’t feel right.

I’d resigned myself to an imperfect match when someone casually mentioned that if I enjoyed Jewish sci-fi I should try a Phoebe North book. At first, I was skeptical. After searching so long for this very thing I was afraid if I didn’t love the story I would be crushed.

I should not have worried.

Starglass, and it’s sequel Starbreak, follow a generation ship populated by Jewish people struggling to preserve humanity in the face of Earth’s destruction. They are full of science and plants and aliens. All of which I love. But even better, they are uniquely Jewish. This is, in large part, thanks to their setting.

When the entire population is Jewish a story can be told without the looming specter of antisemitism. The narrative by default must include Jewish antagonists and protagonists. Shades of grey within Judaism will be present. Otherwise, there would be no plot. And believe me there is plenty of plot in these books. Tense, riveting, edge of your launchpad plot.

Words like gelt, talmid and Tikun olam, are rampant in these pages. You do not need to be Jewish to understand their significance. However, there was something heart achingly sweet for me about hearing the main character search for her Bashert, the life partner she has been promised. The one that possessed the other half of her hearts.

No other word can compare.

Somewhere halfway through the first book I simply could not wait any longer. I had to know how this novel, which so deftly bridged the sacred and the mundane, came into existence. It was too much of a unicorn to possibly exist. Not after all the horror stories I had heard about publishing and the daily twitter controversies I saw unfolding all around me.

I flipped to the acknowledgements, spotted the editor, and immediately understood. Navah Wolfe, whose taste in stories I have long admired, received a thank you from Phoebe North. It took a Jewish writer partnering with a Jewish editor to give me this book.

I am so glad they did. And not just for the comp title.

trigger warning: suicide on the page

E Broderick is a speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.

Not Your All-American Girl

Not Your All-American Girl

by: Madelyn Rosenberg & Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Scholastic, 2020

256 pages

Review by E Broderick

Warning: Not Your All-American Girl contains references to VCR’s, phone books, and telephones with cords. I may or may not have sulked off and hid in a corner to cry about the fact that these things are now considered “historical fiction”.

Luckily, this adorable and hilarious story about half-Chinese, half-Jewish, Lauren Le Yuan Horowitz put the smile back on my face. When the story begins Lauren, who loves to sing, tries out for the school play along with her best friend Tara. Although the entire student body agrees that Lauren has the superior audition the lead part is given to Tara because she looks more “All American”. Anyone who has ever been passed over in favor of someone who “fits in better” will feel the sting right along with Lauren. Especially since Tara confronts their teacher who confirms that the decision was made solely based on appearances and “audience expectations”. She goes so far as to suggest Lauren is lucky to be in the ensemble.

As a writer of Jewish young adult sci fi, I found myself empathizing hard with Lauren’s plight. She wants to support her best friend, to be happy with the role in the ensemble she has been given, but there’s this niggling feeling that she is being held back by forces outside of her control. By the fact that she does not look the part. She begins to wonder where else she does not belong because she is both Jewish and Chinese. At one point she doubts that Jewish people can sing country music or become astronauts and travel to space.

Ouch Lauren. You might as well take my SFF loving heart and crush it between your small Middle School hands.

However, as the story progresses Lauren and Tara learn the true meaning of allyship, how to stand up for each other, how to maintain their friendship even when others try to tear it apart.

Lauren also learns to find solace within a group – she becomes a leader of the others in the ensemble – and to challenge her own assumptions. When she heads to a radio station and meets her favorite country music DJ, Nashville Nick, she is surprised to learn he is black. So is the reader. Because we too have been making implicit assumptions about who belongs in country music.

And that is the brilliance of this book. It is hilarious and entertaining but it doesn’t shy away from deep questions. I found it appropriate for the young middle grade set but entertaining enough for an adult reader to enjoy as well. Perhaps, if we all learn to examine our implicit bias the way Lauren and Tara do then our current assumptions of who and what an “All American” girl looks like will go the way of VCR’s and telephones with cords. Anachronisms that we are so much better off without.

E Broderick is a speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.

She tried to take a picture of herself hula hooping to match the cover of this book and it was an epic fail. However, she did not break or sprain anything and that should be considered a win.