The holiday of Shavuot is best known for the tradition of staying up all night and learning Torah, but it is also the moment when the Jewish people went from a ragtag band of former slaves on the run to a full fledged nation, unified in our common covenant with our God. That unity is what I like to focus on. There are many ways of interpreting that covenant, and our Torah, but it should never divide us. Rabbi Dov Linzer and journalist Abigail Pogrebin epitomize that ethos in their book It Takes Two Torah.
Rabbi Linzer, a Modern Orthodox Rabbi, is more willing to seek outside perspective and acknowledge it as valid than most people associate with any kind of Orthodox Judaism. Meanwhile, Pogrebin is more insightful and clearly dedicated to Torah study than people tend to give Reform Jews credit for. Learning together on their podcast, one torah portion a week, they challenged those stereotypes and each other. Now their conversations have been gathered into one volume.
As a person who struggles with audio formats, I was grateful to have this conversation in print. The discussion was lively, and they did not shy away from some of the sketchier topics – sotah anyone? They also never gave away their original premise. Rabbi Linzer views the Torah as a divine blueprint for life while Pogrebin sees it more as a touchstone text to learn about Jewish ethics without an obligation to necessarily follow all the rules therein as our understanding of the world and social justice evolves. However, there is one common denominator. As Jews we believe it is our goal to grapple with our text, to turn it over and over, rather than just blindly accept it. And these two deliver on that concept!
Although Rabbi Linzer admittedly knows more of the text by heart than Pogrebin (side effect of his day job I suppose) we never get the sense that one of the two is teaching the other. Instead, they are struggling together, each bringing in thoughts from their own traditions to teach the other, and trying to reach some form of conclusion. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. But conclusions aren’t the point. The point is the argument itself. That is how we engage in Torah and keep it relevant.
It Takes Two To Torah is rooted in its time. There are references to the COVID pandemic and BLM protests. But it is also a durable document. A roadmap for how to engage with each other across denominations in polite, but no less heated, scholarly discourse. In that way, it emulates the everlasting Torah itself. A worthy aspiration.
BookishyJewish received a finished copy of this book from the publisher.
They don’t make them like they used to. Usually, this is a nostalgic cry for times gone by, but in the case of a Batya Gur’s Michael Ohayon detective novels, it’s simply a statement of modern reality. The first novel, Saturday Morning Murder, which I read in translation by Dalya Bilu, was published in the 1930’s, long before modern methods of crime detection came to dominate crime fiction. Which is part of what makes it so delightful.
There’s is no DNA evidence or mass spectrometer here. The most exciting bit of forensics is matching a bullet to a gun that we all already knew was the murder weapon anyway. An entire twisty plot point would be laughable in today’s age of electronic records. So how does Detective Ohayon get anything done? Well, he talks to people and he noticed small discrepancies. Michael Ohayon is a master at slowly, methodically entering the heads of those involved in the case. Despite his superiors constant nagging that he speed it up, he takes the time to fully understand the suspects and their milleu. Which is not to say that his own personal life is not a great big dumpster fire of disaster, because it most definitely is, but this ability to connect with those involved in a case gives him an insight into how to make them talk. How to catch what others overlook.
Each book in the series is meant to be a mental deep dive into a particular community. It feels fitting the first such group featured is one that deals exclusively in the matters of the mind – a psychoanalytic institute. In order to solve the murder of a leading analyst, Michael must learn all about analysis, including the people who perform and seek it. It’s an explanatory handbook on a topic readers might not otherwise understand even on a surface level.
Don’t get me wrong, a walk down nostalgia lane has its drawbacks. There’s a certain sexism inherent in Detective Ohayon’s dealings, his dealings with women pretty deplorable. However, the choice to have the main detective be of Moroccan descent makes his interactions with the “outsiders” of his society more relatable. He too has felt the sting of rejection from a European elite that doesn’t recognize his accomplishments as worthy, or assumes he is less than. Also refreshing is that while Detective Ohayan may not find analysis particularly attractive, it is clear that a significant military side character is greatly benefiting from it. It’s just too bad his analyst has been murdered.
Without the trips to the lab there’s more space for the characters to breathe. It gives Saturday Morning Murder a different pace and style than modern readers might be used to. I don’t think I could read the entire series back to back. However, I definitely intend to read the rest. They’re a nice break from the hectic crush of social media and molecular biology filled thrillers. Sometimes, it’s good to revisit our past.
Memorial day is fast approaching, and with it what many consider the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. Looking for a good book to take to the beach? We’ve got you covered! While they don’t technically all feature islands, these books do feature popular summer vacation destinations (and remember, Manhattan is an island.).
Maggie May Wheeler is living her best life—at thirty, she has big plans for her vintage record shop and is about to be engaged to her childhood best friend. But when she stumbles across a letter she wrote to her future self when she was thirteen, she realizes it may not be enough. The letter ignites a desire to find her birth mother and discover where she really belongs.
Her search takes her to dreamy Fire Island, where her birth mother is a guest at a wedding. As Maggie spies on her biological family, she’s caught between diving into their chaotic lives and returning to her comfortable world. Things heat up when a charming local makes her an offer to crash the wedding as his date.
Is it the island’s magic, the whirlwind of the weekend, or the thrill of a fake beau that has her rethinking everything? Swept away by every love song she hears, Maggie must figure out where her heart truly lies.
Love it? Good news! There’s two more in the Fire Island series, and they can be read in any order..
The four Jacobson children were raised to respect the value of a dollar. Their mother reused tea bags and refused to pay retail; their father taught them to budget before he taught them to ride a bike. And yet, now that they’re adults, their financial lives are in disarray.
The siblings reunite when their newly widowed father puts their Jersey Shore beach house on the market. Packing up childhood memories isn’t easy, especially when there’s other drama brewing. Matthew is miserable at his corporate law job and wishes he had more time with his son; Laura’s marriage is imploding in spectacular fashion; Sophie’s art career is stalled while her boyfriend’s is on the rise; and Noah’s total failure to launch has him doing tech repair for pennies.
When Noah sees an ad for a Powerball drawing, he and his sisters go in on tickets while their brother Matthew passes. All hell breaks loose when one of the tickets is a winner and three of the four Jacobsons become overnight millionaires. Without their mother’s guidance, and with their father busy playing pickleball in a Florida retirement village, the once close-knit siblings search for comfort in shiny new toys instead of each other.
It’s not long before the Jacobsons start to realize that they’ll never feel rich unless they can pull their family back together.
Jordan Edelman’s messy dating days are over. After a few too many broken hearts, and a father who worries a bit too much, she’s sworn off boys—at least for the summer. And since she’ll be tagging along on her father’s research trip to Nantucket, she doesn’t think it’ll be too hard to stick to her resolution.
But hooking up with the cute boy on the ferry doesn’t count, right? At least, not until that cute boy turns out to be Ethan Barbanel. As in, her father’s longtime research assistant Ethan Barbanel, the boy Jordan has hated from afar for years. And to make matters worse, Jordan might actually be falling for him.
As if that didn’t complicate her life enough, Jordan’s new summer job with a local astronomer turns up a centuries-old mystery surrounding Gibson’s Comet—and as she dives into her research, what she learns just might put her growing relationship with Ethan in jeopardy.
Loved this books so much you’re sad it’s over? Not to fear, it’s part of an entire series and each book can be read independently in any order.
Natalya Fox has twenty-four hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home in NYC for the summer with her dad (and finally screw up the courage to talk to the girl she’s been crushing on), or spend it with her basically estranged mom in LA (knowing this is the best chance she has to fix their relationship, if she even wants to.) (Does she want to?)
How’s a girl supposed to choose?
She can’t, and so both summers play out in alternating timelines – one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the girl she’s always wanted. And one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the guy she never saw coming.
Sink or swim. Or at least that’s what Annette Feldman tells herself when she books a cruise for her entire family. It’s been over a decade since the Feldman clan has spent more than twenty-four hours under the same roof, but Annette is determined to celebrate her seventieth birthday the right way. Just this once, they are going to behave like an actual family.
Too bad her kids didn’t get the memo.
Between the troublesome family secrets, old sibling rivalries, and her two teenage grandkids, Annette’s birthday vacation is looking more and more like the perfect storm. Adrift together on the open seas, the Feldmans will each face the truths they’ve been ignoring—and learn that the people they once thought most likely to sink them are actually the ones who help them stay afloat.
Author Shelby Archer found inspiration for her first novel while living on the picturesque shores of Provincetown on Cape Cod. When she comes to the town to celebrate her new bestseller, she is expecting a warm homecoming. But instead she is confronted with the cold shoulders of friends and neighbors who feel exposed and betrayed.
Heartbroken, Shelby tries to move on and focus on her next novel. But then an unexpected call comes: her dear friend who owns the beloved Land’s End bookshop needs help for the summer. Shelby reluctantly returns to the Cape to manage the store.
Back at the beach, Shelby sets her focus on the tiny seaside shop, getting lost in the shelves of steamy romance novels and dusty classics and trying to right the wrongs of her past. With every page turned and every customer served, Shelby comes closer to gaining back the trust of those she hurt. But as her manuscript deadline nears, she is again forced to choose between her own success and a second chance at love and belonging.
When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: to Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.
And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.
Hannah and Libby need a miracle. The PR agency they inherited from their grandmother is losing clients left and right, and the sisters are devastated at the thought of closing. The situation seems hopeless—until in walks Lou, an eccentric self-help guru who is looking for a new PR agency. Her business could solve all their problems—but there’s a catch. Whoever works with Lou must complete a twelve-week challenge as part of her “Crush Your Comfort Zone” program.
Hannah, whose worst nightmare is making small talk with strangers, is challenged to go on twelve first dates. Libby, who once claimed to have period cramps for four weeks straight to get out of gym class, is challenged to compete in an obstacle course race. The challenges begin with Hannah helping Libby train and Libby managing the dating app on her sister’s behalf. They’re both making good progress—until Hannah’s first love rolls into town, and Libby accidentally falls for a guy she’s supposed to be setting up with her sister.
Things get even more complicated when secrets come to light, making the sisters question the one relationship they’ve always counted on: each other. With their company’s future on the line, they can’t afford to fail. But in trying to make a comeback to honor their grandmother, are they pushing themselves down the wrong path?
Foundation encompasses all the sefirot that comes before it, synthesizing them into a true foundation. It is also known as the sefirah of bonding.
In PAST PRESENT FUTURE by Rachel Lynn Solomon we have already seen the lvoe grow between the MC’s. Now we are seeing how their bond is tested by time and life events and how that foundation of love helps them make it through.
Discipline within bonding means looking at your relationships and making sure they are healthy. no Co-dependency. No bonding with people who hurt you. Only then is there a true foundation.
In THE BAKER OF LOST MEMORIES by Shirley Russak Wachtel the main character must learn to discern a healthy partner from one that is using her.
Endurance within bonding means this relationship is meant to last. It can withstand all challenges.
In JACKPOT SUMMER by Elyssa Friedland we meet siblings who are about to face some serious challenges – even though they just won the lotto! But their bond for childhood provides the endurance to make it through.
True humility comes from recognizing God. By recognizing God, and the godliness in others, we can truly bond across differences and have a lasting foundation for a relationship.
In IT TAKES TWO TO TORAH by Abigail Pogrebin and Rabbi Dov Linzer the two authors come from very different backgrounds. But they hold a fascinating and civil discourse on Judaism and Torah.
Bonding within bonding encouurages us to look at all our bonds – between people but also within experiences in our lives. What is holding us back?
In LOVE YOU A LATKE by Amanda Elliot the main character must form some healthy bonds to help her look at how past unhealthy relationships have stopped her from bonding with her Judaism.
Majesty within bonding means recognizing personal sovereignty. Bonding should elevate both people, not overshadow one.
In A WARNING ABOUT SWANS by R. M. Romero the main character learns to bond with the person that celebrates and sees her true self rather than the one who would seek to control and diminish her.
It has been brought to my attention that I write characters with extensive wardrobes. Apparently, I’m a little bit of a fashionista and I perceive clothes easier than I do faces and facial expressions. Which is kind of funny, because as a kid I hated fashion and shopping. Probably because my school uniform and modesty code was forcing me into clothes that were clearly not intended for my body type. I guess that’s what happens when you let a man dictate what women should wear. I’m in charge of my own clothes now and the results, while hopefully still modest, no longer make me feel ugly or misshapen. Because my body is my own and it shouldn’t have to be clothed with the male gaze in mind. I love to shop now! And I loved learning how some legendary department stores had similar transformations when taken over by women, as detailed in Julie Satow’s When Women Ran Fifth Avenue.
Most of the women featured in the book are in fact not Jewish, but the Satow takes pains to give a full history while chronicling three famed women, and the Jewish involvement in the garment and clothing is undeniable. I wish more time had been spent on Beatrice Fox Auerbach, the Jewish owner of G. Fox and Company, who seemed to be as generous as she was clever. It’s rumored she was the inspiration behind Don’s “one that got away” department store owner love interest on Mad Men. Also included is a chapter on what most consider the first black owned department store, Saint Luke Emporium, run by activist and entrepreneur Maggie Lena Walker.
There is glitz and glamor in When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, but there is also cut throat fashion industry politics and some very sad commentary on women balancing careers and personal lives. You get the sense these ladies had to make choices that were most certainly not required of their male counterparts. But you also see how allowing women to take the reigns and create a shopping experience for other women works so much better than letting men tell us what we want (There’s an enraging quote by a man that assumes all women are dressing to impress men. Sigh.). I may have my objections to Geraldine Stutz’s choice of ideal body type and Bendel’s only stocking items for that particular kind of person, but Lena Himmelstein (Jewish!), creator of Lane Bryant is right there standing as a counterpoint to her.
Online shopping has changed the entire industry, as has fast fashion. You can’t take a stroll through Bendel’s anymore, and the Bonwitt Teller building is now a Trump Towers. Things change, our tastes evolve, but the I remember these lessons every time I dress myself. I can be whoever I want to be, present whatever face to the world I like, and that is partially thanks to these women who gave women a safe space to buy their clothes.
Healthy humility is not about self effacement, it is a loving choice to rise above ourselves out of love for others. It should take you outside of yourself and allow you to love more, not less.
In LOVE AND LATKES by Stacey Agdern both main characters are striving for significant recognition in their careers. They are aware they are people of value, but still their humility allows them to make space for each other and forgive past mistakes to build a future together.
Humility doesn’t mean standing down in the face of something wrongs. Speaking out for a good cause can be one of the most humble things you’ll ever do. That’s what discipline in humility teaches us.
In Naomi Teitelbaum Ends The World by Samara Shanker the main character is a bat mitzvah with a passion against social justice. Unfrtunately, golems are not always the problems to our solutions and Naomi has to learn personal humility and acceptance too. She’s a great role model for MG readers!
Compassionate humility makes you more empathetic and connected to others, not withdrawn and quiet.
In Eight Dates and Eight Nights by Betsy Aldredge the main character is stranded in Texas and missing home. By looking outside herself – on eight fantastic dates with a very adorable love interest – she learns there’s more than just NY Judaism. She connects with the Texas community and the rewards are huge for her and hte community.
Endurance of humility means that your commitments are firm and you do not waver due to humility. You are not a doormat. You are a person looking to further good in the universe.
In The Jake Show by Joshua S. Levy the main character needs to stop giving way and trying to please both of his divorced parents and instead learn to be himself.
Humility within humility means truly examining your humility and making sure it doesn’t come from a place of arrogance. Do you flaunt it, or do you let it help you grow?
In Here All Along by Sarah Hurwitz the writer examines everything they thought they knew about Judaism, and it is both humble and humbling. It is not so much a public display of religion as an invitation, even to those who are not Jewish, to get to know us.
Humility should not be a lone pursuit. It should be the foundation upon which to build lasting fruitful relationships with others.
In Gittel by Laurie Schneider, the main character has a lot to learn about humilty, but when she does it brings her closer to community. She can show all her talents, stand up for herself, and still make room to understand others.
Humility should never compromise personal dignity. In fact, it should enhance it. Modesty and grace are the essence of dignity.
In The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman by Mari Lowe the main character learns to look at popular girls in a whole new light. She learns about respecting her friends personal dignity. And also how to safeguard her own, even in the face of popularity.
I’ve been a mother and I’ve been a daughter and let me tell you, living on both sides of that relationship still has not clarified it. So this mother’s day I’m choosing to review a book that details the most beautiful aspects of being both a mother and a daughter.
Honey and Me by Meira Drazin, is a book that most publishing professionals would call “quiet”. Which is usually the kiss of death, because in my experience if you don’t blow up a spaceship in the first chapter people are going to tell you that you are losing the reader and this will never sell as a debut. So let us celebrate the miracle that a book about two best friends going through their bat mitzvah year together managed to pass the daunting gauntlets of being both “quiet” and involving orthodox Jews which usually gets labelled “too niche.” Possibly this is due to the fact that it won the Sydney Taylor manuscript award. At least the publisher knew it would get the award winner sticker right from the get go.
Regardless, I am grateful Honey and Me made it because while the story details the friendship between two Orthodox girls, and how one must come out of the shadow of the other, it also details the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters. Milla has a small family and her mother has given up a career to raise Milla and her brother. Milla’s mother also channels most of her energy (and likely her disappointment at not being able to have more children) towards keeping a meticulous home and volunteering with Milla’s school. As an adult, I recognized right away this was not the healthiest dynamic, so I can understand why Milla prefers to spend her time at her best friend Honey’s house full of kids and fun.
When Honey and Milla’s classmates each have their own bat mitzvah experiences we see how each girl and her family have chosen to celebrate this milestone. We also find Milla fully coming into her own, even as the transfer of Honey into Milla’s school shakes up a lot of ideas she has about herself. The crux of the book is the Milla-Honey relationship and how they grow into their own adult selves, but I was most moved by the Milla-Milla’s Mom interactions. Just as Honey and Milla each celebrate their bat mitzvah’s in a unique way that is perfect for them, Milla must realize that her family – and not anyone elses – is the one she is meant to have, because they are perfect for her.
It is a book full of growth – not only for the children but also for the parents. However, the reader is asked to grow too. I have been told when I write about orthodox characters it is “too disorienting” for non-orthodox readers. While Drazin gives excellent context clues and explanations, she doesn’t water down the experience. It was particularly meaningful for me, as this was similar to parts of my childhood and also part of my mothering. Just like Milla, I had both the family and the religious life that was meant for me, and I was so fulfilled to see it reflected in a traditionally published book.
As an author, I usually try to disguise the self insert characters at least a little. But in the opening pages of ON FIRE ISLAND by Jane Rosen, the author makes it clear she’s going all in and giving us a main character that works in publishing (an editor who oddly edits her own spouses books). However, this kind of works because the self same narrator is dead. Which we also find out pretty quickly into the first page.
As far as dead narrators go, Julia Morse is a fairly likable one. She looks at most things with a dark sense of humor and wonders right along with the reader why she is still here observing the goings on of her family and neighbors on fire island the summer after her own funeral. Julia’s death provides us two major narrative advantages. One, she is clearly a very omniscient third person narrator, so we can follow around several different groups of people on fire island and get the scoop behind their backstories. It’s not odd that Julia gives us people’s entire life histories, including that of the guy that makes the sandwiches at her favorite store, because she is chatting with us from the vantage point of death. Second, her romance with her literary star writer husband would be way too saccharine for me if this was a romance. It’s all perfect looking people with exciting careers falling in love and not much struggle. I would be happy for her, but not lining up to read about it in a novel. After her death? Well, it’s just tragic and poignant and I really needed to know what happened with Julia and her spouse.
Julia’s now widower husband is one of the many characters we meet on fire island, and understandably our tour guide is rather fond of him. There’s a plot point about his last contracted novel that could be a nice reveal for anyone who doesn’t see it coming from a mile away like I did. Either way, his grief is handled with that sense of macabre humor that I already noted, and his story line is generally fulfilling. In fact, the ability to craft multiple genuinely fulfilling story lines for a host of well fleshed out characters is the highlight of On Fire Island. From the two teenagers looking to give each other a very exciting send off before college to the kleptomaniac who seems to only steal restaurant silverware, every person we meet is given a full treatment and we come to know and love them as we do our own quirky neighbors.
This story is a love letter to Fire Island, which will be the setting for the following two books in the series that are seeded here, but also to the communities of people we create around ourselves wherever we go. Sure, the narrator may be dead, but she formed so many connections while she was alive and that web continues on spinning without her. Plus, the publishing bits even seem somewhat realistic. (I especially enjoyed the agent). I’m looking forward to reading the next two books, although I will admittedly miss Julia. Even though I only met her long past her fictional demise, it’s nice to chat one publishing person to another.
For things to last we need to love and commit to them. Love within eternity means being passionate enough to commit for the long haul. Do you love your choices? Then they’ll last forever.
ON BEING JEWISH NOW, edited by Zibby Owens, features a wide variety of Jews. The thing that unites them? Their love for Judaism, making them an eternal people. We survive because of our love for being Jewish, and our unwavering commitment to that heritage in whatever form it takes.
Discipline within eternity means examining our habits and making sure we aren’t keeping toxic ones.
In FINALLY FITZ by Marisa Kanter the main character has to let go of parts of the past two realize a better future. She must examine her old defense mechanisms and realize when they are and aren’t healthy.
Endurance within compassion means committing to helping others. It means looking past things that usually annoy or irritate you and finding ways to connect.
The title of Shai Held’s JUDAISM IS ABOUT LOVE says it all. People think of Judaism as entirely legal based, but those laws are meant to foster love and compassion for ones fellow human. It is an enduring comittment to making the world a better, more loving place.
Eternity within Eternity, endurance within endurance. To me this is the entire story of the Jewish people and there’s no better book to reflect that than A LETTER IN THE SCROLL by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks may his memory be for a blessing.
The book dispela any myths about Judaism as well as explaining why a Jew today might still choose to practice and/or identify as Jewish.
Humility within eternity mean realizing that our ability to endure comes from God. This only makes us stronger as human endurance is limited but Gods is limitless.
In MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Victor Frankl we learn how people survived the unthinkable.
Bonding/Foundatin within endurance is the basis of all relationships. A true bond between people lays the ground work for a relationship that lasts forever.
You might be surprised by my pick here, but In LADY EVE’S LAST CON by Rebecca Fraimow you basically watch a relationship become even more important than heist. It was the most fun romance I read in a long time.
When faced with hardship, try to meet them like a King Or Queen, with your head up and your heart steady. Majesty within endurance means pulling through bravely.
In KANTIKA by Elizabeth graver we watch a family saga through generations, and continents. Although their fortunes may have changed, they remain dignified throughout.
It’s a tricky thing for an author to let us hate his or her main characters. Yet somehow Yael Van Der Wouden opens her absolutely stunning debut novel The Safekeep by doing just that. The novel is told through eyes of Isabel, who strikes the reader as extremely paranoid, stodgy, and overall just plain rude. Which does not bode well for her when her brother dumps his girlfriend, Eva, on her for the summer at their family home. Seen through Isabel’s eyes, Eva is loud, uncouth, and particularly grating. I hated them both instantly. Yet by the end of the book I loved them so fiercely I would literally put myself between them and harm. It’s quite the feat.
The Safekeep is described as horror, mystery, erotica, literary, and just about everything in between. For me, I never felt the creeping dread or mystery that other readers report experiencing, but this is likely due to my particular family background. I understood where this was going from the first chapter. At the point when most of my fellow readers gasped in shock, I simply nodded in recognition. The only difference between me and Eva is that for my family you can replace the words “taxes” and “bureaucracy” with the names of various firearms. There are reasons I don’t visit certain countries despite them being locations my grandparents once lived. So I’m having a hard time placing this particular novel into a neat category, but I don’t have any difficulty describing it. It is magnificent. It is queer. It is full of longing, and also forgiveness. It is vicious, and it is gentle, and it will alter you forever.
Part of what underscored the plot is the interplay of hate and desire. The things that I hated when I met Isabel and Eva were the things about them that I knew lived somewhere deeply within myself – Isabel’s hoarding tendencies, and social anxiety. Eva’s inability to get her manners right in upscale society. Those things are a part of me too. I’m too shy, too loud, too much, too Jewish, too formerly poor to ever feel like I fit in. I am all too familiar with how one can both hate and love themselves. What I recognized most in both of them though, was the desire that lurks in their hearts. For Isabel, she misreads her own desires as loathing, channels them into cherishing objects. When Eva presents her with an actual outlet for all that pent up longing it releases with all the pent up energy of a volcano erupting. For Eva, desire is more complicated. Without spoiling the entire plot, let’s just say when Eva thinks she desires possessions I suspect she actually wants the security they represent. Not just physically, she well knows that safety can be a transient thing, but emotionally. To be secure in the presence of the people she loves. To have her desire received and reciprocated. Essentially, to be wanted.
If you have had the fortune, (or misfortune as the case may be), to experience this kind of want you’ll know that no object can fulfill it. You options are limited. You can pray you find a person (or persons) that can make even a dent in that yawning chasm of desire. You can accept that the yearning will always be a part of you, smoldering below the surface, waiting for a chance to burn you whole. Or you can be like me and let it out by writing stories about Jewish girls kissing on spaceships while they low key dabble in mysticism. As a coping mechanism, it is adequate, but I can’t say I highly recommend it.
In the end, the joke is on me for waiting all those months to read The Safekeep because my library hold took forever. Because the thing I want right now is a copy of the book, which I have indeed ordered, so that I can carry around with me like a security blanket in case I miraculously run into the author (who I think doesn’t even live on my continent?) so I can be too embarrassed to approach and get it signed anyway. I suggest you go read it, so that you too can be forever changed and forever wanting.
