The Takeaway Men

A girlfriend recommended The Takeaway Men by Meryl Ain. She said it was a nice change of pace for a Holocaust book. Rather than focusing on the atrocities of the Holocaust, it deals with several Jewish families in Northern Queens (New York City) in the 1940s thru 1960s. Of those that lived through the Shoah in Europe, there were some who preferred to keep all their memories and feelings bottled up inside and there were some who felt that it was important to share what they experienced so something so horrific won't happen again. That is very much like real life.

The problem with this novel, though, is that it attempted to cover too much (Holocaust, immigration, religious observance, marital relationships, sibling relationships, death, mental illness, the Rosenbergs trial, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some other things that Ain includes in this relatively short novel. Because it is a short novel, nothing was covered deeply enough for me to feel satisfied. Many of the stories that Ain started to share weren't resolved or were dropped midstream.

I think that Aron, Judy, and their twins, Bronka and JoJo are considered the main characters, but other characters, a whole host of characters, got nearly as much attention. I would have loved to have more to a few of the stories than these relative shallow stories.

I also had a problem with the title, "The Takeaway Men." Unless that was a common phrase used in the 1940s and 1950s, it surprised me that two children, an ocean apart, would use  the same phrase. And while "the takeaway men" make the two appearances in the novel, that's not what the story is really about.

The is Ain's debut novel, and it read like a debut novel. The writing was simplistic and descriptive in a way that doesn't add much to the story. I'm sure there's a phrase to describe this type of reading, but I can't place my finger on that right now.

I'm not sure if I'd recommend The Takeaway Men, and the next time I speak to my friend, I'm going to probe a little deeper to ask her what she thought about different aspects of the book.
 

The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem

 

We've been living in window replacement hell for the past two weeks. It probably would have been stressful in normal times, but that stress was compounded by doing a project such as window replacement during a pandemic. All the people in the house, touching surfaces, using the bathroom. Very stressful! That said, I have  been reading. I just haven't had the time to sit and blog.

Another book club book, this one for my Jewish book club, that I've read months in advance, just hoping that I can remember enough for a good discussion.

In Sarit Yishai-Levi's The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, readers follow the stories of mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, parents and children, all told within the backdrop of the  30 years before and after the creation of the state of Israel.

There's was lots about the days before the creation of the state of Israel that I didn't know. Things about Ottoman rule especially. I did stop to research a little bit while reading, one of the big huge benefits of reading on an electronic device. I also learned quite a bit about Sephardic culture in Israel - and how wide the gulf was between the Sephardic Jews and the Ashkenazic Jews.

My biggest beef with the novel that covers 4 generations is that very few of the characters were at all likable. However, the sense of Israel was strong. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this novel, and I think it will make for a good book club discussion.

The Book of Two Ways

I love Jodi Picoult. There are very few of her novels that I haven't read. But I really didn't love her latest, The Book of Two Ways. This is a novel with a great story line. It's about Dawn, a woman who is thrown a life curve. She's all set to get her doctorate in Egyptology when her mother lets her know that she's deathly ill. Being the dutiful, loving daughter and older sister that she is, she leaves Egypt and returns to Boston and her life is forever changed. Or is it? Are their second chances in life? 

Dawn becomes a death doula. She's a social worker who helps with non-medical end-of-year issues for patients and their caregivers. She's a support for them during a heartbreaking time. That's the story line that I most enjoyed reading. What "business" is most important for us to take care of before we die so we can go with  the fewest regrets. At least that's how I interpreted it. 

The part of  the novel that I didn't enjoy was all the scientific stuff. I could be interested culturally in the Egypt information, but some of it read too much like a textbook. I found the pictures of the hieroglyphics distracting while I was reading. Dawn's husband is some sort of science professor. I've already blanked out what kind and I just finished the book a few hours ago! Conversations about his work went totally over my head! Even Dawn's teenage daughter is a science geek and at one point she's talking about some experiment and I felt my eyes glaze over.

I read this on my own, but it would probably make a great book club book as there is so much to discuss.

 

Girl, Woman, Other

I was very engaged in Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other. It's the January choice for my community book club. I probably should not have read it so far in advance since it's a book with lots of characters, lots of nuance. I hope I remember enough to be able to discuss it intelligently two months from now. I'd love to be discussing it now. There's just so much meat to it.

Now, how to describe this fictional title. Is it a novel? Is it a compilation of related short stories? I'm not even sure how I'd categorize it. Evaristo's writing style is unique. It's a combination of prose and poetry.

But what is is about? It's about the intersecting lives of several women. Mostly in England. Mostly women of color.  It explores their relationships with their parents, their partners, their friends. It examines their sexuality. It dissects career choices. It's about identity. It's about how to fit into society. Like I said, there is so much there.

What can readers relate to? What can readers learn from the characters in the book?

I found a great blog post that with some notes written down now should help me remember some of the things I'll want to bring up at book club  in January. I need to explore that website to see what they have for other books I might have read.