Flawed but relatable characters and off-the-charts emotional intensity with a sharply evoked Israeli cultural perspective.
The dark experiences of an Israeli immigrant family in “one of the greenest, quietest, safest cities in America.”
Israeli-born Lilach and Mikhael Shuster “raised an American child who went to high school with American children, and now they say he killed another American child,” we learn in the first pages of Gundar-Goshen’s third novel. Like many of the husbands in their neighborhood, Mikhael works in tech, but “while other companies in Silicon Valley developed apps for internet shopping, the company Mikhael worked for developed security products, which was a nice way of saying ‘weapons.’ ” As for the women, Lilach wryly notes, “there were sleep consultants and breastfeeding consultants and toilet-training consultants. There were also couples therapists and art therapists. But the people who provided real care were the Hispanic women who came to our houses every day by public transportation. They took care of the art therapists’ children while the art therapists were taking care of the couples therapists’ children.” Lilach’s alienation and anxiety escalate when there is a violent attack on a local synagogue, then skyrocket when a Black teenager dies at a party and her son, Adam, becomes the prime suspect. Like the other Jewish mothers in the community, she has signed Adam up to take self-defense classes with an Israeli named Uri Ziv, rumored to be ex-Mossad. Adam worships Uri, who also becomes very close with Mikhael and gets a job at his company; as the family is targeted, Uri becomes their protector. But should they trust him? Gundar-Goshen navigates the landscape of racial prejudice, particularly the tension between Jews and the Nation of Islam, through the eyes of an Israeli immigrant who is already scarred by experiences of terrorism in Israel. Sexual identity and bullying also play roles in the plot, which moves uneasily to a conclusion that leaves some questions unanswered. Gundar-Goshen solidifies her brand with this ambitious novel, her first set in the United States.
Flawed but relatable characters and off-the-charts emotional intensity with a sharply evoked Israeli cultural perspective.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9780316423472
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Haig’s positive message will keep his fans happy.
A British widow travels to Ibiza and learns that it’s never too late to have a happy life.
In a world that seems to be getting more unstable by the moment, Haig’s novels are a steady ship in rough seas, offering a much-needed positive message. In works like the bestselling The Midnight Library (2020), he reminds us that finding out what you truly love and where you belong in the universe are the foundations of building a better existence. His latest book continues this upbeat messaging, albeit in a somewhat repetitive and facile way. Retired British schoolteacher Grace Winters discovers that an old acquaintance has died and left her a ramshackle home in Ibiza. A widow who lost her only child years earlier, Grace is at first reluctant to visit the house, because, at 72, she more or less believes her chance for happiness is over—but when she rouses herself to travel to the island, she discovers the opposite is true. A mystery surrounds her friend’s death involving a roguish islander, his activist daughter, an internationally famous DJ, and a strange glow in the sea that acts as a powerful life force and upends Grace’s ideas of how the cosmos works. Framed as a response to a former student’s email, the narrative follows Grace’s journey from skeptic (she was a math teacher, after all) to believer in the possibility of magic as she learns to move on from the past. Her transformation is the book’s main conflict, aside from a protest against an evil developer intent on destroying Ibiza’s natural beauty. The outcome is never in doubt, and though the story often feels stretched to the limit—this novel could have easily been a novella—the author’s insistence on the power of connection to change lives comes through loud and clear.
Haig’s positive message will keep his fans happy.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593489277
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.
Who was Shakespeare?
Move over, Earl of Oxford and Francis Bacon: There’s another contender for the true author of plays attributed to the bard of Stratford—Emilia Bassano, a clever, outspoken, educated woman who takes center stage in Picoult’s spirited novel. Of Italian heritage, from a family of court musicians, Emilia was a hidden Jew and the courtesan of a much older nobleman who vetted plays to be performed for Queen Elizabeth. She was well traveled—unlike Shakespeare, she visited Italy and Denmark, where, Picoult imagines, she may have met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—and was familiar with court intrigue and English law. “Every gap in Shakespeare’s life or knowledge that has had to be explained away by scholars, she somehow fills,” Picoult writes. Encouraged by her lover, Emilia wrote plays and poetry, but 16th-century England was not ready for a female writer. Picoult interweaves Emilia’s story with that of her descendant Melina Green, an aspiring playwright, who encounters the same sexist barriers to making herself heard that Emilia faced. In alternating chapters, Picoult follows Melina’s frustrated efforts to get a play produced—a play about Emilia, who Melina is certain sold her work to Shakespeare. Melina’s play, By Any Other Name, “wasn’t meant to be a fiction; it was meant to be the resurrection of an erasure.” Picoult creates a richly detailed portrait of daily life in Elizabethan England, from sumptuous castles to seedy hovels. Melina’s story is less vivid: Where Emilia found support from the witty Christopher Marlowe, Melina has a fashion-loving gay roommate; where Emilia faces the ravages of repeated outbreaks of plague, for Melina, Covid-19 occurs largely offstage; where Emilia has a passionate affair with the adoring Earl of Southampton, Melina’s lover is an awkward New York Times theater critic. It’s Emilia’s story, and Picoult lovingly brings her to life.
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780593497210
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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