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| Sisterhood Book Club |
Join Our Book Club!
Contact Karen for more information, or to reserve your copy, 782-6410 or karenatwork@blast.net
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Thursday, October 20th 7:30 pm. Sukkah of Cara London
The Outside World, Tovia Morvis
From Publishers Weekly
With a sharp and sympathetic eye for the oft neglected and misunderstood worlds of
ultra-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Judaism, Mirvis (The Ladies Auxiliary) crafts a compelling
narrative that delves into the lives of two families, each struggling with its own insecurities and
difficulties. In this second novel, 22-year-old Orthodox Tzippy, born and bred in Jewish Brooklyn
and insulated from secular society but secretly curious and eager to experience it, is barraged
with meddlesome questions and with a slew of seemingly endless carbon-copy dates intended
to facilitate her marriage to a reputable yeshiva boy before she turns into a spinster. Meanwhile,
not too far away, Naomi and Joel, Modern Orthodox Jews, are straining to knock some sense
into their suddenly ultra-religious son, Bryan (now calling himself by his Hebrew name Baruch),
who has morphed from a head-banging, jeans-wearing, girl-chasing jock into a soul-searching,
Talmud-studying, black-hat Jew interested only in immersing himself in God's laws and the
Torah. When these two formerly separate worlds collide, parents, siblings and spouses must
reflect on what their faith means to them and what to do when their beliefs unexpectedly diverge
from those of loved ones. At times giddily humorous, at times stirring and sorrowful, Mirvis's
insightful novel is packed with convincing detail, from descriptions of yarmulkes (fancifully
embroidered or stolid black velvet) to the varieties of wigs worn by married ultra-Orthodox
women. The characters' frequent use of distinctively Jewish terms and ideas gives the novel a
foreign air, but the universal themes of growing up and choosing a fitting life to lead will resonate
with readers of all faiths.
Tuesday, December 13th 7:30 pm
The Palestine Affair. Jonathan Wilson
From Publishers Weekly
This tightly knit novel of political intrigue and romance by Wilson (Schoom) is set in 1924 in
Palestine under the British mandate. English Jewish painter Mark Bloomberg has left London
(where he was besieged by terrible reviews) for Jerusalem, hired by a Zionist organization to
produce paintings of "Life Under Reconstruction Conditions. Progress. Enterprise.
Development." He's there with his American wife, Joyce, a Protestant socialite who is more
enthusiastic about Zionism than he is. At the opening of the novel, a man staggers into Mark's
home and dies in his arms from a stab wound and recent beating. He's
dressed-mysteriously-as an Arab, but is actually an Orthodox Jew, Jacob De Groot, a thorn in
the side of the Zionists for his agitation against the formation of a Jewish state. His murder is
investigated by Robert Kirsch, a 24-year-old British police captain who, like Mark, is a secular
Jew, and the British governor, Sir Gerald Ross. Their main suspect is a 16-year-old Arab boy
named Saud. Gerald doesn't know if he's guilty, but he's sure that if his case is publicized there
will be riots. To prevent this, Ross commissions Mark to paint ancient structures in Jordan and
sends Saud with him. There, Mark does his own detective work on the De Groot murder, and
comes to a different conclusion. While Mark is away, Robert stumbles into an affair with Joyce,
whose relationship with her husband is unraveling. The book has a deliberately inconclusive
ending, but throughout Wilson draws a vivid picture of Jerusalem and its soon-to-become
vicious political rivalries. Wilson is exceptionally attuned to the range of opinion and complex
sense of identity of the Jews living in Palestine, as well as the subtle but potentially explosive
tension that characterizes everyday interactions under colonial occupation.
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 7:30 pm
Esther: A Story of Courage. Trudy J. Morgan-Cole
Book Description
"I really have no choice, do I?" Hadassah said.
"Of course you have a choice, Hadassah. We always have choices. You have no choice about
obeying the king's order and going to the harem. But you can choose the spirit in which you go.
You can choose to be crushed or to be strong. That choice is always open to you."
Then I choose to be strong. That's what she knew Mordecai wanted to hear, and she wanted to
offer it to him, as a last gift. But her throat tightened, and she could not speak.
**************
Trapped in the sensual swirl of an alien culture, her poise, beauty, and skill with the
four-stringed oud caught the eye of Hegai. As she rose through the harem ranks, her true
identity carefully concealed, her faith in eclipse, Esther had no inkling that the fate of a nation
would hang upon her courage.
Based on meticulous historical research, Trudy Morgan-Cole weaves the biblical story of Esther
into secular history. Her deep narrative, involving more than 70 characters, brings to life the
Zoroastrian society of ancient Persia and chronicles the known exploits and foibles of king
Xerxes in authentic detail. Her amazing story shows how God turns women with common fears,
struggles, and identity crises into heroines of faith.
Tuesday, May 9th, 7:30 pm
Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Giorgio Bassani
We will be viewing the film at 7:30 followed by a discussion about the book and film.
Book Description
A great commercial success when first published--and an Academy Award-winning film in
1970--Giorgio Bassani's wrenching story of Ferrara, Italy, and the aristocratic Finzi-Contini
family during the dangerous days of the Fascist regime has become a modern classic. As a
middle-class Jew, the narrator of the novel has contact with the detached Alberto and Micol
Finzi-Contini only when they come to school to sit for final exams, and at the synagogue during
the major holy days. For the most part, the Finzi-Continis remain isolated from the rest of the
town behind the walls of their elegant estate. When Mussolini issues the anti-Semitic edicts of
1938, the narrator is expelled from the tennis club, and it is then that he is invited to play in the
private courts beyond the Finzi-Contini garden. As the nightmare of the Holocaust descends
upon this tranquil world, all are forced from its serenity and insularity. Giorgio Bassani, who was
imprisoned until the Allies liberated Italy, won worldwide acclaim and numerous prestigious
prizes for his novels and poetry
Tuesday, June 13, 2006, 7:30 pm
Shanda : The Making and Breaking of a Self-Loathing Jew
Neal Karlen
Review
Phillip Lopate What makes this personal account of self-dividedness so riveting is the ferocious
honesty with which the author exposes his wound and the clarity and humor which seem
testimony enough to its healing. Stephen J. Dubner, author of Turbulent Souls and Confessions
of a Hero-Worshiper If you like scary beginnings, Neal Karlen's memoir is the book for you.
When we first meet him, he is a spigot of self-loathing, a man who has turned his back on every
Jewish speck of himself. The amazing thing here is not how dramatically Karlen turns himself
around but how astutely he chronicles the turnaround. Shanda is hilarious, heartbreaking,
seething, wary, and joyful -- in a word, a marvel. Stephen Fried, author of The New Rabbi
Poignant and original, Shanda is an intriguing look at an important phenomenon in American
Judaism -- the Jew who wanders off and becomes convinced there is no way back. Karlen's
personal saga shows that while there is no one set way to reconnect with your Jewish heart,
the journey is always rich and fulfilling.