I had to look up the definition of nemesis. I had always thought it referred to a person. Clearly in this novel by Philip Roth it refers to polio. Nemesis is set in 1944 in New Jersey. Bucky Cantor is a summer playground director who couldn’t follow his friends into the war because of his poor eyesight. He feels guilty about that and then when a polio epidemic hits the neighborhood he has to face illness and death.
He escapes to a summer camp:
“Inside was the noisy clamor of children’s voices reverberating in the spacious lodge, the racket that reminded him of how much he enjoyed being around kids and why it was he loved his work. He’d nearly forgotten what that pleasure was like during the hard weeks of watching out for a menace against which he could offer no protection. These were happy, energetic kids who were not imperiled by a cruel and invisible enemy – they could actually be shielded from mishap by an adult’s vigilant attention. Mercifully he was finished with impotently witnessing terror and death and was back in the midst of unworried children brimming with health.”
Unfortunately this quote is only halfway through the book. Polio didn’t really respect class, race or any other type of barrier.
The story reminds me how lucky we are to live in a time where children don’t get polio. At least according to the CDC there hasn’t been a case in the US since 1979. I had a grandfather with a brace due to polio. I got the idea it was off limits to ask him about it, but I wish now I had. I wonder how old he was when he got polio and what kind of treatment he had to go through. I believe my mom also mentioned a child in her class dying from polio – that must have been right around the time the vaccine came out. I will grill her more about that.
Nemesis is not as complex as some of Roth’s other work. The Human Stain is one of my top ten favorite fiction books. I also like his relatively short novel, Indignation. Nemesis is written in a similar style to Indignation, but I think the story in Nemesis is more compelling and will stick with me longer.
Showing posts with label Jewish culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewish culture. Show all posts
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Maus : a survivor's tale by Art Spiegelman
It was only recently that I noticed there was a section for graphic novels at my local library. I wasn’t sure if they were mainly for kids or a whole new genre. Were they comic book like? Even when I was a kid I didn’t read many comic books. I asked a friend for a recommendation and am glad I did.
Maus is primarily the story of Vladek Spiegelman as told to his son Art. Vladek is living in Poland before the war where he meets and marries Anja Zylberberg in 1937. Soon Anja and Vladek, along with their new son Richieu, are struggling to survive together with their families. A twist is that throughout the story the Jewish people are mice and the Nazis are cats.
The story doesn’t gloss over the hardships and atrocities that Vladek witnessed during the war. I don’t know that it makes it any easier to look at because all the dead bodies are mice. Vladek and Anja do end up in Auschwitz and eventually Dachau. Art only has Vladek’s account because his mother, Anja, committed suicide when he was twenty.
The relationship between Vladek and Art is also depicted. Vladek is a difficult, old man. Is he difficult because of the Holocaust or would he have been difficult no matter what? And, does going through something like that give (or should it) Vladek extra privileges? One scene with Vladek and Art where Vladek returns food sticks in my mind. Art is sure he’s going to be kicked out of the store and they do see the manager yelling at Vladek, but he comes out to the car with more food for only $1.
Vladek:”He helped me as soon as I explained to him my health, how Mala left me, and how it was in the camps.”
This took place sometime in the 1980’s. Of course, the pictures add greatly to the scene.
This book didn’t tell me anything new about the Holocaust, but I’m probably not the target audience. This would be a reasonable introduction to a difficult topic for a mature pre-teen.
Maus is primarily the story of Vladek Spiegelman as told to his son Art. Vladek is living in Poland before the war where he meets and marries Anja Zylberberg in 1937. Soon Anja and Vladek, along with their new son Richieu, are struggling to survive together with their families. A twist is that throughout the story the Jewish people are mice and the Nazis are cats.
The story doesn’t gloss over the hardships and atrocities that Vladek witnessed during the war. I don’t know that it makes it any easier to look at because all the dead bodies are mice. Vladek and Anja do end up in Auschwitz and eventually Dachau. Art only has Vladek’s account because his mother, Anja, committed suicide when he was twenty.
The relationship between Vladek and Art is also depicted. Vladek is a difficult, old man. Is he difficult because of the Holocaust or would he have been difficult no matter what? And, does going through something like that give (or should it) Vladek extra privileges? One scene with Vladek and Art where Vladek returns food sticks in my mind. Art is sure he’s going to be kicked out of the store and they do see the manager yelling at Vladek, but he comes out to the car with more food for only $1.
Vladek:”He helped me as soon as I explained to him my health, how Mala left me, and how it was in the camps.”
This took place sometime in the 1980’s. Of course, the pictures add greatly to the scene.
This book didn’t tell me anything new about the Holocaust, but I’m probably not the target audience. This would be a reasonable introduction to a difficult topic for a mature pre-teen.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Indignation by Phillip Roth
If you have never read Phillip Roth, his new book, Indignation, is a good place to start. It is relatively short, but long enough to give you an idea of his style. Indignation is the story of Marcus Messner, a young man growing up with the threat of the Korean War hanging over him. Marcus is the son of a New Jersey kosher butcher and his wife who also works in the butcher shop. Marcus’s father grows very paranoid and becomes difficult to live with causing Marcus to transfer to a small college in Ohio. The story focuses on Marcus trying to adapt to this very different environment.
Here Marcus is trying to pysch himself up after an unfortunate meeting with the dean: “Chapel is a discipline, I informed my eyes—eyes that, to my astonishment, looked unbelievably fearful. Treat their chapel as part of the job that you have to do to get through this place as valedictorian—treat it the way you treat eviscerating the chickens.”
A fact about Marcus is revealed fairly early in the novel that caught me by surprise, if you have read other reviews you will know what this is, but I am not going to mention it here. It does alter your reading of this coming of age while adjusting to college novel. Roth does a good job of illustrating what it would be like as a young man to go to college knowing that if you drop out or have to leave for any reason you will be going to war. Here the students at the school are scolded by the president of the college: “Four thousand young men like yourselves, dead, maimed, and wounded; between the time we beat Bowling Green and the time we upset UWV. Do you have any idea how fortunate, how privileged, and how lucky you are to be here watching football games on Saturdays and not there being shot at on Saturdays; and on Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays as well?”
This book certainly puts a spin on problems college students have these days – at least no one is facing the draft if they fail. My favorite Phillip Roth book and one of my favorite books of all time is The Human Stain, which is also set at a college, but focuses on the problems of an older professor.
Here Marcus is trying to pysch himself up after an unfortunate meeting with the dean: “Chapel is a discipline, I informed my eyes—eyes that, to my astonishment, looked unbelievably fearful. Treat their chapel as part of the job that you have to do to get through this place as valedictorian—treat it the way you treat eviscerating the chickens.”
A fact about Marcus is revealed fairly early in the novel that caught me by surprise, if you have read other reviews you will know what this is, but I am not going to mention it here. It does alter your reading of this coming of age while adjusting to college novel. Roth does a good job of illustrating what it would be like as a young man to go to college knowing that if you drop out or have to leave for any reason you will be going to war. Here the students at the school are scolded by the president of the college: “Four thousand young men like yourselves, dead, maimed, and wounded; between the time we beat Bowling Green and the time we upset UWV. Do you have any idea how fortunate, how privileged, and how lucky you are to be here watching football games on Saturdays and not there being shot at on Saturdays; and on Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays as well?”
This book certainly puts a spin on problems college students have these days – at least no one is facing the draft if they fail. My favorite Phillip Roth book and one of my favorite books of all time is The Human Stain, which is also set at a college, but focuses on the problems of an older professor.
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
I am a bit fuzzy on war dates. The last American history classes I took were in high school. They were somewhat unorthodox in that we read packets at our own pace and then took one-on-one oral tests before moving on to the next packet. You could end up way ahead depending on your motivation and then begin on the next class. I seem to remember doing 3 classes over 2 semesters or something like that. The other interesting part of these classes is that we would study all the causes leading up to a war and then skip the war. That was fine with me. I did not really want to read about war and it eliminated all that memorizing of what happened when and remembering crucial battles or turning points. We would start the history lesson up again after the war was over. This is a long way of explaining why when I began reading The Yiddish Policemen’s Union I would periodically have to stop and think to myself whether a particular event really happened.
This novel is set in Alaska. It is mostly set in a portion of Alaska called the Federal District of Sitka where displaced Jewish people are living. On the surface this book seems to be a detective murder mystery. Meyer Landsman is an alcoholic, divorced homicide detective living in a seedy hotel who becomes obsessed with finding out who killed a heroin addict that also lived in the hotel. He is doing this against the backdrop of the area reverting back to Alaska in a matter of weeks and it is unclear where the millions of settlers there since 1948 will go. Here’s an example of history bending that even I caught: “Observant Jews around the world have not abandoned their hope to dwell one day in the land of Zion. But Jews have been tossed out of the joint three times now – in 586 BCE, in 70 CE and with savage finality in 1948.” (pg 17)
There are a number of interesting characters in the book. Landsdown’s cousin, Berko, who is half-Jewish and half-Tlingit, came to live with Landsdown’s family when his mother was killed in the Synagogue Riots. He is now also a policeman and Landsdown’s partner. They run into Zimbalist, the boundary maven. He works on getting around the Sabbath ban by using enough strings and poles to cover the whole district. There’s Heskel Shpilman, the rebbe of the district and the father of the dead heroin addict, Mendel Shpilman. About Mendel there are many stories of his chess abilities, healing blessings, and his possibly being the Tzaddik Ha-Dor. Landsdown broaches this idea to Mendel’s father: “If the conditions were right, if the Jews of this generation were worthy, then he might reveal himself as, uh, as Messiah.” (pg 141) This is convoluted, worthy read. There’s a mystery, a possible messiah, politics, a surreal setting, an infinite number of bad guys, and even romance of a fashion when Landsdown’s ex-wife becomes his new boss.
As a sidenote Chabon is married to Ayelet Waldman, who is author of The Big Nap among other mommy-track mysteries. Her books are decidedly lighter fare, but pretty entertaining.
This novel is set in Alaska. It is mostly set in a portion of Alaska called the Federal District of Sitka where displaced Jewish people are living. On the surface this book seems to be a detective murder mystery. Meyer Landsman is an alcoholic, divorced homicide detective living in a seedy hotel who becomes obsessed with finding out who killed a heroin addict that also lived in the hotel. He is doing this against the backdrop of the area reverting back to Alaska in a matter of weeks and it is unclear where the millions of settlers there since 1948 will go. Here’s an example of history bending that even I caught: “Observant Jews around the world have not abandoned their hope to dwell one day in the land of Zion. But Jews have been tossed out of the joint three times now – in 586 BCE, in 70 CE and with savage finality in 1948.” (pg 17)
There are a number of interesting characters in the book. Landsdown’s cousin, Berko, who is half-Jewish and half-Tlingit, came to live with Landsdown’s family when his mother was killed in the Synagogue Riots. He is now also a policeman and Landsdown’s partner. They run into Zimbalist, the boundary maven. He works on getting around the Sabbath ban by using enough strings and poles to cover the whole district. There’s Heskel Shpilman, the rebbe of the district and the father of the dead heroin addict, Mendel Shpilman. About Mendel there are many stories of his chess abilities, healing blessings, and his possibly being the Tzaddik Ha-Dor. Landsdown broaches this idea to Mendel’s father: “If the conditions were right, if the Jews of this generation were worthy, then he might reveal himself as, uh, as Messiah.” (pg 141) This is convoluted, worthy read. There’s a mystery, a possible messiah, politics, a surreal setting, an infinite number of bad guys, and even romance of a fashion when Landsdown’s ex-wife becomes his new boss.
As a sidenote Chabon is married to Ayelet Waldman, who is author of The Big Nap among other mommy-track mysteries. Her books are decidedly lighter fare, but pretty entertaining.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The World to Come by Dara Horn
The World to Come has been chosen by the Deschutes County Public Library for its 2008 program, A Novel Idea. There are a number of events planned in conjunction with encouraging the entire county to read this book, including author readings. In the past the library has picked books related to activities in our area such as The River Why by James Duncan and Bowerman and the Men of Oregon by Kenny Moore. Other choices such as The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. by Maria Amparo Escandon have taken most of us out of our geographical and cultural comfort zone and The World to Come seems to fit more into this later category.
I found this book to be very dense, with some wonderfully descriptive language and vivid images. The story starts with Benjamin Ziskind, a former child prodigy and current quiz show question writer. It goes back in time to when his Jewish ancestors were being persecuted in Russia and a famous artist, Chagall, gave his grandfather a painting. This painting surfaces in a museum near Benjamin’s house and he steals it. This story is often billed as a mystery, but it is really not, unless the mystery is how the painting ended up in the museum.
There are many layers to this story. There is much discussion of death and the world to come. This book has elements of historical fiction in the two artists portrayed, Chagall and Der Nister, are actual people. Chagall, a painter, makes it out of Russia and becomes very successful. Der Nister, a writer, dies in a gulag. Horn fictionalizes his life and a story he has allegedly written survives hidden in paintings. The words of Der Nister’s mentor seem prophetic and harsh. “Your purpose as a writer is to achieve one task, and one task only: to build a paper bridge to the world to come.”
I found it a challenging book. As I mentioned before about The Savage Garden I do not really like historical fiction with real people. However, that is a relatively small portion of the novel and the truly fictional characters are all remarkably well-developed. Benjamin’s twin sister plays an integral role and the stories of their parents, now dead, are very intriguing. The book also ends on a somewhat ambiguous note. It did not seem ambiguous to me, but when our book group discussed it not everyone agreed on what happened at the end. I also found some of the writing very beautiful. It is a worthwhile read and I am looking forward to the library’s events.
I found this book to be very dense, with some wonderfully descriptive language and vivid images. The story starts with Benjamin Ziskind, a former child prodigy and current quiz show question writer. It goes back in time to when his Jewish ancestors were being persecuted in Russia and a famous artist, Chagall, gave his grandfather a painting. This painting surfaces in a museum near Benjamin’s house and he steals it. This story is often billed as a mystery, but it is really not, unless the mystery is how the painting ended up in the museum.
There are many layers to this story. There is much discussion of death and the world to come. This book has elements of historical fiction in the two artists portrayed, Chagall and Der Nister, are actual people. Chagall, a painter, makes it out of Russia and becomes very successful. Der Nister, a writer, dies in a gulag. Horn fictionalizes his life and a story he has allegedly written survives hidden in paintings. The words of Der Nister’s mentor seem prophetic and harsh. “Your purpose as a writer is to achieve one task, and one task only: to build a paper bridge to the world to come.”
I found it a challenging book. As I mentioned before about The Savage Garden I do not really like historical fiction with real people. However, that is a relatively small portion of the novel and the truly fictional characters are all remarkably well-developed. Benjamin’s twin sister plays an integral role and the stories of their parents, now dead, are very intriguing. The book also ends on a somewhat ambiguous note. It did not seem ambiguous to me, but when our book group discussed it not everyone agreed on what happened at the end. I also found some of the writing very beautiful. It is a worthwhile read and I am looking forward to the library’s events.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)