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Fiction.
Literature.
HTML:A multigenerational family saga about the long-lasting reverberations of one tragic summer by "a wonderful talent [who] should be read widely" (Edward P. Jones). In 1948, a small stretch of the Woodmont, Connecticut shoreline, affectionately named "Bagel Beach," has long been a summer destination for Jewish families. Here sisters Ada, Vivie, and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage, with children in tow and weekend-only husbands who arrive each Friday in time for the Sabbath meal. During the weekdays, freedom reigns. Ada, the family beauty, relaxes and grows more playful, unimpeded by her rule-driven, religious husband. Vivie, once terribly wronged by her sister, is now the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between the family-centric life she's always known and a passion-filled life with the married man with whom she's had a secret years-long affair. But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, a summer of hope and self-discovery transforms into a lifetime of atonement and loss for members of this close-knit clan. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was twelve years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath, of expanding lives painfully collapsed. Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's hard-won wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others? Elizabeth Poliner is a masterful storyteller, a brilliant observer of human nature, and in As Close to Us as Breathing she has created an unforgettable meditation on grief, guilt, and the boundaries of identity and love.… (més)
As Close to Us as Breathing is a masterpiece. The author, Elizabeth Poliner, uses her poetic skills to tell a gripping story about three Jewish sisters in the late 1940’s. The beautifully told mystery that involves a death that impacts each of the vividly detailed characters is a blistering read. The novel builds like a well-oiled classic machine with brilliant use of metaphors. As you swallow each sentence, you’ll be transported into a rich landscape that will devour your senses. You won’t want the book to end. This novel topples your wildest dreams as to what literature can do for your soul. ( )
In some ways the Jewish family at the centre of this novel are almost as wacky as the Mormon family at the centre of the previous book I read. In both cases, there is a heavy burden (my word) of religious rules and practices imposed on the family. Outsiders are shunned and even almost dehumanised. Of course, the setting of this story just after WW2 would surely also have given Jewish people a particularly strong sense of needing to stick together to ensure their own survival. There's another theme interwovan with this - the story of feeling reponsible for others in the family and the way it particularly impacts on the siblings of a boy who dies in an accident. Further, there are issues of sexual identity and coming of age - again, being 1948, there are very different perspectives than would be expected today. I'm more interested in grief, death and personal relationships than Jewish religious experience, but Elizabeth Poliner writes in such a way that I found myself being somewhat sympathetic to the narrator's (& author's) religious perspective. ( )
There is no shortage of books focused on Jewish family life, but Elizabeth Poliner’s stands apart as in instant classic according to a review by the Jewish Book Council. It is a multigenerational family saga about the long-lasting reverberations of one tragic summer. The novel examines an extended family and its world over three generations. Its point of focus is the summer of 1948, immediately following the state of Israel’s birth and, for the Leibritsky family, the trauma of its youngest member’s accidental death. The story takes place during the family’s summer vacation at a place they call Bagel Beach on the Connecticut shore. The men enjoy the beach cottage over weekends, the women live there through the summer months. Sisters are estranged, love is frustrated by duty, marriages fail, and a boy dies for no reason. Poliner makes us explore how much do you owe your parents, your people, your creator, yourself? When have you paid enough? “Poliner handles the texture of Jewish family life with brilliance, authenticity, and a touch of wistfulness.”
Told by Molly, as she looks back on her life as a member of a large extended Jewish family. The central event of their lives is the accidental death of her younger brother Davey, which we learn on the very first page. Then she takes us back to learn about and understand Molly's mother, and her mother's sisters, as well as a cast of cousins and friends. But the story keeps circling back to the death, and how it affected various family members, at the time, and for years afterward. Well written with well-developed characters, this is a deep study of a family, their lives and loves, and well-meaning steps and mis-steps. ( )
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You are as close to us as breathing, yet You are farther than the farthermost star. ---Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book
Dedicatòria
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For my parents and for the family, Madnick, Matzkin, Pashalinsky, Poliner
Primeres paraules
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The summer of 1948 my brother Davy was killed in an accident with a man who would have given his own life rather than have it happen.
Citacions
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But such is the way if family: we are what they tell us we are, and part of life's great struggle, it's always seemed to me, is to know oneself despite that imposing collective definition.
Darreres paraules
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What was remarkable was how clear and perfectly ordinary the scene had become: the original red panel at the bottom was now a red-and-white checked tablecloth, the three vases on it were rounded and shaded, and the bouquets arising from each vase were fleshed out, one with daisies, one with tulips, and the third left blank for Davy to fill.
Fiction.
Literature.
HTML:A multigenerational family saga about the long-lasting reverberations of one tragic summer by "a wonderful talent [who] should be read widely" (Edward P. Jones). In 1948, a small stretch of the Woodmont, Connecticut shoreline, affectionately named "Bagel Beach," has long been a summer destination for Jewish families. Here sisters Ada, Vivie, and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage, with children in tow and weekend-only husbands who arrive each Friday in time for the Sabbath meal. During the weekdays, freedom reigns. Ada, the family beauty, relaxes and grows more playful, unimpeded by her rule-driven, religious husband. Vivie, once terribly wronged by her sister, is now the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between the family-centric life she's always known and a passion-filled life with the married man with whom she's had a secret years-long affair. But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, a summer of hope and self-discovery transforms into a lifetime of atonement and loss for members of this close-knit clan. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was twelve years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath, of expanding lives painfully collapsed. Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's hard-won wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others? Elizabeth Poliner is a masterful storyteller, a brilliant observer of human nature, and in As Close to Us as Breathing she has created an unforgettable meditation on grief, guilt, and the boundaries of identity and love.
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