Ellen Elow-Mintz

The Haunting Voice of ‘The Book of Aron’

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The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard (Knopf, 2015)
In 40 words or less: In this much-lauded novel, Shepard inhabits the body and soul of a child in this story of the privation in Warsaw as the Ghetto was established, made smaller, and then eliminated. Extensive research adds depth to the writing.
Genre: Historical fiction
Locale: Warsaw, Poland
Time: 1939 – 42
Read this for a unique and heart-wrenching portrayal of life in the Warsaw Ghetto. The heroics of Janusz Korczak, a doctor in the ghetto orphanage, are seen through the eyes of young Aron.

How is this Holocaust novel different from all other Holocaust novels? As a book group leader and member for many years, I’m well aware that many people have had their fill of Holocaust literature. For some, it is a reminder of the suffering and loss of family members. Others find little new in the telling. Shepard’s choice of character and voice set The Book of Aron apart from any other.

Aron is about ten years old, living well outside of Warsaw, when the book begins. His family is barely subsisting and barely talking to one another. His father invests his limited funds in odd inventory which he is unable to sell. His mother has little patience for his efforts and devotes much of her time to her youngest son who is chronically ill. Aron is left to his own devices and badgered by his older brothers as only being out for himself. As life in the countryside becomes more difficult, the family moves to Warsaw with the hope of bettering their situation.

Shortly after arriving in Warsaw, the Germans ordered the Jews into the area of the city walled in to become the Ghetto. A second family moved into Aron’s small apartment, including a boy of Aron’s age, Boris. They develop an uneasy friendship and become part of a small group of children who developed street skills to aid in their families’ survival.

This band of scavengers and thieves crosses paths with the variety of authorities in the Ghetto: Jewish, Polish, German and Gestapo. In his essence, Aron is lonely and unhappy. So when approached by a low-level authority with a small measure of kindness, Aron has little problem with occasionally answering his questions.

As conditions decline in the Ghetto, cold, hunger and disease are the driving forces as the children scrounge for food and other basics. Early on Aron’s brother dies from his infirmities. Then his father and brothers are taken, allegedly to provide labor at a camp away from the city. Alone together, Aron and his mother rebuild their bond until she succumbs to disease. Left alone, homeless with no family to take him in, Aron moves to Dr. Korczak’s orphanage.

Janusz Korczak was the pen name of a true and genuine hero of the Warsaw Ghetto. Under the direst conditions imaginable, he created a home and family for the almost 200 children in his care. Through Aron’s eyes, the intelligence, resourcefulness and humility of Korczak are seen. Daily, Korczak made rounds of the neighborhood with one or two children, seeking food, clothing, medicine and money to sustain the orphanage. The children were schooled, and created musicals and programs to entertain the community and themselves. Several attempts were made to secret Korczak out of the Ghetto both for his good deeds and to tell the world about conditions inside. To his death, he insisted on staying with his children.

Every aspect of life in the Ghetto is described in Aron’s words and seen through his eyes. The word choices, be they in dialog or description, ring true for a growing pre-teen. It requires extraordinary skill for Shepard to stay in character throughout the book. Beyond the language, there is the combination of risk-taking and naiveté that is seen in children who must fend for themselves.

The depth of Shepard’s research colors every aspect of his storytelling. The Book of Aron was rightfully a finalist for the National Book Award, an American Library Association Notable Book for 2015, Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2015.

I still hear Aron’s voice.

‘My Brilliant Friend’ is a book for sharing

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My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein (Europa Editions, 2012)
In 40 words or less: The first of four novels by an elusive Italian author centering on the friendship of two women from their childhood in Naples to the present.
Genre: Fiction
Locale: Naples
Time: 1950’s-60’s
Read this for an intimate view of life in an isolated working class Italian neighborhood.

In Spring, 2012, I went to the Europa Editions booth at Book Expo and asked which of their titles they would recommend above all others for book groups. And I took home a yellow-bound advance copy of My Brilliant Friend. As I started to read it, I realized it really is a book to share in a group.

Fast forward to 2015. The final book, The Story of the Lost Child, is released in the U.S. market to great acclaim. My Brilliant Friend becomes a bestseller and I encourage a group to choose it for discussion. And just this week it was announced there’s a move to bring the story to the (small) screen.

Reading about Elena and Lila often seems like you are tagging along behind two best friends, hearing their secrets and their bickering, growing closer and farther apart as they face individual challenges. From childhood the girls were different from most in their tight-knit neighborhood. Smart and competitive, their families often don’t understand them. Ferrante takes the reader in and out of all the apartments, low-end shops and into the intimacies of families struggling to make their way. The community has its own enforcers and watches out for those unable to take of themselves.The first book in the quartet takes Elena and Lila from playing with dolls through Lila’s wedding.

Ferrante’s fine writing, as ably translated by Ann Goldstein, belies the roughness in the storytelling that reflects life in these Naples neighborhoods in the 1950’s and 60’s. Disputes are often settled with violence and women have little or no say in their lives. People cross the boundaries of the neighborhood as if they were leaving the country. And there is little curiosity about the Naples that tourists visit or even the nearby seashore.

The mission of the publisher, Europa Editions, is to bring international literary fiction to American and British audiences. Based in New York with deep Italian roots, their books are well-written, affordable and beautiful. I love the look and feel of their books – soft-covered with a matte finish and books flaps as part of the cover. My Brilliant Friend is a wonderful introduction to this publishing gem.

‘Circling the Sun’ brings colonial Kenya alive

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Circling the Sun by Paula McLain (Ballantine Books, 2015)
In 40 words or less: A fictional portrayal of a the life and loves of Beryl Markham. In the 1920’s she was an accomplished horse trainer and aviator in Africa, traveling in the same circles as Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen, of Out of Africa fame.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Locale: primarily Kenya
Time: Early 20th century
Read this if you enjoy past eras brought to life and are interested in lesser-known but extraordinary people.

Beryl Markham was a woman well ahead of her times. In the hands of Paula McLain, already well-known for her fictionalized portrayal of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Markham is seen as always meeting a new challenge and seeking true and lasting love.

Born in England just after the start of the 20th century, Beryl’s family moved to Kenya where her father was an acclaimed horse trainer. Her mother didn’t take to life there and deserted the family, returning to England. Beryl idolized her father and loved spending time with him and the horses. Her free time was spent with the children of the local Kipsigis tribe, especially the son of one of the tribal leaders. Always competitive, she met challenge for challenge all the early physical tests the tribe set for young males. Her friendship with Kibii was in many ways her touchstone throughout her life.

In the course of describing Beryl’s formative years, McLain reveals aspects of the educational, social and economic life of ex-pats living in Kenya during the colonial period. The parallel lives of the Kips tribe is seen as well, including the interactions and roles of each.

Her father’s economic reversals helped propel Beryl into an early and unfortunate marriage. Truly her father’s daughter, she threw herself into becoming a premier horse trainer, a field unheard of for women. These were just the first of many rollercoaster-like changes in her adult life.

McLain brings 21st century sensibilities to many events that were scandalous in Beryl Markham’s lifetime. She was attracted to interesting and influential men, and they to her, like fireflies to a flame. Throughout her life, Beryl Markham ignored barriers set before her based on gender or station. She became an acclaimed aviator, the first female pilot to fly solo east to west across the Atlantic.

The strength of this novel is the vivid pictures Paula McLain paints of Kenya and its people during this period. Having see the movie Out of Africa, based on Isak Dinesen’s memoir, I “saw” the story as I read. McLain’s book leaves me wanting to know more about this extraordinary woman, likely West with the Night, Markham’s 1942 memoir.

This novel would be well-suited for book groups interested in discussing a British feminist in Africa in the early 20th century. For me, it was even more appealing as a long winter afternoon’s read with a blanket and a cup of tea.

Seeking and Finding ‘In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist’

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In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist by Ruhama King Feuerman (The New York Review of Books, 2013)
In 40 words or less: A rebbe’s courtyard in Jerusalem and a shard of pottery discarded on the Temple Mount are catalysts for life changing experiences for three lonely people.
Genre: Fiction
Locale: Jerusalem
Time: 1994
Read this book for a well-crafted story bringing in the many different peoples that make up Jerusalem.

There is a timelessness to Ruhama King Feuerman’s novel despite its contemporary setting. The courtyard of the title, on Nineveh Street in Jerusalem, is a place where seekers of all sorts congregate. A wise and ailing rebbe and his wife offer guidance and soup to an array of regular and occasional visitors. Isaac, a former haberdasher from the Lower East Side, arrives in the courtyard while looking for a new direction in his life. As luck would have it (and out of the goodness of their hearts), Isaac becomes the assistant to the rebbe, ferrying messages, keeping order and conversing with the visitors.

Among the visitors is Tamar, a young American who has moved to Israel and become more religious. She is effervescent in personality and dress and is in search of her bashert, the person who’s destined to share her life. She asks the rebbe’s guidance in finding him.

On the Temple Mount, Mustafa toils daily as a janitor, sweeping, washing, and hauling trash to maintain the holiness of the site. Mustafa has been an outcast from birth, his head awkwardly twisted almost over his shoulder. Rejected by his family who are concerned about the negative influence his condition may have on the marriage prospects of his siblings, he lives narrow existence of work, dinner and sleep with little human contact.

In the course of clearing out buckets of debris from questionable digging on the Temple Mount, Mustafa finds a shard of pottery that appears to have some value. Mustafa sees Isaac as someone who can explain what he has found. Looking for answers endangers Isaac and Mustafa but they are resolute in what becomes a quest for both. As with almost everything in Jerusalem, religious and political controversies, control of holy sites and distrust among groups become obstacles in their path.

Over the course of the novel, these three lonely, family-less people find connections with each other. The story has ample twists and turns, but it is the blossoming of the people and their friendships that gives it lasting strength. This is a slim book, tightly written and very well-suited for discussion among book groups.

‘Year of Wonders’ – a timely story from a 350 year old reality

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Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Press, 2001)
In 40 words or less: Based on Eyam, England which cut itself off from the world in the hope of saving its people from the plague.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Locale: England
Time: 1665
Read this book if individual stories bring you a new understanding of history.

Geraldine Brooks’ ‘Year of Wonders’ has long been one of my favorite novels. It is particularly appropriate that I am finishing this review after almost a week of hunkering down due to winter storm Jonas. Her debut novel, written in 2001, is based on the actual English village of Eyam which in 1665 chose total isolation from neighboring villages in the hope of mitigating bubonic plague. The outbreak was in the early days of the Protestant Reformation, a time of religious and social friction. Anna Firth was created by Brooks to tell the community’s story.

Anna is a still a teenager when her husband dies mining lead. Left with two small children, she works in the rectory for Reverend Mompellion and his wife, Elinor. To augment her wages, Anna takes in a tailor who has come to town. He becomes the first victim of the plague, likely infected from fleas in cloth he received. Fortunate to have been taught to read, Anna is hungry for knowledge and Elinor sees in her a kindred spirit. While Reverend Mompellion sees to the religious needs of many in the community, Elinor and Anna work together to keep the community fed and restore their health.

In a community barely subsisting, the toll of isolation and deprivation is high. Through Anna’s eyes the reader sees the best and the worst behaviors. Beyond the stark religious differences within the Protestants, there is a household of women herbalists and healers who some consider witches. These women are increasingly called upon to help those who have fallen ill from a variety of ailments. They, however, are often not treated with like kindness. The harshness of daily life and lengths people go to survive can be chilling.

Over the course of the year, Brook peels back the layers of life – birth and death, cruelty and kindness, love and hatred. It is astonishing how many aspects of the book ring true 350 years later. This is a book to read, re-read and share.

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