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This epic, enthralling debut novel--in the vein of Nicole Krauss' The History of Love--follows a postwar love triangle between an American rabbi, his wife, and a German-Jewish refugee. Spanning seventy years and several continents--from a refugee's shattered dreams in 1938 Berlin, to a discontented American couple in the 1950s, to a young woman's life in modern-day Jerusalem--this epic, enthralling novel tells the braided love story of three unforgettable characters. In 1946, Walter Westhaus, a German Jew who spent the war years at Tagore's ashram in India, arrives at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, where he meets Sol Kerem, a promising rabbinical student. A brilliant nonbeliever, Walter is the perfect foil for Sol's spiritual questions--and their extraordinary connection is too wonderful not to share with Sol's free-spirited fiancée Rosalie. Soon Walter and Rosalie are exchanging notes, sketches, and secrets, and begin a transcendent love affair in his attic room, a temple of dusty tomes and whispered poetry. Months later they shatter their impossible bond, retreating to opposite sides of the country--Walter to pursue an academic career in Berkeley and Rosalie and Sol to lead a congregation in suburban New York. A chance meeting years later reconnects Walter, Sol, and Rosalie--catching three hearts and minds in a complex web of desire, heartbreak, and redemption. With extraordinary empathy and virtuosic skill, The Beautiful Possible considers the hidden boundaries of marriage and faith, and the mysterious ways we negotiate our desires.… (more)
User reviews
In New York Rosalie and Sol are engaged to be married. Sol is finishing his schooling to be a Rabbi and Rosalie is looking forward to being a wife and mother. Into this peaceful existence comes Walter who is brought to the Seminary to study by the man in the felt hat who studies religions and wants Walter to be his protege. Walter befriends both Sol and Rosalie. First Sol as they study together and challenge each other. Then Rosalie and she finds so very different from Sol. She soon finds herself falling in love with Walter and he with her. What she doesn’t know is that Sol also loves Walter.
Sol and Rosalie marry and start having children but all is not as they dreamed. Sol is a rabbi but he is not fulfilled by his calling. Rosalie is a wife and mother but she is not fulfilled by this life she always thought she wanted. Both long for the excitement that Walter brought into their lives. He does pass in and out but he doesn’t stay long.
I’m making it all sound so mundane and ordinary but it’s not. The book is full of life and love and complications. It’s got heartache, joy and the minutia of everyday life. People live, they love and they die and it’s messy and real. The writing is magical and full of bits of Jewish mysticism and lessons from the Torah. What I loved most was how real the book was. The only weakness at all in the writing of Sol and Rosalie’s sons. They were underdeveloped and seemed there just so that they could have children. But beyond that minor complaint I truly enjoyed this book – another one that stretched my reading boundaries this year.
This is a love story of people and a love story of words, passionately
There are a couple of missteps where events happen predictably or just the extreme opposite, so sudden that I had to flip back as I thought I may have missed something. But for a first novel this is most exceptional and a favorite for me. The prose is so descriptive I can still smell the cardamom and see the Ganges. The spiritual philosophy is as heady to the senses. This is a writer to watch.
Copy provided by TLC BOOK TOURS