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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.… (more)
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As the story, told in flashbacks, begins at the start of the summer in 1948, we learn that Molly's little brother, ten-year-old Davy, died late that summer in an accident. The family was at their summer beach house in Woodmont, Connecticut on "Bagel Beach," an section predominantly inhabited by Jews, because of their exclusion from many other areas. The rest of the book goes back and forth in time (to 1999), revealing the perspectives of different family members, as we find out what happened to Davy and how it changed the lives of all of the family members thereafter.
The father, Mort, is quite religious, and insists that the rest of the family meet their obligations as Jews, at least in terms of observing the letter of ritual acts if not the spirit. Some of these rites, it should be noted, play a large part in the story, but inexplicably for an author that presumably would like a wide audience, are never explained, such as the minyan, the separation of foods, and the particulars of the Sabbath meal.
In another parallel to “August: Osage County,” the family members all gather after the death, and their hostilities toward one another are unleashed. Conflict and chaos rip the family apart, and even years later, the destructive effects are palpable.
Discussion: I didn’t really get why all the family members carried around so much guilt that should have rightly belonged only to the matriarch, Ada.
In addition, in my opinion the author spent a lot of verbiage on details not really essential to the story. Most of the characters were too pathetic for me to feel anything for them except pity or contempt. Moreover, nobody in the family had any backbone except when it came to decisions that didn't really matter.
Evaluation: There really isn't much pleasant about this story of ruined lives without redemption, and I wasn't much taken with the writing. But the book does provide a look at the ethnic prejudices that prevailed in post-WWII America, especially against the Jews, who experienced restrictions in employment, housing, and other areas.
The portrayals of the children, caught up in the rituals of their parents but yearning to push into new territories, are most vivid and the multiple points of view enrich the story beautifully. Those readers unfamiliar with Jewish rituals will feel like they are entering new turf, and Jewish readers will feel like they have the chance to connect with their recent ancestors. Beautifully executed, like lean corned beef, bursting with flavor with no fat.
Ah, families. They can be such a joy and such a torment. But for one family, a single day in 1948 changes all their lives forever.
In that moment, Davy, just a little boy, is killed in an accident by the ice cream man. What came before that day and what came
It all started the way their summer vacations usually did. They opened up the house in the small Jewish enclave and then began their usual summer rituals...dips in the ocean, running along the beach, preparing the meal for Shabbos.
This particular summer, new things occur. Romances are begun and turn into something more serious than a summer fling. The children begin to mature, and realize things about their parents that had stayed hidden to them before.
Then, after the death, their lives continue. Always the family rotates back to the summer home, always they work to deal with their individual grief and the heavy burdens of their individual guilt.
The development of each character and the ways their lives intertwine are deeply considered in this novel. The voice, which has more of a memoir tone, becomes a bit wearying at times; the voice too often allows the mundanely of the dialog to overwhelm the straightforward narrative.
But for a certain type of reader, the page will fly along. The only pauses will occur when the reader wants to savor some moment in the family...which is often. Overall a strong novel that deals with a lot of complexities in an interesting way.
4 stars!
Interested in a novel about adult sibling relationships? Try Reparation: A Novel of Love, Devotion and Danger. A young Lakota Sioux man must save his sister and his lover from a peyote cult before the minister enacts a mass murder. 4.8 star average on Amazon!