false 28937 5 Allegra Goodman's remarkable first novel intertwines the stories of three Orthodox Jewish families, each of whom is tugged between religious tradition and the secular world. The story takes place in the upstate New York town of Kaaterskill, summer Mecca for the tightly knit Kirshner sect. Model wife and mother Elizabeth Shulman pictures her community as a sort of Mont-Saint-Michel, an island both joined and separated from the outside world as if by rising and falling tides. Fascinated with what lies on the spiritual mainland, she hides behind the reassuring rhythms of religious observance, though she's inspired with a "desire, as intense as prayer," to create something all her own. <p> Despite her pious husband's doubts, she does, in the form of a store catering to Kaaterskill's "summer people"--a community Goodman brings memorably to life. The Shulmans' neighbor Andras Melish, a Hungarian who fled World War II and a vanished world of assimilated European Jewry, struggles to understand his young Argentinian wife Nina, whose need for tradition grows with each passing year. The ailing Rav Kirshner must decide which son will carry on in his shoes: dutiful but plodding Isaiah or his brilliant but secular brother Jeremy. Andras and Nina's daughter befriends an Arab girl, while Elizabeth and Isaac's daughter dreams in secret of Israel. Meanwhile, the town's year-round residents observe the Orthodox newcomers with bewilderment and occasional dismay.<p> As she proved in a warm and funny 1996 collection of stories, <I>The Family Markowitz</I>, Goodman is an unparalleled observer of human nature. Here, she charts with quiet assurance the daily rhythms of Kaaterskill: the meals prepared and eaten, the Holy Days observed, the ebb and flow of married life. Goodman gets all the important details right; her children's dialogue, for instance, is unerring. Above all, however, she brings to the subject of religious life a seriousness and subtlety rarely found in recent fiction. <I>Wise</I> was the word used again and again to describe <I>The Family Markowitz</I>. Applied to <I>Kaaterskill Falls</I>, it is no less apt. 29425 10 8 1998 Kaaterskill Falls total:383|5:57|4:155|3:120|2:43|1:8| 383 1359 579 57 5 1 false false Sat Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 19:17:10 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 11:42:55 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 12:54:32 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 12:58:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Tue Sep 18 19:05:30 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 18 19:06:40 -0700 2007 2 1 false false Mon May 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 16:04:22 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 16:05:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Sep 12 18:06:54 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 13:17:03 -0700 2008
The only source of symbolism is wallpaper and house panels with floral motifs. Thats it. Everything else c...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Nov 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 11:21:46 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 11:25:15 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 16:42:55 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 13:10:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Fri Jul 30 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Thu Aug 13 08:54:12 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 08:54:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 true false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 11:14:46 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 19:51:11 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun May 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 14:25:07 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 17:37:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Dec 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 15:20:51 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 19 17:29:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 22 23:35:36 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 21:44:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 22 13:43:42 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 13:46:01 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 11:11:03 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 11:15:06 -0800 2009
Deborah, you will really like this one!]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 30 16:45:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 16:47:27 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Apr 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 18:24:17 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 18:34:08 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Feb 24 20:04:22 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 20:07:22 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Wed Nov 19 10:54:57 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 19 10:54:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 18:05:19 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 18:06:19 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Apr 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 08:51:26 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 18:31:51 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=28937