Elisa Albert's Blog, page 4

Elisa Albert on Siblings

Posted by Naomi Firestone-Teeter

2009 Sami Rohr Prize Finalist Elisa Albert (How This Night Is Different and The Book of Dahlia) has a new book out…continue reading here.

A Review of The Book of Dahlia

I finished Elisa Albert’s The Book of Dahlia and I’m not quite as depressed as I thought I would be considering it’s about a young woman with terminal brain cancer.

Maybe it’s because the book is kind of depressing in a way that has nothing to do with Dahlia’s brain cancer. It seems Dahlia’s life went off track well before the tumor invaded her body. It all started off well though… two loving parents and an older brother who doted on her. But soon her self-centered mother abandons the family to return to Israel and “find herself,” her loving father becomes increasingly pathetic, and her brother completely hardens and turns away from his family, including the sister he adored.

It’s clear through flashbacks of her life that Dahlia is damaged. She can’t maintain one healthy relationship and she has no idea what she wants to do with herself besides smoke pot and spend her dad’s money. And, after years of trying to worm her way back into her brother’s heart, she’s cultivated a hatred she holds on to until the very end.

These are the tragedies of Dahlia’s life even before the tumor takes hold of her. Even then, she is not your normal fictional sick character. There is no positivity, little forgiveness and not a whole lot of change in attitude. And this is what I liked about the book. Dahlia is an anti-heroine. She’s not mushy and she’s hard to sympathize with sometimes… most times. Her tone, as narrator of her own story, is sarcastic, funny and very hipster.

Dahlia is often unlikable, but her story is engaging and unlike most cancer books. Certainly different than the Lurlene McDaniel novels about terminal illness I read as a child (strange, I know). While I can’t quite picture my mom enjoying the profanity-laced, inappropriate sex-filled stream of consciousness journey into Dahlia’s messed up life, but it was certainly an interesting spin.

If Entertainment Weekly Says It's Good...

If you skim Elisa Albert’s website, you’ll see plenty of accolades for her novel The Book of Dahlia. Many of these come from such highly regarded media as The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and so forth. But which one jumped out at me? That would be Entertainment Weekly, which called The Book of Dahlia one of the Ten Best Fiction Books of 2008.

You see, my mom has rubbed off on me a bit. Growing up in my house, my mom used to joke that the TV Guide was the bible. While it always retained that level of importance, I feel like Entertainment Weekly might have been starting to edge it out. My mom was always caught up on her Entertainment Weeklys, both in magazine and website form. And it seems to have influenced her reading choices.

The list of the Ten Best Fiction Books of 2008 includes a great review of The Book of Dahlia, writing:

“The eponymous heroine of Albert’s mordant novel is a spoiled Los Angeles slacker with a doting father, a self-absorbed mother, no direction in life, and few commitments. She slumps on her shabby-chic couch smoking dope, eating Cheerios, and watching cheesy old movies again and again while she waits for her life to begin. But terminal cancer happens, even to pretty underachievers like Dahlia Finger who never have the chance to redeem themselves — and probably wouldn’t even if they did. What begins as a darkly funny novel develops quickly into a genuine tragedy, though it’s unlike any you’ve read before.”

On top of that, though, the article also features two other books from Robin’s Reading List. There’s Richard Price’s Lush Life, which I haven’t read yet, and The House on Fortune Street, which is one of my favorites from this project so far. Additionally, Entertainment Weekly includes American Wife, a book that my mom recommended to me earlier and I read for my book club. Everyone in the group really liked it.

With a track record like that, I believe Entertainment Weekly really knows how to pick ‘em. Or, rather, that my mom really knew how to pick ‘em from the ones that Entertainment Weekly picked. Or something like that…

Next Up: The Book of Dahlia

It’s that time again when I have to pick my next book on the list. However, I’m not likely to start it just yet. Right now I’m in the middle of Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply for my book club. Since I’m hosting with Carley and we meet in less than a week, I figured I should probably get around to starting and finishing the book. It should be good as my mom had good things to say about it.

Once Await Your Reply is said and done, I will move on to The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert. I impulsively (and accidentally) bought this as a paperback a few months ago and put it aside in favor of e-books. However, I’m ready to give my Kindle a break and pick this one back up.

For those interested (and those like me who maybe bought it a long time ago and don’t remember what it’s about at all), here’s the description:

Meet Dahlia Finger: twenty-nine, depressed, whip-smart, occasionally affable, bracingly honest, resolutely single, and perennially unemployed. She spends her days stoned in front of the TV, watching the same movies repeatedly, like “a form of prayer.” But Dahlia’s so-called life is upended by an aggressive, inoperable brain tumor.

Stunned and uncomprehending, Dahlia must work toward reluctant emotional reckoning with the aid of a questionable self-help guide. She obsessively revisits the myriad heartbreaks, disappointments, rages, and regrets that comprise the story of her life — from her parents’ haphazard Israeli courtship to her kibbutz conception; from the role of beloved daughter and little sister to that of abandoned, suicidal adolescent; from an affluent childhood in Los Angeles to an aimless existence in the gentrified wilds of Brooklyn; from a girl with “options” to a girl with none — convinced that cancer struck because she herself is somehow at fault.

With her take-no-prisoners perspective, her depressive humor, and her extreme vulnerability, Dahlia Finger is an unforgettable anti-heroine. This staggering portrait of one young woman’s life and death confirms Elisa Albert as a “witty, incisive” (Variety) and even “wonder-inducing” writer (Time Out New York).

I’m going to be honest and say that until I copied and pasted that summary above I did not realize I had chosen yet another book essentially about death. But this blog post was already almost done so it hardly seems worth putting off again.

My mom really knew how to pick some uplifting reading, eh?

Nine Fiction Writers and the Sabbath

Posted by Naomi Firestone

A wonderful piece from Tablet, prompted by Judith Shulevitz’s new book…continue reading here.

Book Adventures! (Sunday Salon 27th September 2009)

The Sunday Salon is a virtual gathering of booklovers on the web, where they blog about bookish things of the past week, visit each others weblogs, oh — and read ;)

I am mentally preparing myself for the 24 hour read-a-thon that will take place in the weekend of 24-25 October. Not only am I contemplating my pile of books and what snacks to hoard, but last Friday I also joined this month’s Bookcrossing read-a-thon for which I need to read 24 hours in one week. I am having quite a busy schedule so I’m not at all sure if I will make it, but a grrl can try. I’ll write a seperate post of my progress in Richard Yates‘ Revolutionary Road! I had finished Het pauperparadijs the day before the challenge started.

Another bookish thing that happened to me this week is that I received a review copy The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert, in Dutch translation. I have never before received a review copy and did not request it… It was sent to me as a prize in a little spring quiz. Now what do I do? I guess I shouldn’t feel obliged to review the book. But I am not even sure if I would like to read it :-o The blurb suggests some kind of chicklit — which I am no fan of. Anyone out there who knows if that’s true? Even better: can anyone convince me to read, or not to read this book?

Last but not least I am very excited that BAFAB week is coming up! “BAFAB?” Yes! Buy A Friend A Book in the first week of October :) Because of my huge Mt. TBR and overcrowded reading programm for the rest of 2009 I am not allowed to get myself any new books. But I can surprise someone else, can’t I? :)) Now how am I going to tackle this: choose a book first and then a beneficiary, or the other way round?

Oh my, and I almost forgot: I also started another round of the 2009 History Challenge at Bookcrossing! I’ll have to release 12 books at historic sites before the end of this year; that makes 3 a month. Having done 4 already I’m ahead of schedule. Read all about my releases in my forum post. I did a first round of 12 from January until May.

Well, you will probably understand that I am keeping my salon post short this week — I need to read! Actually I should be writing a review of To Kill a Mockingbird (that I finished two weeks ago), but that’ll have to wait just a bit longer…

Tonight: Sami Rohr Prize Finalist in Literary Death Match

Posted by Naomi Firestone

Elisa Albert, author of The Book of Dahlia and a 2009 Finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize, will compete in a Literary Death Match tonight in New York City at the Bowery Poetry Club. Continue reading here.

The Book of Dahlia By Elisa Albert

In The Book of Dahlia, Elisa Albert introduces us to Dahlia Finger, a 29 year old slacker from a broken, over-privileged family. Living in a Venice cottage purchased by her father she spends her days smoking pot and watching the same old movies over and over. Her biggest concern at the moment is awaiting the results from the GRE; she took them in the hopes of going back to school even though she had no clue what to do with her life. Then it happened, the moment that would change her life forever, a near fatal  seizure. A symptom of a terminal brain tumor in Dahlia’s head.

With the help of “The Book”, a self-help book for cancer patients, she recollects various moments of her life that may hold the answer to why her. We follow Dahlia as she tries to comes to terms with her life, disease and her overwhelming sense of doom from a death sentence. Meanwhile,  everybody around her tries to keep a positive attitude for her.

The book was extremely hard to put down but at the same time at some points was hard to read. As I read I couldn’t help but feel for Dahlia and relate to many of the struggles she has as a child, teenager and later as a slacker graduate with no direction. I can easily see why this novel was one of Entertainment Weekly’s top ten fiction picks last year. The sarcastic wit and sadistic humor make it an easy read while the powerful subject matter makes you truly rethink your own mortality.

JUF Interviews Elisa Albert

Posted by Naomi Firestone

Stefanie Pervos of Jewish United Fund News posted an interview with Elisa Albert…continue reading here.