An American Family

by Peter Lefcourt

The sprawling narrative of five siblings, born in the 1940's, beginning on the day John Kennedy was shot and ending on 9/11. Between these two iconic dates, we follow the fortunes, love affairs, marriages, divorces, successes and failures of the Perls, an immigrant Polish-Jewish family, from the Lower East Side of New York, to Long Island and beyond.The oldest, Jackie -- a charming, womanizing attorney -- drifts into politics with help from the Nassau County mob. His younger brother, Michael, a gambler and entrepreneur, makes and loses fortunes riding the ebb and flow of high-risk business decisions. Their sister, Elaine, marries young and raises two children before realizing that she wants more from life than being merely a wife and mother and embarking on a new life in her forties. Their sensitive and brilliant half-brother, Stephen, deals with the growing consciousness that he is gay in an era that was not gay friendly. Stephen goes to Vietnam as a medic, comes home, becomes a writer, and survives the AIDS epidemic of the eighties. The baby of the family, Bobbie, high-strung and rebellious, gets pregnant at Woodstock, moves to San Francisco as a single mother during the "Summer of Love," then winds up in Los Angeles as a highly-successful record producer.In a larger sense this book is not merely the story of one family, but the story of most immigrant families - Jewish, Italian, Irish, African-American - as they enter the melting pot and emerge as a new generation, as well as the story of the tumultuous years of the second half of the twentieth century.

Genres: Fiction

454 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Peter Lefcourt is a refugee from the trenches of Hollywood, where he has distinguished himself as a writer and producer of film and television. Among his credits are "Cagney and Lacey," for which he won an Emmy Award; "Monte Carlo," in which he managed to keep Joan Collins in the same wardrobe for 35 pages; the relentlessly sentimental "Danielle Steel's Fine Things," and the underrated and hurried "The Women of Windsor," the most sordid, and thankfully last, miniseries about the British Royal Family.

He began writing novels in the late 1980's, after being declared "marginally unemployable" in the entertainment business by his then agent. In 1991 Lefcourt published The Deal -- an act of supreme hubris that effectively bit the hand that fed him and produced, in that inverse and masochistic logic of Hollywood, a fresh demand for his screenwriting services. It remains a cult favorite in Hollywood, was one of the ten books that John Gotti reportedly ordered from jail, and was adapted into a movie -- starring William H. Macy, Meg Ryan and L.L. Cool Jay -- that premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Subsequently, he has divided his time between screenplays and novels, publishing The Dreyfus Affair in 1992, his darkly comic look at homophobia in baseball as a historical analog to anti-Semitism in fin de siecle France, which The Walt Disney Company has optioned twice and let lapse twice in fits of anxiety about what it says about the national pastime and, by extension, Disneyland. He is hopeful that a major(or even minor) motion picture will be made from it in his lifetime. The book continues to sell well in trade paperback -- it's in its fifteenth printing, and, as such, acts as a small but steady cottage industry for its author, who, at this point, would almost rather keep optioning it than have it actually made. But not really.

In 1994, he published Di And I, a heavily fictionalized version of his love affair with the late Princess of Wales. Princess Diana's own stepgodmother, Barbara Cartland, who was herself no slouch when it came to publishing torrid books, declared Di And I "ghastly and unnecessary," which pushed the British edition briefly onto the best-seller lists. Di And I was optioned by Fine Line Pictures, in 1996, and was quietly abandoned after Diana's untimely death the following year. Someday it may reach the screen -- when poor Diana is no longer seen as an historical icon but merely as the misunderstood and tragic figure that she was, devoured by her own popularity.

Abbreviating Ernie, his next novel, was inspired by his brief brush with notoriety after the appearance of Di And I. At the time he was harassed by the British tabloids and spent seven excruciating minutes on "Entertainment Tonight." He was subsequently and fittingly bumped out of People Magazine by O.J. Simpson's white Bronco media event of June, 1994. In a paroxysm of misplaced guilt, the editors of "People," to make amends, declared it a "Beach Read," which helped put the book ephemerally on the Best Seller lists during the summer of 1994. Anecdotally, however, the author spent a lot of time combing the beaches that summer without seeing a single person reading his book.

Lefcourt's research on a movie for HBO about the 1995 Bob Packwood canard was the germ for his next novel, The Woody. He began to see that the former senator's battle with the Senate Ethics Committee was a dramatization of the total confusion in America regarding appropriate sexual behavior for politicians. Packwood became the sacrificial lamb -- taking the pipe for an entire generation of men. Basically, he got his dick caught in the zeitgeist. After President Clinton got his caught in a younger zeitgeist, nearly costing him his job, The Woody became all the more topical. It asks the question: What is the relationship between a politician's sexual competence and his popularity in the polls? If Packwood had been as smooth as Clinton, he would be the majority lead

Reviews

[Hira]

Before I begin this review, I have to admit it, I have to come clean - I am a pretend, wannabe, counter-culture hipster who tends to be mistrusting of anything that comes out of Hollywood, except summer blockbuster movies (I mean, have you SEEN "The Avengers"!?!?) and the Hemsworth brothers (yum!). So naturally, I was apprehensive about reading this novel, given that I did not know very much about author Peter Lefcourt. So with that being said, I also confess to you...I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong - all my apprehensions were unfounded, and arbitrary, because this book is one of the best books I've read this year!

The story is about the Perls - a family on Long Island, and follow them over a course of three generations. Author Lefcourt's narrative is full of subtly nuanced characters that are fiercely real, and the saga of a family that you will be able to relate to, on multiple levels. The story begins on a historical day, the assassination of President Kennedy, and then takes through the many milestones and historical events that the Perl family witnesses, such as the Vietnam War, Woodstock, and September 11th. The story revolves around the ten main characters - the first of which is Meyer, who has a penchant for theater actresses, and is a tailor by profession. Then there is Nathan, who becomes the male head of the family. Also, we meet a young and misguided lawyer who is constantly running after the ladies and booze named Jackie, with connections in all the wrong places. My favorite, Elaine, is the one who is living a life of discontent, wanting more than to just be a mother and a teacher. Also, there is Michael, the ambitious one, trying to make a fortune and name for himself. An artist, but struggling to define his talent and his sexuality, there is the young and beautiful character of Stephen. And then, there is Bobbie (Roberta), the rebellious one, a hippie, a free-spirit trying to cram too much, too fast into her life.

What author Lefcourt has done in this novel is that he has highlighted the slow progression and evolution of an American family. We also witness the contrast between generations - from the older generation, with an immigrant mentality, to the next generation struggling to assimilate and define their own place in the American society, down to the new generation, liberal and accepting and breaking free of the bounds of traditions, to step into the society as home-grown Americans. This is a family full of colorful, vibrant and neurotic characters, and I'm sure you will find at least ONE (if not many) characters in this novel who will remind of you a certain uncle, or a cousin, or another. It is the believability of these characters, and the reader accompanying them on the journey through the times, and their growth and evolution that make this novel a true gem. Like good ol' American pie -- this book is delightful, refreshing, sweet and an instant CLASSIC!

[L_manning]

When President Kennedy is assassinated, people across the United States were shocked. This is no different for the Perl family in Long Island. Spanning from the 1960's to 2011, this book tells the story of the Perl family. Nathan, the father, and his second wife Lillian are parents to 5 children. Jackie is a law student with a penchant for gambling and drinking. Mickey is the businessman, always looking for a way to make money. Elaine is in school becoming a teacher. Stephen feels like he doesn't fit in with his family and most of the world around him. Roberta is the rebellious one, more interested in experimenting with things than anything else. Through the years this clan will go through numerous changes in their family and the world around them. As time passes, they will all learn what being a family truly means.

This book is able to draw you in immediately with the use of a major historical event like the assassination of President Kennedy. You get a good feel for the characters by their reactions to that one event. This carries on through the years. Sometimes you get to see their reactions to major parts of history, but other times you get to see them deal with the everyday parts of life that we all have to deal with. Many of the Perls really struggle with finding their place in this world (or at least the place that brings them the most happiness). Bobbie had probably the most "stereotypical" experience of what you expect from that era- she loves drugs, rock and roll, and her freedom. I found Elaine's story to be the easiest to relate to in some ways. She really struggles with being expected to just be a wife and mom.

Sometimes I felt the sheer number of characters to be a bit hard to keep up with, but I am also horrible with remembering names. One thing this book really reminded me was how much things have changed in such a short amount of time. I found a beautiful sense of family with the Perls. They don't always agree, and they certainly weren't perfect. However, they really did take care of each other. The ending brought things full circle in an amazing way. I also appreciated that the family participated in history in very normal ways. The family wasn't just thrown into events in dubious manners. Overall, I was really just touched by this story. The Perls really could represent almost any American family. This book will make you laugh and maybe even cry, and in the end you will really feel a great sense of inclusion in and love for this great fabric of people that make this world a wonderful place to live.

Galley provided for review.

[Ryan]

When I was given the opportunity to read a new Peter Lefcourt book, I jumped at the chance. Now granted, I've only read one of his books before, but that book is one that I've read countless times. I can't even remember the first time I read The Dreyfus Affair, but it was love at first read. I was enamored with the characters, the humor, and the way the author was able to write this compelling love story but make me laugh, cry, and regain my faith in my fellow man all at the same time. So when the chance to read An American Family came up, it was a no brainer. I had to do it.

Once I had done it, I found myself comparing it to another book that I read for the first time when I was in the 5th grade. If I was sick and at my grandparent's house, I would pick up whatever book was available for me to read. Because of that, I read a lot of books I should never, ever admit to reading. One of those was Family Album by Danielle Steel. It was a book I fell in love with, and probably need to reread sometime soon, for a lot of the same reason I loved An American Family.

Both books follow a family through the decades as they got through trials and changes. They both deal with the 60's counter culture and the Vietnam War. They both focus on the individual members of the family as they grow up, fall in love, and mess up throughout their lives. Now the families are from different ethnic, economic, and social backgrounds, but I loved them both. But where they both hooked, then and now, is how they dealt with one of the brood growing up gay in a culture that wasn't ready to deal with it. both Lionel Thayer and Steven Perl are characters that will remain close to my heart for a long time to come (possible FFC posts). Steven and Lionel, though going through different circumstances, were characters that I could find a bit of myself in. They were the kind of characters I needed to read about as a teenager. I needed to know that it was possible to grow up gay and know that I could live a happy life. A lot of the books I found back then, high school, were on the opposite side of the spectrum. So it's nice to know there are characters, written by straight men/women, who affirm being gay and not make it a burden for the character.

Now I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm basically saying both books are identical and that if you read one, you read them both. That's not the case at all. The two authors have completely different styles and they focus on two different aspects of the family. Since Danielle Steel is primarily a romance author, that's where her focus stayed throughout the book. Family Album chronicles the love lives of the character, and the dynamic between the family was secondary. An American Family does the opposite. It focuses on the dynamics between the siblings, their father, mother/stepmother, and great uncle. It's the romantic relationships outside the main family unit that get second billing. Of course Peter Lefcourt brings his own style and wit to An American Family that I loved in The Dreyfus Affair. It's the way he writes those relationships that makes this a book that may remind me of another, but stands out on it's own.

[Joanne]

I love a novel that brings me into the heart of family drama, and An American Family does this for not just a short period of time, but spans at least a fifty year period. We follow the triumphs and trials of this Jewish family taking special note of happenings on the Thanksgiving and Passover Holidays.

Lefcourt did a wonderful job of taking us on a journey with this family, that will help you recall specific things during this time yourself. From a 17" Magnavox television to a cut and a perm costing only six dollars this book is a feast for your memory. Not only are the symbols of the time appreciated, but also the events. We get an up close view of this family as they deal with life-changing events like the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam war, Israeli conflict, and the heart-stopping act of terrorism against our country on 9/11.

I really enjoy how this story was delivered. At the beginning of each chapter we are told what year it is, and then every section within that chapter we are given a personal look at each of the siblings lives. We see Jackie rising to power with his legal career, Michael about to go bankrupt unless his new idea catches on, Elaine getting lost in the life of her marriage, Stephen struggling between who he thinks he should be and who he wants to be, and finally, the free-spirited Bobbi who is continually striving to make it big in the music business.

There is so much for everyone to enjoy in this novel that I know I am only touching on a small portion of how wonderful it is. I also enjoyed the Jewish element of the story as each of the family members struggle with their Jewish ancestry. Nathan, the father, especially battling the demons that remind him how he should have done more to get his family out of Lodz before it was too late.

I enjoyed this book so much with themes of family, love, power, Jewish traditions, and even a touch of Woodstock. I was born in the late 60's, but I believe that someone that was born in the 50's or early 60's would have been even more appreciative of the content. I think this would make a great selection for a book club or even personal leisure. I don't hesitate in recommending this novel.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair]

I love stories about families! The Perl family is a Jewish family living in and around New York City and the story covers from the early 60s to 2001. One cool thing is that the author used stories from his own family's history, which I loved. The focus of the story is definitely the Perl family but there is a ton of historical detail interwoven within the family's story. So even though I wouldn't call this book purely historical fiction, there are a lot of things that historical fiction lovers will enjoy. I especially enjoyed the detail about the late 1960s and early 1970s counter-culture. That's such a fascinating time for me.

I really liked Bobbie's story probably the best. As the youngest Perl child, she's sort of the wild card in the family (it's between her and Steven, the son who is confronting whether or not to be true to himself and risk alienating his family). Bobbie is coming of age right during the hippie movement. She gets into a lot of trouble and seems to be bent on becoming the black sheep of the family. She goes to Woodstock and after a drug induced one night stand, she becomes pregnant and creates a really elaborate story about the parentage of her daughter, who she names Grace Slick. Bobbie is incredibly lost but the sort of beautiful thing is that on the whole, her family is still ready to help and try to make life a little more normal for Bobbie and Grace Slick.

Peter Lefcourt has a background in screenwriting and you can definitely tell in this book. He really has a way with words that made the stories of the various characters really come alive. You can imagine exactly what is happening. His writing is incredibly vivid and really makes you care for all of the members of the Perl family.

I really loved getting to know all of the members of the Perl family. They're an interesting group of individuals who have very different ideas of what it means to live but they're still a family. This book will appeal to fans of mulch-generational family stories with lots of interesting characters.

[Cheryl]

Meet the Perl family...Nathan, Lillian, Jacob "Jackie", Michael, Elaine, Steven, and Bobbie. The day is Friday, November 22, 1963. This day will go down in history as one of the most memorable days in history. The day that President John F. Kennedy is assassinated. The Perl family can remember that day but life does go on. Eventually the Perl family survive the Vietnam War, Woodstock, drugs, aids, homophobia, and the attack of September 11th. No matter, how many different directions, they travel or how hard times get, the Perl family does stick together as they are family.

I am not familar with Mr. Lefcourt's work either in the book world or the movie and television world. What drew me to this book was the book summary. This book sounded like some good, old fashion American goodness. I was looking for something like this and I did find it in An American Family. My only criticism is that it took me a little while to get into this book and attach to the Perl family.

The Perl family is an interesting bunch. I mean this in a good way. While, I had no one favorite, each one brought something different to the story and helped mold it. Michael is not really a bad guy, he was trying to do good but just found it hard to survive like the rest of us middle class folks. Jackie, he was a womanizer. There always has to be one of those. Bobbie was the wild child. Readers could live vicariously through her and remember their own wild days. That is what this book was about. The good and bad times. People who lived in the past during these events will remember them and can relate in some way to one or more of the Perl family. An American Family is as good as apple pie!

[Nina]

Saw a blurb that said "if you like Franzen and Philip Roth you will love this book". It was $3.99 so I got it. I have a hard time getting past a work with so many typos and puctuation errors (yeah, I'm a grammar badass) and this book had plenty, including misspellings in Yiddish. But aside from that little problem, the book has a lot of heart. Starting at the murder of JFK and ending after 9/11/01, the book follows the trajectory of a Jewish family on Long Island, meeting up at Thanksgiving and Passover and their intricate relationships through the years. It's interesting and the characters were well-developed and honest. I wouldn't say Lefcourt is exactly the next Philip Roth but he carries the story along well and I found it enjoyable, if not a great work of fiction. The fact that it takes place during the time I grew up, I found it very relatable and the sister Bobbi (who conceives a child while tripping on acid at Woodstock) reminded me of my younger self, only worse.

[Connie]

I really enjoyed this book. This is the story of a Jewish/Polish family on Long Island and it follows them from JFK's assassination until 9-11. The historical detail is very accurate in this book and the characters are engaging. The story moves quickly and covers a lot of ground. I like how the author uses Thanksgiving as an anchor for this family, as he uses this holiday to show the passage of time throughout the book. I am not familiar with any of this author's other work, but am going to check it out. Highly recommend this book.

[Ellen]

Mr. Lefcourt needs a good editor or proofreader, happy to apply for the job. I had a hard time with the many typos and punctuation errors, including misspellings in Yiddish, likely the result of self-publishing on Amazon. Aside from that, the book is heartfelt and true to the generation of post WWII Jewish families in NY/LI and its broader typecasts with whom the author is clearly very familiar. A good summer read, good rhythm, sweetly humorous and as endearing as your softened childhood memories.

[Sandy]

This book was a really good story of a Jewish family in NY state. It looks at the five children of a man who immigrated to America in 1928. The story lives through Kennedys assignation and ending with the 9/11 attacks. Each child is trying to succeed and live up to the fathers expectations and still manage to love him in the process.

[Deb]

Great book.. spanning over 40 years about a Jewish family, beginning with the day John Kennedy is shot & ending with 9/11... Loved all the characters, especially Nathan the dad, but all the brothers & sisters were equally great.. all very individual, yet all one.. well written and brought back great memories through time.