Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder (2021)
A novel about Jewish guilt, sex and food.
Read: August 25, 2023
3 Stars
Friday, August 25, 2023
Books Set in North America, California, United States
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, by Robert Dugoni (2018)
Sam Hill was born with a rare genetic condition known as ocular albinism, which makes his eyes red. His mother enrolled him into a Catholic Elementary School, Our Lady of Mercy, but the school initially rejected his application due to his eye condition. The school feared that the other children would make fun of him. They did. They called him the Devil Boy, and Sam Hell. It didn’t help that the school’s principal, Sister Beatrice, had it in for him and made him miserable.
Sam’s only school friends wer Ernie Cantwell, the only Black student at the school, and Michaela “Mickie” Kennedy, a rebel in her own right.
Sam’s mother is extremely devout and tells Sam that each of his trials and tribulations is a result of “God’s will.” Sam endures the bullying from a classmate who comes from a home where violence rules. Forty years later, he is confronted by the bully again and learns time has not taken the edge off his foe.
This is a novel about faith. Although Sam loses the faith of his mother, his mother’s teachings comfort him throughout is life.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
Read: August 25, 2023
4.5 Stars
Friday, August 11, 2023
Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Books Set in North America: American South: St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee
Marching to Zion, by Mary Glickman (2013)
This historical novel delves into the struggles of Jews and African-Americans in the early half of the 20th Century. The book begins when Mags Preacher, a young African-American woman, leaves her home in the rural countryside and moves to St. Louis, Missouri. She has dreams of learning the beauty trade so she can open a salon back in her hometown. The first person she encounters upon arriving in St. Louis is Magnus Bailey. The only job she can get is working with Mr. Fishbein, a Jewish refugee who runs a funeral home that serves the Black families in the town.
Fishbein had fled Eastern Europe amid the pogroms that killed his wife and child. When he left Europe, he brought with him his adopted daughter, Minerva, known as Minnie. She had lost her family in the violence against Jews. Seeing her family killed experiences as a very young girl caused her to be a very troubled young woman after arriving in America.
Mags is happily working at the funeral home and eventually marries George McCallum, the manager, and they live in a small apartment attached to the funeral home. After the violent race riots in St. Louis in 1917, Fishbein’s funeral home is totally destroyed. Fishbein and Mags barely escape with their lives, but George is killed. Mags then disappears from the story.
The novel moves from Mags Preacher to the very troubled love story between Minnie, a fiery red-head Magnus. Interracial relationships were criminal offenses at the time. Fishbein, Minnie and Magnus move from St. Louis to Memphis to looking for a safer place to live. The novel describes life for Jews and African-Americans during the Depression through the mid-1930s. Fishbein realizes that there is no safe place for Jews in America, especially for his troubled daughter and her lover, Magnus.
After I finished the book, I realized that Mags Preacher, the young woman at the beginning of the story had completely disappeared. What happened to her?
Read: August 8, 2023
3.5 Stars
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Books Set in Asia and North America: Pakistan, Iraq, and San Francisco, California
The Bad Muslim Discount, by Syed M Masood (2021)
This novel follows two Muslim families who immigrated to the San Francisco from Islamic countries. Anvar Faris’ family left Karachi, Pakistan in the mid-1990s when fundamentalism begins to take over their country. Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad, Iraq, illegally escapes with her father to the United States.
Anvar’s mother is a deeply devout Muslim, but his father is more laid-back. Anvar’s mother and older brother easily settle into California and into its Muslim community. His father, however, finds the community a bit more difficult. All is well until 9-11. Anvar’s brother is the “good” Muslim in the family. He goes to mosque, prays five times a day, doesn’t smoke or drink and becomes engaged to a women chosen by his parents. Anvar, however, it the “bad” Muslim. He drinks, sleeps with women and goes to mosque only when his mother insists.
In college, Anvar meets and falls in love with Zuha Shah. Although they part ways, Anvar never stops loving her. He isn’t as religious as Zuha and settles for being a “bad” Muslim.
Meanwhile, Safwa is living with an abusive father and confined to her house in Baghdad. Her father then was abducted by Americans during the Iraq War, and she was left along with her brother who was dying of a terminal illness. As the war drew closer to her home, she was forced to flee to Basra. Ultimately her father was released, and they were reunited. His abuse, however, continued. Enter Oais, an evil villager. He offers Safwa and her father an opportunity to escape to the United States, but at a terrible price.
Safwa and her father begin a new life with new names in San Francisco. Safwa is now known as Azza. As it happens, they live in the same apartment building as Anvar. The landlord has a tender heart and gives people in need what he calls a “good Muslim discount” on the rent. Anvar and Azza begin a relationship, but from her perspective, it is a way to escape the violence inflicted upon her by her father.
This novel explores faith and geopolitical issues through the eyes of the lens of Muslim Americans. The author points out that Muslims have been a part of American fabric throughout the history’s country.
I loved this novel.
Read: August 2, 2023
5 Stars
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