When Claire and Abram divorce and Megan moves out, Jacob conveys his angst through a series of letters addressed to Megan. Jacob would love to rebel (he's got "a father so far up my ass you can see him performing in my pupils"), but mostly he mentally rewrites his bar mitzvah thank-yous as rants and fantasizes about his live-in babysitter, Megan. At 13, Jacob lives in a state of anxiety-his learning disability and his father's resulting disappointment erode his confidence Asher withdraws into adolescence his mother flees the house to pursue a Ph.D. At 10, Jacob's unthinkable sin of forgetting to wear his tzitzit to yeshiva sets off an amusing chain of events-Asher's scheming to trick the rabbi, the destruction of the rabbi's tzitzit and Jacob's suspension-that quickly turns sober when Jacob faces his father's rage.
Jacob Green idolizes his older brother, Asher, and misses his withdrawn mother, Claire, but his father, the charismatic, tyrannical Abram, dominates the family. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.Ī witty, sensitive boy observes the darkly humorous goings-on in his Orthodox Jewish family in 1970s New Jersey. This self-assured, comic, yet piercing first novel deftly captures the struggle of an imperfect boy trying to become a suitable son. If only Jacob could confront his overbearing father and tell him he doesn't want to sing in synagogue, attend est classes, write the perfect thank-you note, or even live in the same house with Abram Green. If only he were more like his rebellious older brother (suspended from Hebrew school for drawing the rabbi in a threesome with a lobster and a pig). If only his mother hadn't started college at thirty-six (and fallen for her psychology professor).
Jacob doesn't mean to disappoint his father, but he can't help thinking the most unthinkable (and very funny) thoughts about public-school humiliation, Hebrew-school disinclination, and in-home sex education (with the live-in nanny!). But when the confetti settles and the drapes are drawn, the affable Abram Green becomes an egotistical tyrant whose emotional rages rupture the lives of his family. Housewarming parties, Annie Hall parties, and bar mitzvah parties punctuate Jacob's childhood and require command performances by all the Green family members. Jacob Green, a Jewish kid from suburban New Jersey, sits on the stairs during his family's housewarming party, waiting for his father, Abram-charming host, everyone's best friend, and amateur emcee-to introduce him to the crowd.
0 kommentar(er)
