Federation Star - March 2019

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P Four more events through April 8, 2019 All event tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Attend both March 6 events for $25 and save $5. Call the Federation office at 239.263.4205 or visit the official festival website at www.JewishBookFestival.org. Wednesday, March 6 • 9:30 am - 12:00 pm at Naples Conference Ctr. • Topic: Fiction Moriel Rothman-Zecher – Sadness Is a White Bird In this lyrical and searing debut novel, a young Israeli must reconcile his close relationship with two Palestinian siblings and his deeply ingrained loyalties to family and country. Moving back to Israel at age 18, Jonathan is eager to join the army and defend the Jewish state his grandfather helped establish. But when he meets Nimreen and Laith, his worldview is altered. And then a fateful day arrives that lands him in prison and changes all three lives forever. Sadness Is a White Bird is the story of one man’s attempts to find a place for himself, discovering a beautiful against-the-odds love that flickers like a candle in the darkness of a never-ending conflict. Moriel Rothman-Zecher is an American Israeli writer, poet and novelist. He is the recipient of a 2017 MacDowell Colony Fellowship for Literature. Carol Zoref – Barren Island Barren Island begins with the arrival of the Eisenstein family, immigrants from Eastern Europe, and then explores how the political and social upheavals of the 1930s affect them and their neighbors in the years between the stock market crash of October 1929 and the start of World War II ten years later. Labor strife, union riots, the New Deal, the World’s Fair, and the struggle to save European Jews from the growing threat of Nazi terror inform this novel as much as the explosion of civil and social liberties between the two world wars. Barren Island is a novel in which the existence of God is argued with a God that may no longer exist or, perhaps, never did. It is a novel of place and passion. Carol Zoref is an award-winning fiction writer and essayist. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and New York University. Wednesday, March 6 • 1:30 - 4:00 pm at Naples Conference Center • Topic: Fiction Elyssa Friedland – The Intermission Told from the alternating perspectives of a husband and wife who both have something to hide, The Intermission tunnels beneath a seemingly happy marriage to ask: How much do we really know about the people we love the most? Cass and Jonathan’s story examines how class and religious differences can become devastating pressure points. As the months pass, the couple begins to see that the worst of their problems are rooted in the personal and cultural history that separates them – and in certain blistering secrets they may never be ready to share. Elyssa Friedland served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News, and is a graduate of Columbia Law School. Her debut novel was Love and Miss Communication. Mark Sarvas – Memento Park After receiving an unexpected call from the Australian consulate, Matt Santos becomes aware of a painting he believes was looted from his family in Hungary during World War II. To recover the painting, he must repair his strained relationship with his judgmental father, uncover his family history, and restore his connection to his own Judaism. Matt’s narrative is as much about family history and father-son dynamics as it is about the nature of art itself, and the infinite ways we come to understand ourselves through it. Of all the questions asked about family, art, history and spirituality – a central, unanswerable predicament lingers: How do we move forward when the past looms unreasonably large? Mark Sarvas is the author of the novel Harry, Revised, which was published in more than a dozen countries. a B Co a b p E t t i t D M b o m B F a w r p C Wednesday, March 27 • 1:00 - 3:30 pm at Temple Shalom • Topic: Fiction & Memoir Rachel Kadish – The Weight of Ink Set in London in both the 1660s and the early 21 st century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. Electrifying and ambitious, sweeping in scope and intimate in tone, The Weight of Ink is a sophisticated work of historical fiction about women separated by centuries, and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind. Rachel Kadish is the award-winning author of the novels From a Sealed Room and Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story, and the novella I Was Here. Tova Mirvis – The Book of Separation What happens when you decide at long last to heed your inner compass? In The Book of Separation, Tova Mirvis tell the courageous story of leaving her Orthodox faith and her marriage at age forty and setting out to navigate the terrifying, liberating terrain of a newly unmapped world. The Book of Separation was a New York Times Book Review “Editor’s Choice” and one of O magazine’s “Ten Books to Pick Up Now.” Tova Mirvis is the author of three novels: Visible City, The Outside World and The Ladies Auxiliary, a national bestseller. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe Magazine and Poets and Writers, and her fiction has been broadcast on NPR. Monday, April 8 • 1:00 - 3:30 pm at Naples Conference Center • Topic: Non-Fiction Marc E. Agronin – The End of Old Age Old age is too often defined as a time of loss and decline. In The End of Old Age, Dr. Marc Agronin presents a more hopeful view of the aging process through inspiring stories of a Holocaust survivor who journeys back to Auschwitz each year with Jewish students, a famous aging artist who reinvented himself after nearly dying as well as through other individuals. The End of Old Age concludes with a practical action plan to help readers identify and leverage their own emerging strengths to live with greater purpose and meaning. Dr. Marc Agronin is a renowned geriatric psychiatrist who directs the memory center and research program at Miami Jewish Health. He has written ten other books on related subjects as well as articles for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. David Litt – Thanks, Obama At age 24, David Litt became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. Along with issues like climate change and criminal justice reform, he was the president’s go-to writer for comedy. As the lead writer on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech (the “State of the Union of jokes”), he was responsible for some of President Obama’s most memorable moments. Litt takes us inside his eight years on the front lines of Obamaworld. His behind-the-scenes anecdotes answer questions you never knew you had: What’s the classiest White House men’s room? How do you force the National Security Council to stop hitting “reply-all” on every email? David Litt, in addition to writing for the White House, has written for The Onion, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic and The New York Times.
JEWISH INTEREST Book review by Philip K. Jason, Special to the Federation Star March 2019 Federation Star Prize-winning novelist Carol Zoref one of four authors at Day of Fiction Jewish Book Festival event Barren Island, by Carol Zoref. New Issues Press. 428 pages. Hardcover $26.00. an you imagine making a life in the shadow of a rendering plant? A place where the stench f rotting horse carcasses and related nimal decay is ever present? A place isolated from the Brooklyn shore though regularly supplied by barge visits bringing more and more disintegrating remains for the glue factory? Such is Barren Shoals, Phil Jason which like neighoring Barren Island is a last-chance lace for poor immigrant families. Zoref’s narrator, 80-year-old Marta isenstein Lane, was born and raised in his repugnant place. Through Marta, he author traces the life of a neglected, mpoverished community that is disanced in every way from the American ream. Indeed, a critique of that dream is one level at which this exceptional and surprising novel operates. There are many other levels. Zoref’s book is truly an historical novel, taking us through the aftermath of WWI, the brief epoch of good times for many that followed, and the crushing Depression eventually to be relieved by the dawning of WWII. She explores how people outside of the mainstream receive news and process it: news about government programs, about the march of unionizing labor, and about the various utopian “isms” for redistributing power and wealth. The heart of the novel covers Marta’s life from the age of about seven through her high school graduation and her refusal to pursue an opportunity to enter Hunter College. It focuses on the Eisenstein family and other immigrant families (Greeks, Italians, etc.), revealing the hardships of their lives and the s. Zoref, who teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and New York University, will e appearing with three other writers during the day-long special fiction event n Wednesday, March 6 at the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. During the orning, she is teamed with Moriel Rothman-Zecher, author of Sadness is a White ird. This American Israeli writer was awarded a prestigious MacDowell Colony ellowship for Literature. After a lunch break, the second session begins. The speakers are Mark Sarvas, uthor of the art-themed and historically-based Memento Park, and Elyssa Friedland, ho will speak about her provocative novel The Intermission, which explores the oots of a deeply troubled relationship. One can purchase tickets to both sessions at a discounted price or simply urchase tickets to one of the sessions, which take place at the Naples Conference enter, 155 Pine Ridge Road. Booklovers, knock yourselves out! See the previous page for more information on this day-long event. Carol Zoref power of their passions. Its large cast of memorable characters includes Marta’s mother, her best friend Sophia, her brother Noah and her teacher – the extremely wise, talented and effective Miss Finn. Barren Island boils with moral issues, with parents aging and children maturing, with romance, humiliation, longing and desperation. Where do desperate people find hope? Can the horrors of their victimization be relieved by watching the graceful scavenging of beautiful birds? No, too many of the Barren Shoals residents are themselves scavengers. A hopeful sign is the building of a community garden. It reveals a proper pride and successful productivity. With diligence and application, something can come of nothing. A less upbeat thread involves Mr. Eisenstein’s frequent trips to the HIAS office in a futile attempt to bring threatened relatives from Hitler’s Europe to the U.S. Barren Island is a brilliant coming-of-age novel; Marta’s portrait of her youth is informed by the distance she has traveled and the experiences from which she has learned. And it is much more. It takes readers to places 29 they have not been or even heard of before – places that are close geographically but distant in most other ways. This book is a grand testimony to the human spirit and a weighty reminder of the consequences of neglect. Zoref’s narrative is so beautifully written, so richly perceptive and so polished in matters of craft that it will surely add more accolades to its distinction as the Associated Writing Programs’ (AWP) Award for the Novel. In fact, since this review was first written, Barren Island won the National Jewish Book Award Goldberg Prize and made the National Book Award Longlist. Reprinted with permission from the Jewish Book Council. Find daily new reviews, reading recommendations and more at www.jewishbook council.org. Philip K. Jason is Professor Emeritus of English from the United States Naval Academy. He reviews regularly for Florida Weekly, Washington Independent Review of Books, Southern Literary Review, other publications and the Jewish Book Council. Please visit Phil’s website at www.philjason.word press.com. Stay connected at www.jewishnaples.org Elli Taylor, P.A., Broker Associate Whether you’re in the market to buy or sell real estate, let’s meet and discuss how my experience can benefit you in achieving your goal. Coming from New England in 1988, I know firsthand the attraction that Southwest Florida offers. I have been a full time Realtor since 2000 and have been instrumental in helping many others connect with their own “Piece of Paradise.” – Elli Taylor To receive quarterly market reports or monthly newsletters, please contact me: (239) 860-2064 etaylor@johnrwood.com www.ellisellsnaples.com Accredited Buyers Representative Council of Residential Specialists Graduate Realtors Institute Certifi ed Negotiation Expert Certifi ed Luxury Home Marketing FULL SERVICE PRINTING & GRAPHIC DESIGN 239.592.9377 naplesenvelope1@aol.com 2052 J AND C BLVD. • NAPLES, FL 34109
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