A Bend in the Stars

A Bend in the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum, 456 pages

Miriam is the first female surgeon at her hospital in Kovno, a position made possible by her innate skill for medicine paired with intense tutoring (and some personal sacrifice) from her fiance, Yuri. Her brother, Vanya, is one of the great mathematical thinkers of the time, puzzling out relativity at the same time as Einstein. Despite their sizeable talents, the siblings are convinced that the best choice for them is immigrate out of Russia to the United States, something that is becoming increasingly difficult for Russian Jews on the eve of World War I. Vanya is convinced that if he is able to photograph the upcoming solar eclipse — which will illustrate his not-yet-complete equation perfectly — he'll be able to secure passage to the U.S. for his sister and their grandmother, as well as himself. But when all able-bodied Jewish men are conscripted to the Army before he can complete this task, Vanya's plan goes sideways and the family is suddenly on the run in search of safety and science.

I read this book on the recommendation of a long-time patron, and I'm glad I did. Barenbaum's debut novel beautifully weaves together stories of physics and impending war, religious persecution and love, medicine and betrayal. I'd recommend it for fans of All the Light We Cannot See.

Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History

Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History by Steven Zipperstein, 261 pages.
The 1903 pogrom in a not-so-remote Russian town became a much larger story than other racially charged massacres of that time and place. Communications had sped up, and Kishinev was close enough to Europe that reporters could make their way there.  The stories that came out of the violent episode varied wildly. The town's newspaper publisher, apparently one of the main authors of the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and, obviously, a raving anti-semite, helped fan the flames of local rage by spreading rumors of blood-libel. Michael Davitt and Hayyim Nahman Bialik were sent in to cover the pogrom by Jewish newspapers, but Bialik ended up composing a poem that became one of the most enduring accounts with his poem, "In the City of Killing.",
Zipperstein debunks the long-held myth that the Jews of the town were too passive to fight back and tells the story of 250 people who gathered and fought off their neighbors over the course of the three-day pogrom.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman 368 pp.

Coralie lives with her father, Professor Sardie, in the museum of the title. The museum is little more than a Coney Island freak show in which web fingered Coralie is exhibited as a mermaid. Coralie's life centers around the museum and the few places she is allowed to go with the family housekeeper. She is essentially held prisoner by her father. Her life begins to change with the entrance of Ezekial/Eddie Cohen, a photographer whose life has been changed by witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist fire who is searching for a girl missing from that factory before the tragedy occurred. Both Coralie and Eddie are transformed by the events of their lives and the discovery of the evils perpetrated by the Professor, and those responsible for the Triangle tragedy, the rampant corruption of New York in 1911, as well as the magic of the Dreamland amusement park on Coney Island. This story is engaging and richly detailed. Even the descriptions of the horrible parts of the story are well done. It is gritty and awful and beautiful. 

The Wanting / Michael Lavigne 322 pp.

Roman Guttman is a successful Russian-born Israeli architect.  He has a lovely 13-year-old daughter Anna and a nice home.  But when he is injured in a suicide bombing at a bus stop, his life, and that of his daughter, begins to unravel quickly.  The decapitated head of the bomber, Amir, seems to follow him now, and yet he and Amir are unable to communicate.  Amir, stuck in a limbo which is not at all the paradise of flowing water and beautiful women he had anticipated, is forced to wander Tel Aviv and his home village near Bethlehem thinking about the past and unable to connect with those he has wounded or killed.  Both men become obsessed with Dasha Cohen, a beautiful young woman who lies in a hopeless coma since the bombing.  And while Roman drifts away from reality, Anna moves toward a dangerous new group of friends.

Well constructed, suspenseful, and very readable, this is also one of the bleakest books I've read in awhile.  A substantial portion of the plot involves Roman's musings about Anna's mother, a refusenik and political prisoner who died shortly after Anna was born.  She is a thoroughly unsympathetic character and I wish this portion of the book had been condensed.  A good book, but I won't recommend it.