Yom Kippur in Amsterdam (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780815609186)

Whether set in Maxim D. Shrayer's native Russia or in North America and Western Europe, the eight stories in this collection explore emotionally intricate relationships that cross traditional boundaries of ethnicity, religion, and culture. Tracing the lives, obsessions, and aspirations of Jewish-Russian immigrants, these poignant, humorous, and tender stories create an expansive portrait of individuals struggling to come to terms with ghosts of their European pasts while simultaneously seeking to build new lives in their American present.

The title story follows Jake Glaz, a young Jewish man apprehensive about marrying a Catholic woman. After realizing Erin will not convert, Jake leaves the United States to spend Yom Kippur in Amsterdam, "a beautiful place for a Jew to atone." In "Sonetchka" a literary scholar and his former girlfriend from Moscow reunite in her suburban Connecticut apartment. As they reminisce about their Soviet youth and quietly admire each other's professional successes, both wrestle with the curious mix of prosperity, loneliness, and insecurity that defines their lives in the United States.

Yom Kippur in Amsterdam takes the immigrant narrative into the twenty-first century. Emerging from the traditions of Isaac Babel, Vladimir Nabokov, and Isaac Bashevis Singer, Shrayer's vibrant literary voice significantly contributes to the evolution of Jewish writing in America.

Author: Maxim D. Shrayer
ISBN-10: 0815609183
ISBN-13: 9780815609186
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/08/2009
Pages: 156
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.72lbs
Size: 8.75h x 5.75w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/31/2009 pg. 38
Booklist 09/15/2009 pg. 32
Multicultural Review 05/01/2010 pg. 48