This is an unusual concept novel. We have a first person narrator who in the course of the story reveals very little about himself other than being from somewhere other than the San Francisco setting. He also has some problem in the past.
He rents an office. Next door is a head doctor, a psychiatrist or psychologist. One patient doesn’t like the white noise machine that is used to keep the sessions private. This enables our narrator to overhear and he gets very attached to what he is hearing.
The skill of the storytelling prose allows one to suspend natural disbelief in the situation and it’s duration.
The novel is also about issues of adoption and extreme adoption in this case coming out of the events of the Nazi holocaust, exile, and extermination of the Jewish people. While telling that fictional story Ullman addresses actual historical happenings in the period just after WWII, the liberation of concentration camps, and the impulses and personalities of Zionism leading to the establishment of Israel.
The novel is a personal story in the setting of these past earth shaking events. It is a period piece written in 2012 but set in the 1970s.
It flows nicely. Somewhat of a slow suspense piece which holds interest.
I came to Ullman via seeing her interviewed about her new memoir on Booktv Cpsan 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment