The FAMILY MARKOWITZ

Rating:
Summary: Touching accounts
Review: Everyone finds someone to root for and someone to scorn in this delicious collage. The author obviously had strong and tender attachment to each of her characters, and you will too. This book should be used in English classes to teach character development.

Rating:
Summary: To Know 'Em is to Love 'Em!
Review: Having read and enjoyed Kaaterskills Falls by Goodman, I eagerly looked forward to reading this. However, I found the book a let down. This story gave me the sense that Goodman had written parts of this as short stories and tried pasting them all together. There were two characters introduced midway through the book for several chapters who were then never heard from again. The first and second halves of the book don't seem to coherently fit together. I was left feeling like I got introduced to a bunch of different characters, but didn't really get to know any of them very well.

Rating:
Summary: Falls flat!
Review: Having read and enjoyed Kaaterskills Falls by Goodman, I eagerly looked forward to reading this. However, I found the book a let down. This story gave me the sense that Goodman had written parts of this as short stories and tried pasting them all together. There were two characters introduced midway through the book for several chapters who were then never heard from again. The first and second halves of the book don't seem to coherently fit together. I was left feeling like I got introduced to a bunch of different characters, but didn't really get to know any of them very well.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't understand the hype...
Review: I couldn't understand the hype over this book. This was one of those books that gets good press and lands on a couple lists of best book of the year but for me, I thought it was rather simple. I think my biggest disconnect was my lack of knowledge of the Jewish culture. I honestly feel that if I was more aware of some of the family and cultural quirks, I would have enjoyed it much more.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't understand the hype...
Review: I couldn't understand the hype over this book. This was one of those books that gets good press and lands on a couple lists of best book of the year but for me, I thought it was rather simple. I think my biggest disconnect was my lack of knowledge of the Jewish culture. I honestly feel that if I was more aware of some of the family and cultural quirks, I would have enjoyed it much more.

Rating:
Summary: If you don't want to like the characters. . .
Review: None of the members of the Family Markowitz are likeable. That leaves me the reader with no one to cheer for, let alone identify with. Matriarch Rose is selfish, maybe psychotic. Her 2 sons must inherit their self-absorbtion from her. Their wives are the only characters I didn't hate. If you like books with no likeable characters [A Confederacy of Dunces, maybe?], then this book is for you. Otherwise, forget it.

Rating:
Summary: A superb, thoughtful novel -- A real treat
Review: Oy vey, "The Family Markowitz" is what every WASP imagines every Jewish family is really like. And perhaps it is what every Jewish family might read and shake their heads at - for the truth captured within. I don't know. I do know that I alternately grinned and groaned with every guilt trip, every piece of cognitive dissonance, every whine, and every solution. Goodman writes a good story, and one that seems entirely plausible and accurate in its dialogues, descriptions, and hang-ups. The reader learns all about Mama Rose, her two sons, Ed and Henry, their wives, and Ed's children who range in type from "born again orthodox Judaism" to "Did I hear you say Avi's girlfriend isn't Jewish?". They deal with their own minds and souls while they combat and juggle the anguish of their family members. No one really listens, and no one really hears, but in the end everyone seems to understand perfectly. A fun read, and for someone who appreciates the Jewish-American world - a hilarious open window on the community as it is portrayed.

Rating:
Summary: To Know 'Em is to Love 'Em!
Review: When I first started to read this book I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or even finish it. I had already read Ms Goodman's novels, KAATERSKILL FALLS and PARADISE PARK, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I just wasn't sure if this would be more of the same ... the same characters...the same issues. ...But I stuck with it because I enjoy her writing so much and I was pleasantly surprised!

THE FAMILY MARKOWITZ is a compilation of short stories describing different members of this complex family. From Rose, the family matriarch, to her sons, Henry and Ed, her daughters-in-law and her grandchildren, these stories span a period of about 15 years and delve into issues that face many families - religion, intermarriage, drug addiction, sibling rivalry, aging parents, etc. I didn't love all the characters but I don't think you were supposed to - they are "real" people, created so well by an author whose true talent lies in her masterful characteriztion as well as with her literary ability.

I'd like to pick up a copy of her first collection of stories, TOTAL IMMERSION, next!