The Shadows Of The Hudson, is my favorite book, that Issac Bashevis Singer, wrote.
I never appreciated the Bible, until after my mother died. In the Jewish Religion, we say the mourners ''Kaddish'', at least twice, to remove one sin from the soul, who has just passed away. If you want to help the soul even more, you study the Bible, (Old Testament), once a week. That is when I took my first class on Kabbalah, (Jewish Mysticism). I learn to appreciate what G-d meant, and not to read the Bible literally. I would have picked G-d to write about, but I can't prove there is a higher being, if you don't believe.
Shadows On The Husdson, was written by Issac Bashevis Singer, and Translated by Josheph Sherman. The book was published by Dove Books, in July 1998.
I own the paperback but it is available in Hardcover and on Audio Cassets.
Why he is one of my favorite Author:
Mr Singer is so interesting I would like to tell you a bit about him before I tell you about the book.
Mr. Singer says, ''I get up in the morning and have a hot glass of sugar and water. After I drink it, I go to my desk, take out a pencil and a pad of paper, and then close my eyes. Some days I don't open my eyes for hours, it all depends how long G-d wants me to write. I don't write my books, G-d does!''
The Plot:
This book begins in NYC, just after WW II had ended.
This book focus on Boris Makaver, is very rich and religous, who builds buildings and his married daughter, Anna, who has just left her husband.
Anna goes to live with an old family friend, Grein. He is an unemployed lawyer, and at this time this is a scandelous thing to do. Hertz Grein is a middle aged man, who has been having an affair with three other women, (all at the same time). He lies to his wife, the 3 women and to Anna.
You might think that he is not moral, but as we read farther into the book we find that he is a very religous man, who is ashamed that he is causing other people. He wants to stop doing what he is doing, but can't seem to help him self.
Throughout the book we move from the a small Jewish community, (that lives near the Hudson River), a classy upper west side of NYC, to Miami's Resorts.
The other charaters are refugees from easten Europe. The most interesting one is Hertz Grien Singer writes about him, ''''His nose had a Jewish hook, but then had second thoughts and straightened itself out. His lips were thin, and his blue eyes revealed a curious mixture of bashfulness, sharpness, and something else that was hard to define. Margolin used to say that he looked like a Yeshiva boy from Scandinavia.''
None of them can forget World War II, even for a day, because they escaped while their loved ones died in the Consentration Camps. They feel guilty because of that. The only family they have left will be a new one that they make when they get married and have children. This puts a lot of pressure on the children, because they are expected to be perfect.
If we had live in Europe during this time, we would, like the characters, wonder if their is a G-d, and if there is, how could he/she let this happen to 11 million people, (5 million were not Jewish, 6 million were Jewish).
The book is about each charatcters identity, destiny, their Yiddish converstations and the freedom to speak, (that they couldn't do in the countries they came from).
What I Felt:
Mr. Singer developes his characters with love. The plots are piled one on top of another, but he has a uniqe way of blending them in the end.
Isaac Bashevis Singer has created an exciting group of characters. Each of them wants to know the answers to life's greatest challenges, dilemmas, and ironies, that the refugees had to face in the new country they came to love.
Kabbalah teachs us that life is a like a ballance, and we must look at a story from both sides. Does G-d excist? Does evil excist? What would life be like without faith? It's up to you to decide.
The Author:
Mr. Singer was born in Warsaw, Poland, (during WW I). His father was a Rabbi, and his mother's Father was a Rabbi as well. He never learned to speak Hebrew, and only spoke Polish, Yiddish, and could hardly speak English, even after he lived in the USA.
As a lad Isaac studied the Talumid, (a part of the Old Testament), and Kabbalah.
His books were hand written, in Yiddish, and translated into English, (first), and then into other languages.
His books are about the life of eastern European Jewry. He holds nothing back as he will tell you about aberrations, agony, bestiality, cruelty, being a hero, ghosts, love and self sacrifice.
Some of you might find his books a source of learning, while others may find them lewd. I find them a source of learning about what life was like in my grandparents world.
He won the Nobel Prize, (Literature), in 1978. He passed away in 1991.
My Conclusion:
If Mr. Singer believed G-d wrote his books, maybe G-d wrote more than the Bible. The Bible is full of Wars, lust, sex, murder, lepers, angles, false Messiahs, unicorns, kings, queens and love. All the ingredients of a good novel.
I hope I have convinced you to read one of his books.
A true story:A few years back, a friend of mine told me that she had read a book, in a dream, all night. She said she was going to write that book, but forgot about it. A year latter she brought me a book, and gave it to me. She said, ''This is the book I had a dream about.'' I asked her how she could remember that far back, and she told me, ''Because it's the exact same words. I knew what was happening next, before I turned the page.''
Maybe G-d writes more books, songs, acts, paints and draws, than we think!!!!
Thank you for reading my review.
©LL2004
