The World Without You by Joshua Henkin
Discussion Date: Monday June 17th at 1:00 PM
Discussion Leader: Candace Plotsker-Herman
Gathering at their Berkshires summer home to mourn the loss of youngest sibling and journalist adventurer Leo, who was killed while on assignment in Iraq, the Frankels endure shared grief and private challenges that shape their views about family.
BookList:
A year after journalist Leo Frankel’s death in Iraq,
his family descends on their vacation home in the Berkshires for a
memorial. His parents, still undone by their grief, announce that
they’re separating after 40 years of marriage, while his three sisters
deal with their own issues. Clarissa, once a promising cellist, is
struggling with infertility. Lily, a passionate lawyer who relishes
arguments, is angry at everybody. Noelle, a wild child turned Orthodox
Jew living in Israel with her husband and four children, feels like an
outsider. And then there’s Thisbe, Leo’s young widow and the mother of
their three-year-old son, who still feels at odds with her mother-in-law
and is afraid to indicate, in any way, that she is moving on with her
life. Over the Fourth of July weekend, the family members struggle to
get through the memorial ceremony and to understand what being part of a
family really means. Henkin (Matrimony , 2007) writes low-key,
character-driven fiction, and his latest will appeal to lovers of such
family stories as Zoe Heller’s The Believers (2009) and Eleanor Brown’s
Weird Sisters (2011). -- Wilkinson, Joanne (Reviewed 05-15-2012)
(Booklist, vol 108, number 18, p19)
Publishers Weekly :
/* Starred Review */ Like a more bittersweet version of
Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You or a less chilly variation
on Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections , Henkin (Matrimony ) tenderly
explores family dynamics in this novel about the ties that bind, and
even lacerate. One year after the death of their kidnapped journalist
son, Leo, in Iraq, David and Marilyn Frankel, non-practicing Jews, call
their entire mishpocha to their summer home in the Berkshires to attend
his memorial service: Clarissa and her husband, Nathaniel, who, after
years of putting off parenthood, are having a difficult time getting
pregnant; Lily, a D.C. lawyer who shows up without Malcolm, her
restaurateur boyfriend of 10 years; Noelle, an Orthodox Jew who arrives
from Jerusalem with her husband, Amram, and their four children; and
Thisbe, Leo’s widow, a grad student who flies in from Berkeley with
their three-year-old son, Calder. Over the course of the Fourth of July
holiday, David and Marilyn will make a stunning announcement; Thisbe
will reveal a secret; a game of Celebrity will cause Amram to drive off
into the night; Leo will be remembered; and someone will pee on the
carpet. The author has created an empathetic cast of characters that the
reader will love spending time with, even as they behave like fools and
hurt one another. An intelligently written novel that works as a summer
read and for any other time of the year. Agent: Lisa Bankoff, ICM.
(June) --Staff (Reviewed April 23, 2012) (Publishers Weekly, vol 259,
issue 17, p)
Library Journal:
The Frankel family has gathered at their summer home
in the Berkshires to attend a memorial service for their youngest
sibling, Leo, who was killed while reporting in Iraq. Parents Marilyn
and David are struggling with their 40-year marriage while three
daughters wrestle with infertility, unemployment, urban ennui, and
assorted relationship tensions. Leo's widow, Thisbe, and young son
Calder fly in from California with news of their own. For the few days
surrounding July 4, 2005, the family members struggle with their shared
pasts, uncertain futures, and each other. VERDICT Henkin (director of
Brooklyn College's MFA program in fiction writing, Matrimony; Swimming
Across the Hudson ) might gain some new readers with this honest and
well-paced look at an American family. Point this one out to
contemporary fiction fans of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections , or the
works of Rick Moody, Richard Russo, Philip Roth, and John Updike.— Jenn
B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll. Northeast --Jenn B. Stidham
(Reviewed June 15, 2012) (Library Journal, vol 137, issue 11, p70) Read a review from the New York Times Read a review from the Washington Post Read a review from Tablet Magazine Online Watch Joshua Henkin speak about the role of politics in his novel
