The
Family Markowitz by Allega Goodman is a "family" novel with a Jewish theme,
meant, I suppose, to be modeled after such novels as The Brothers Ashkenazi and
The Family Moskat.
Goodman
does a great deal of work in a short space with at least six main
characters. Sometimes, the
characterization is a bit thin (the brother Henry); in other places, laid on a
bit strong (the daughter Miriam). We get
the obligatory Great American Seder, with a family at odds with each other over
the meaning of the rite, as well as among themselves. It borders on cliche, but does not quite cross the boundary.
In the
end, we get an accomplished novel not only about the Jewish predicament in
American, but about people struggling with modern problems and struggles.
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