Looking for suggestions for novels set heavily in Jewish culture. Already read Bashevis-Singer. Not particularly fussed about whether Ashkenazi or Sephardic.
Well this kind of fits. Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union” would be perfect! I’m pretty sure it’s a whole series but I only read the first one. It’s speculative fiction (a cousin of SciFi) about what the future would look like if Alaska had been given to the Jews fleeing WWII. The main character is a beleaguered Jewish detective. If you don’t know any Yiddish going in you will when you’re done lol.
Stock_Market_1930 on
Saul Bellows’ The Adventures of Augie March?
Impressive-Peace2115 on
Have you read When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb?
Binky-Answer896 on
Just about anything by Chaim Potok.
KAKrisko on
How about ‘The Chosen’ by Chaim Potok? Could be considered YA. Follows two teens coming of age in the period between the end of WWII and the beginning of the state of Israel.
PennilynnLott on
Thistlefoot and Spinning Silver are two great fantasy options!
Right-Reward-3200 on
The Crossing California series by Adam Langer
thereeder75 on
These are a bit different, but Absurdistan, by Gary Shteyngart and The Netanyahus, by Joshua Cohen, are both broad farces that treat Jewish culture in insightful ways. Some readers have found The Netanyahus offensive (it’s a fictional account of Bibi’s family of origin, and doesn’t deal w/ Bibi much at all), but to me it was a hilarious but also ultimately sad account of Jewish life in the diaspora.
KingBretwald on
The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan are fantasy about a naturalist who spends her life studying dragons. They are set in a secondary world that is very reminiscent of the Victorian age at the height of the British Empire; but the religions are base on Judaism.
10 Comments
Well this kind of fits. Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union” would be perfect! I’m pretty sure it’s a whole series but I only read the first one. It’s speculative fiction (a cousin of SciFi) about what the future would look like if Alaska had been given to the Jews fleeing WWII. The main character is a beleaguered Jewish detective. If you don’t know any Yiddish going in you will when you’re done lol.
Saul Bellows’ The Adventures of Augie March?
Have you read When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb?
Just about anything by Chaim Potok.
How about ‘The Chosen’ by Chaim Potok? Could be considered YA. Follows two teens coming of age in the period between the end of WWII and the beginning of the state of Israel.
Thistlefoot and Spinning Silver are two great fantasy options!
The Crossing California series by Adam Langer
These are a bit different, but Absurdistan, by Gary Shteyngart and The Netanyahus, by Joshua Cohen, are both broad farces that treat Jewish culture in insightful ways. Some readers have found The Netanyahus offensive (it’s a fictional account of Bibi’s family of origin, and doesn’t deal w/ Bibi much at all), but to me it was a hilarious but also ultimately sad account of Jewish life in the diaspora.
The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan are fantasy about a naturalist who spends her life studying dragons. They are set in a secondary world that is very reminiscent of the Victorian age at the height of the British Empire; but the religions are base on Judaism.
Milk Fed by Melissa Broder — Literary fiction