SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Orphans (Bawlers) (2006).
The thought of Tom Waits singing lullabies is a pretty scary one. The strange thing is that his lyrics and melodies are really quite beautiful, I’m just not sure I want that voice in my kid’s head at night.
[READ: May 2007] The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green
After the heaviness and length (I’m sure Gaitonde would appreciate THAT beginning) of Sacred Games, it was nice to kick back with a comparatively light, and yet thoroughly enjoyable book like this one. I’m pretty fascinated by cultures other than my own, and even though this book is set in suburban New Jersey, similar to where I grew up in suburban New Jersey, this book is all about being Jewish. And, that’s pretty alien to me. Except, if I may paraphrase: everything I ever learned about being Jewish I learned from Woody Allen. So, of course, I believe that all Jews are “self-hating Jews” as Woody is often accused of being. And, while that’s a humorous conceit, it’s funny how many comedies in particular center on the difficulties of living with a Jewish family. And this book is no different. It’s quite funny, and yet has an overarching sadness to it.
It also features one of my favorite tropes in literature, the unreliable narrator. In this case, the unreliable part is Jacob’s Unthinkable Thoughts, which pop up from time to time to distort what is actually happening. The funniest examples of this are definitely in his “thank you” letters for his bar mitzvah gifts. Because Jacob has “learning disabilities” he has great difficulties meeting the exacting standards of his father. Now, I can recall being a little kid and having to write out thank you cards and trying to write ANYTHING more interesting than “Thank you for the card and money.” Yet Jacob’s father’s standards are pretty intense, mandating that “every word be a jewel.” As a result, Jacob fantasizes his revenge by writing out the fantasies he’s experiencing with his family’s post-teenager boarder.
This was such a breezy book, it was a real treat to read. My only gripe is with the end. After having witnessed the “Series finale” on Veronica Mars which left so many unanswered questions because we all know it was a “season finale” and not a series finale, this book’s end came as a bitter pill. Although things aren’t exactly left hanging, they do end in a somewhat anticlimactic fashion. But overall, I highly recommend it.
Oh, and yes, I wasn’t going to mention it, but this is Zach Braff’s brother.
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