Product Description

This poignant and humorous collection of stories offers a fresh perspective on current issues such as homosexuality and anti-Semitism and lends a unique voice to those experiencing growing pains and self-discovery. Newman's readers accompany her quirky Jewish characters through all types of experiences, from an initial lesbian sexual encounter to being sequestered in a college apartment after paranoid Holocaust flashbacks. Her characters anxiously discover their lesbian identities while beginning to understand, and finally to embrace, their Jewish heritage. The title story, "A Letter to Harvey Milk," was the second place finalist in the Raymond Carver Short Story Competition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1013349 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

From Publishers Weekly
These nine stories focus on an array of Jewish and lesbian concerns with a refreshing candor and lack of self-consciousness. The opening piece, "The Gift," introduces a theme that runs throughout the collectionthe conflicts between religious and sexual identity. Here, a simple, straightforward narrative escorts Rachel from the age of five through her 29th year. She alternately questions and embraces the Jewish heritage thrust upon her; endures the sexual advances and Jewish American Princess jokes of a college boyfriend; discovers both her lesbianism and that "being a lesbian is lonely. . . . Being a Jew is lonely. Being alive is lonely." Although pain plays a part in this volume, many of the tales celebrate with warmth and good humor the courageous maintenance of Jewish tradition in radical relationships. The title story takes a different twist as an old man finds both healing and grief in a writing course, while his Jewish lesbian teacher sees in her student an acceptance that her parents have denied her. "Flashback," another startling variation, tells of a young woman's obsession with the Holocaust. The work's immediate and genuine poignancy is sometimes marred by Newman's insistence on sprinkling Yiddish terms and speech patterns throughout the dialogue. The otherwise contemporary characters confront both timely issues, like AIDS, and eternal ones, such as a lovers' quarrel or a mother-daughter misunderstanding. Newman wrote Good Enough to Eat.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Ballet (1943)
Beethoven
Dog
Earthquake
Girlfriend
Go Back
He Touched Me
I Came
I Came Into Her
I Know You
Lawns
Light
Lover
Married
Mom's Best Friend
Monkey Boy
Mud Wrestlers
Niece And Nephew
Night Calls
Normal Sex
Novels Novels Novels
Out
Pastoral And Sea Song And Fairy Tale
Radio
The Shower
Sign
Suits And Ties
Tales Of A Lost Boyhood
Tv Dinner
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Review
"These nine stories focus on an array of Jewish and lesbian concerns with a refreshing candor and lack of self-consciousness.  Although pain plays a part in this volume, many of the tales celebrate with warmth and good humor the courageous maintenance of the Jewish tradition in radical relationships. . . .  Contemporary characters confront both timely issues, like AIDS, and eternal ones, such as a lovers’ quarrel or a mother-daughter misunderstanding." —Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews

Thanks to College Professor
I read this book as part of my women's studies class and want to thank my professor, Marlene Howell, for leading me and my classmates to this book several years ago. This book really opened my eyes to two worlds that I, as a boring, straight, Presbyterian girl, had always been fascinated by: Judaism and Lesbianism. Newman structures her book so that each of the stories represents one candle on the Hannakah menorah, revealing each woman's fears and issues as they come to terms with their sexuality, religious, and personal issues such as sexual abuse. There are reflections on the Holocaust and discrimination against Jews and homosexuals. While Newman helped me to reflect on my own sexuality, and to discover my own love for other women-without erotic details-you don't need to be bi, lesbian, or Jewish to take something away from this book.

Funny, Moving, Enjoyable
This is a collection of stories that offer a fresh perspective on current issues of homosexuality and anti-Semitism. It lends a unique voice to those experiencing growing pains and self-discovery. In these stories characters anxiously discover their lesbian identities while beginning to understand, and finally to embrace, their Jewish heritage.

These nine stories add a dose of humor while confronting the issues of our time like AIDS, and issues that have been around for centuries like mother-daughter misunderstandings. Ms. Newman's characters are just a bit crazy but this helps to transfer the story from the pages to memory.

A moving collection of stories
"A Letter to Harvey Milk," by Leslea Newman, is a collection of 9 stories that explores what it means to be Jewish and lesbian in America. The book includes a glossary of the many Yiddish terms used in the stories.

Newman deals with a number of issues throughout the book: the AIDS crisis, President Reagan's controversial visit to Bitburg, the legacy of the Holocaust, religious chauvinism, "coming out" to parents, preservation of the Yiddish language, and more. Some of her issues seem a bit obvious and even forced, but overall she handles the material effectively.

I found the best story in the collection to be the title story; it's about the relationship between an elderly Jewish man and his writing teacher, a young Jewish lesbian. Also impressive is "The Gift," which consists of snapshots of a woman's life from age 5 to adulthood. "Something Shiny" tells the story of a woman's participation in a lesbian & gay march on Washington. Although much of the book has a dated feel, overall the collection is very moving, and Newman effectively uses touches of humor to offset the seriousness of much of her subject matter. For interesting companion texts, try "Rubyfruit Jungle," by Rita Mae Brown, and "Zami," by Audre Lorde.