Almost Perfect Moment, An: A Novel - Couverture rigide

Kirshenbaum, Binnie

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0060520868 ISBN 13 : 9780060520861

Editeur : Ecco, 2004

Synopsis

Book by Kirshenbaum Binnie

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

On the cusp of the great age of disco, and in a part of Brooklyn a million miles away from Manhattan, livesfifteen-year-old Valentine Kessler and her long-suffering mother, Miriam.

Valentine -- Jewish, pretty, and a touch flaky -- is an unremarkable teenager except for two things: she is a dead ringer for the Virgin Mary as she appeared to Bernadette at Lourdes, and her very being, through some inexplicable conspiracy of fate, seems to shatter the dreams and hopes of people around her.

John Wosileski, Valentine's lonely math teacher who adores her from afar, embraces the martyrdom wrought by his unconditional and unrequited love. Joanne Clarke, the bitter and sad biology teacher who schemes to be John's wife, reviles Valentine to eventual self-destruction. Valentine's best friend, a former figure-skating champion, humiliates her for the crime of being "different."

But Miriam Kessler -- betrayed and anguished by the husband she once worshipped -- —loves Valentine only the way a mother could -- deeply, yet without knowing. Transposing one sensual appetite for another, Miriam eats and eats and seeks solace in a daily game of mah-jongg with her three girlfriends. The Girls, a cross between a Greek Chorus and a Brooklyn rendition of the Three Wise Men, dispense advice, predictions, and care in the form of extravagant gifts and homemade strudels. When Miriam's greatest fear for Valentine is realized, she takes comfort in the thought that it couldn't get any worse. But then something even stranger happens, and Valentine's mysterious presence becomes an even more mysterious absence.

Written in a naturalistic voice that echoes that of the characters, An Almost Perfect Moment is a dark and sharply comic novel about star-crossed lovers, mothers and daughters, doctrines of the divine, and a colorful Jewish community that once defined Brooklyn. Sagacious, sorrowful, and hilarious, it raises questions of faith and plays with the possibility of miracles with one eye on the caution: Be careful what you wish for.

Revue de presse :

“A quicksilver fable... at once ironic and mystical, tender and edgy, loaded with shtick and downright subversive.” (Booklist (Starred review))

“Lays bare [a] collection of Brooklyn souls in the... style of short story masters Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie.” (Boston Herald)

“Kirshenbaum...has an original voice and, even better, an original sensibility.” (Los Angeles Times)

“[A] zany, irreverent, cheerful novel.... Bristles with energy and sharpness.” (Boston Globe)

“Engrossing.... Cinematic, effortlessly beautiful descriptions will spark the reader’s imagination, and myriad plot twists and turns will keep you guessing.” (Chicago Tribune)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Ecco
• Date d'édition: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0060520868
• ISBN 13: 9780060520861
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 336