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'Daughter' books are not related
By Dr. Morton I. Teicher The Builder's Daughter by Naomi Karz Jacobs Seven Locks Press 2006 Buy on Amazon.com The Cantor's Daughter by Scott Nadelson Hawthorne Books 2006 Despite the similarity in the title of these two books, they share very little with each other, aside from dealing with Jews. "The Builder's Daughter" is an autobiography and "The Cantor's Daughter" is a collection of short stories. Both books are interesting and warrant our attention. Jacobs is an 83 year-old great grandmother. She has written her life story as a tribute to her parents and as a legacy for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Her recollections are recorded with references to the social background of her time. She lived through the Great Depression and World War II, events that had a profound effect on her life. Her immigrant, Yiddish-speaking parents, settled in Los Angeles where Jacobs grew up and where she has lived until now except for sixteen years in Baltimore when she was married to her first husband. Her parents were enthusiastic supporters of the Yiddish theater and her mother loved to act. Jacobs's early introduction to theater led her to writing plays and eventually to establish the West Coast Jewish Theater in 1993. She devotes a fascinating chapter and many pages of photographs to this activity, asserting that "Jewish theater is essential to our cultural survival." Jacobs's father worked in the plumbing business with his brother and, in 1921, started a construction company. He built custom homes for Los Angeles celebrities as well as commercial buildings. During World War II, he manufactured precision parts for aircraft, an enterprise in which the author and her brother joined. After earning a bachelor's degree in sociology at UCLA, Jacobs went east to attend graduate school in New York but instead met and married her first husband. This marriage produced three children but ended in divorce. A second marriage lasted only three and a half years. She had several subsequent short-term relationships which are described warmly and affectionately. The entire story is one of determined survival despite the vicissitudes of life. Nadelson uses fiction to set forth the ups and downs of his characters. The stories mostly involve contemporary Jewish characters in suburban New Jersey. The title story involves 16-year old, Israeli native Noa, whose father is a cantor in a New Jersey synagogue. They settled there after her mother was killed in an auto accident in Netanya. The troubled relationship between Noa and her father as well as her difficult relationships with boys are poignantly described. This sets the tone for the subsequent stories which depict the complexities of human interactions with all their knotty intricacies. Each of the eight stories displays brittle associations that mix humor with harsh and harrowing disappointment. The disenchantment of a couple on a cruise ship and the reaction of three daughters to their father's suicide further indicate the author's skill in depicting the flimsy nature of some emotional connections. He manifests his artistry with particular deftness in a story about a wedding that brings together two brothers who have been estranged for years. Finally, Nadelson displays human imperfections in his last story, "The Headhunter," which also deals with the problems of two brothers but which emphasizes the flaws and blemishes of a self-centered businessman. These two books enrich our understanding of American Jews and of today's human condition through the introspection of autobiography and the keen insights of a fiction writer. Dr. Morton I. Teicher is the founding dean, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University and dean emeritus, School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. |
The Builder's Daughterby Naomi Karz Jacobs Seven Locks Press 2006 With a light touch and discerning eye, Naomi Karz Jacobs has produced a highly original work that finally does justice to the subject of Jewish family life in America since the 1920s Read more about the book... |
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