Invisible City | Imamother

BlueRose52

Mon, Mar 03 2014, 12:35 pm

Upcoming fiction book that revolves around a murder in the chassidish community: Invisible City
This interview with the author reveals how she came to be interested in the topic: The previous tenant of her apartment was a chassidish guy who committed suicide due to his being gay.

BlueRose52

Mon, Mar 03 2014, 6:18 pm

naomi2 wrote:

sounds interesting
hope she gets the nuances right. it really bothers me when the details are off because the author is clearly not part of the frum society

Hope so too, but I highly doubt it. I know some frum people who she consulted with who tried to help her get things right, but I doubt she got it all on the mark. You can see some of her prior reporting on the frum community here: https://www.google.com/search?.....hodox

PinkFridge

Tue, Nov 04 2014, 7:54 pm

I'm almost done with it. Oddly, I don't remember this thread. And when I saw the book on the shelves I thought, hey, isn't that also Tova Mirvis's title?
I don't have the energy now to read some of these links. I started the book thinking that ok, it's going to make me cringe, but I have to realize that it may not be deliberate bashing but the perspective of the character, not the author. Some things rankle beyond that. Towards the end, there is a frum character who does a bit of defending and you can see the author is trying to be even-handed and may have some appreciation for the community. Lots of confusion between Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox, Chassidic, etc. but again, the main character wouldn't have gain much clarity in the short time span of the book.
I should just warn anyone reading the book, it's not exactly elegantly written. It is a page-turner though.
Oh, and have some Tums handy.

ETA: I finished the book and a few inconsistencies. I don't know if I should do a spoiler alert, so consider yourselves warned:
- why is the sister in law not allowed to leave the house during shiva? She's not sitting shiva. And what's this with her smoking?
- and why does she have matted gray hair, IOW any hair at all?
- one of the frum characters hugging Rebekah after her ordeal - that really was off.

FTR, I don't recommend this book. If you want an interesting read of someone from the outside looking in, try this memoir: Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde.

PinkFridge

Wed, Nov 26 2014, 7:32 pm

amother wrote:

Quote:

Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde.

Is is reasonably clean?

Es chatai ani mazkir - I've read worse, but don't remember it fully, and don't know how you define reasonably clean so if anyone else has read it I'll let them answer. I just find it a lot more authentic than some of the fiction, including some really barfworthy stuff I've stumbled upon.
ETA: And Rebecca Dana's writing is really elegant too.