A cautionary tale unfolds in a gemlike psychological thriller

Under My Skin, by Lisa Unger. Park Row Books. 368 pages. Trade Paperback Original $16.99.

Lisa Unger’s craft is so astonishing that it makes me want to cry tears of appreciative joy. Tears are also prompted by the harrowing situation of Ms. Unger’s main character, Poppy, as she tries to rebound from the hideous murder of her husband Jack. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Poppy blanked out for several days, coming to consciousness in a state of confusion. Her identity has been oddly transformed and her confidence shaken.  

With the help of a therapist, she has made a lot of progress in the year since Jack’s death, but she is frequently tormented by strange nightmares that might be distorted memories. Are bits and pieces of the lost days pressing for recognition? There are also other patches of time that she cannot recall. Moreover, she doesn’t trust herself to sort out what’s real and what’s the product of a dream-state.

Her goals are to fill in the blanks and to bring Jack’s murderer to justice. Then to pick up the pieces of her life and move forward.

Poppy’s path to health is thwarted by her abuse of pills and alcohol. She sabotages Dr. Nash’s therapy by lying to her. In her attempts to regain control of her life, she resists the overtures of her controlling best friend, Layla. She also resists the overtures of her controlling mother. Poppy needs to be in control; she needs to set limits on well-meaning intrusions on her autonomy.

Poppy lives in a state of fear; she is pathetically vulnerable.

She believes that she is being tracked by a hooded man who might be connected to Jack’s murder. Her attempts at gaining control show courage but also recklessness. Slowly, ever so slowly, she makes progress.

Important secondary characters include Detective Grayson, the NYPD policeman working the murder case, and a Neil, a man who makes metal sculptures. Neil is a shadowy figure from Poppy’s recent past now clearly an important part of her present. Both are protective of Poppy, but in very different ways and with different motives.

Poppy’s ordeal, her attempt to recapture the idealized memories of her married life, carries the unexpected strain of doubts about the true nature of her relationship with Jack, a relationship compromised by his responses to her two miscarriages. . . .

To read the entire review, as it appears in the October 24, 2018 Fort Myers Florida Weekly, the October 25 Naples, Bonita Springs, and Venice editions, and the November 1 Palm Beach and Charlotte County editions, click  here: Florida Weekly – Under My Skin

Real and fake terrorists bring Israel-based TV cooking competition mayhem and edgy humor

The Two-Plate Solution: A Novel of Culinary Mayhem in the Middle East, by Jeff Oliver. Bancroft Press. 224 pages. Hardcover $25.00.

Do you like something zany? Something that risks going out of bounds? Something that mixes hilarity with an acute awareness of our addiction to so-called reality television and social media? It’s here at last in Jeff Oliver’s tongue-in-cheek fantasy. Come to the playground Israeli city of Eilat and witness the filming of Natural Dish-aster season five. How do ever-pressured producers and staff keep the ratings up? By mixing the ridiculous with the sublime.  

The cast of character is a mind-boggling mix of media-savvy chefs, production staffers at various levels of the power pyramid, Israelis connected to the production as security liaisons, Islamic terrorists, and actors pretending to be Islamic terrorists. Sure enough, the real thing takes over.

The Grand Sheba Excelsior, home of the production (and not yet open to the public), is the scene of several crimes against sobriety.

Sexual appetites are as much on display as foodies lusting for taste sensations. The competition for climbing the executive ladder of the production company is as cutthroat as any kitchen rivalry.

Perhaps only Jeff Oliver could dream up the possibility of a cooking challenge like “baking bread while running through the desert almost getting murdered by slave owners.”

As the aficionados of cooking competitions know only too well, the televised production often offsets the action with the voices of the contestants as they are interviewed before or after that action. Oliver has a lot of fun with this, interspersing his main action with slices of interviews that reveal his characters’ attitudes.

He also has a lot of fun with puns and improbabilities. One of the competitive teams, “Team Mis En Bouche,” prepares a “deconstructed Seder plate” that includes a Palestinian touch to suggest “a time of racial harmony, without walls, and Arabs were one with the Jews.” It doesn’t matter that one of the characters, Al-Asari, comments: “That interpretation of history is insane.” Or does it?

Jeff Oliver

The dialogue among these reasonably well-defined characters is catchy and fast-paced throughout, though sometimes a bit off-color. Oliver has an ear for language, both scripted and spontaneous, and it serves him and his readers well. Indeed, there are so many characters that is astonishing how sharply individualized they are. Catchy names and heavily underscored traits help the cause.

The character through whom Oliver gets the most mileage in revealing the enormous levels of stress and insecurity that haunts this industry is Genevieve Jennings, an executive whose position and future seem in jeopardy. Manic fear and ambition collide in her personality, but she finds a way of coming through. She gets the job done largely on her own terms. But why is she labeled with her last name in a female group including Sara, Ruti, Sharon, and Tanya?

While much of the author’s satiric direction is quickly understood, leaving the book’s structure to be basically a “can you top this” stream of frenzied ingenuity, there are enough refreshing surprises to keep readers turning pages.

One of these is the introduction of Ruchama – The Halva Queen of Eilat – who so impresses the production staff that she is invited to become a contest judge. Taking advantage of her respected skills and knowledge, the chefs compete for an unexpected prize by conjuring the most satisfactory and unusual halva recipe. And why not? Even the ones with savory features stand a chance.

Friendship, romance, and rivalry are the umbrellas under which the many and diverse relationships may be found. And, indeed, relationships undergo changes in this ultimately hopeful adventure.

Oliver knows that settling the Arab-Israeli conflict is no joke, but he chooses to pretend, and invite his readers to pretend, that it is. Or that the answer might be found through humorous exploration. The punning title begins the process. You’ll have to make your own journey to discover how it ends.

About the Author:

Jeff Oliver is Vice President of Current Production at Bravo and a former executive at the Food Network, where he developed the hit series Cutthroat Kitchen and worked on other such epic culinary hits as Worst Cooks in America and The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia. He is the author of the acclaimed debut novel Failure to Thrive. Jeff lives in Maplewood, New Jersey with his wife, Liz Blazer, and son.

Meet Jeff on Thursday, November 29 at 11:30 p.m. at the Hilton Naples, where be speaking at a special luncheon session of the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. For more info, check out www.jewishbookfestival.org

The review appears in the November 2018 Federation Star (Jewish Federation of Greater Naples). It is also found in several local editions of Florida Weekly.

“Promised Land: A Novel of Israel,” by Martin Fletcher

Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin’s Press. 416 pages. Hardcover $28.99.

Martin Fletcher’s Promised Land is a literary triumph of near-contemporary historical fiction that is magnetic, surprising, and should be read and enjoyed for decades to come. The scope of the book runs from 1950, shortly after Israel’s establishment as a modern nation, to 1967, a time of its most severe testing.  

Fletcher deals in wars: the wars amongst the Jewish citizenly, the wars with Israel’s neighbors, and the wars within an extended family that contains Egyptian Jews exiled (fortunately) to the Jewish state.

And there is the aftermath of war, too, expressed through the sons of Holocaust victims, the elder of whom reached freedom in the United States before settling in Israel, and the younger son — emotionally wounded — who was incarcerated, tortured, and barely escaped with his life.

For all of its impression of compactness, Promised Land is a novel of generations, reminiscent of the Old Testament’s presentation of Jewish families to whom, as the story goes, the Creator conditionally gave the original promised land. What would seem more biblical than warring brothers?

When they were still children, Peter Berg was put on a train that took him west, the initial stage of a journey that led to safety with an American family. He grew up with their children. Arie, then called Aren, was somewhat later put on a train that took him, his parents, and his sisters to the concentration camps. Aren alone survived, but at great cost to his psyche.

Martin Fletcher – Credit Chelsea Dee

Miraculously, the brothers are reunited in 1947. Peter, who had been in the U.S. Army, is already a founding agent of the young CIA. Learning of his brother’s survival, he searches for him in Palestine. Aren Berg is now named Arie ben Nesher, and Peter Berg decides to become Peter Nesher, transferring his allegiance to the cause of Jewish nationhood.

Peter becomes a leader in matters of Israeli security, and Arie becomes a prominent entrepreneur who enjoys showing off his wealth. Along the way, another family enters their lives, a family of Jewish-Egyptian refugees whose glory is their beautiful, intelligent daughter Tamara.

The time markers move along: 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, and so on into the 1960s, with the author carefully developing his characters and his portrait of the burgeoning Israeli nation, along with reminders of the constant menace of its nearby Arab-Islamic neighbors. . . .

To read the entire review, as it appears in the Washington Independent Review of Books, click here:  Promised Land.

Martin Fletcher appears on the January 9 program of the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. See GNJBF

 

 

A series of grotesque murders ravages an institution for juvenile delinquents

Suffer the Children, by Lisa Black. Kensington Books. 320 pages. Hardcover $26.00.

This latest addition to the Gardiner and Renner Thriller series finds the skilled and dedicated forensics specialist Maggie Gardiner in a highly claustrophobic, menacing situation. She and her Cleveland police force colleagues – Jack Renner and his partner, Riley – visit an advanced multi-purpose institution to investigate what turns out to be the first in a series of murders. 

The Firebird Center for Children and Adolescents is a state-of-the-art juvenile detention center, part school and part prison. The inmate-pupils are grouped by age, by learning skills, and by social redeemability. Most, but not all, are victims of abuse, and too many are capable of abusive behavior. Few will ever be normal, but they might be able to stay out of trouble and lead productive lives. In some, sharp intelligence is warped toward brutal psychotic behavior. These are high-risk kids, to put it mildly.

They have psychological switches that go on and off, affecting behavior in unpredictable ways. They are master manipulators who can act normal.

They live in a controlled environment run by security personnel, therapists, and educators with special training. The institution’s leaders are constrained by delicate legal issues and marginal budgets.

Lisa Black, photo by Susan M. Klingbeil

Maggie’s task – discerning, collecting, and interpreting forensic evidence – is one center of interest. The other is how well Ms. Black uses Maggie’s reactions as a lens to enlighten readers about the nature of Firebird, including the personalities of individual children and staffers. Seeing what goes on there, even short of murder, is a harrowing experience. The admirable motives and skills of the professionals seem buried under a cloud. The inmates and the jailors share a no-win situation, and Lisa Black shows us why.

Are various children killing one another? Is a junior mastermind serial killer committing these horrendous crimes? If so, who is it? How are the victims chosen? Where will the evidence point? What will the motive be? Is it anything beyond blind, ungovernable aggression? . . .

To read the entire review, as it appears in the October 10, 2018 Fort Myers Florida Weekly and the October 11 Naples and  Bonita Springs editions, and the October 18 Charlotte County edition, click here: Florida Weekly – Suffer the Children

Comedy superstar headlines Greater Naples Jewish Film Festival

When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win (Villard, 2009) and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying (Quirk, Books, 2014).

Carol Leifer

Carol Leifer’s stories bring tonic laughter and wacky wisdom.

As she does in her classic stand-up routines, Carol Leifer talks about herself as a way of talking about all of us, certainly the female spectrum of all of us. The chapters of these two books, books which are different in several ways, are either chapters in her own life or observational chapters about what goes on around her. Sometimes abrasive, sometimes sensitive, but always funny and wise.

In When You Life About Your Age, the Terrorists Win, a good deal of the focus has to do with turning forty and what follows from that time marker through another decade or so.

The perspective is feminist, Lesbian, and Jewish all braided into one brainy package. 

It is not about her career, but in a way it is very much a part of her career. You can hear her voice bringing her material to an audience – all of us.

The title of the second chapter says it well: 40 Things I Know at 50 Because 50 is the New Forty.

Enjoy family stories about growing up, mom and dad, exploring and enhancing her Jewish identity, discovering and acting on her Lesbian inclinations, and the family she creates with her partner and their adopted son. The stories explore the tension that we all share between the way we’d like things to be and the way they are: our appearance, our values, surviving our mistakes, our health, and our relationships – including relationships with pets.

Considering the need for better quality breast implants, devices she would never use, she shouts out in the safety of her thoughts: “Why am I fighting for your fake tits when you’re not bringing anything to my table?”

Carol wonders about the women she meets who are a generation or two younger than herself. She doesn’t see them carrying the torch as she and her contemporaries carried through the earlier decades of the Women’s Movement.

She wonders about her “quid pro quo” attitude toward gift-giving. Is getting even what it’s all about? Is it just a family or “Jewish” thing? And how did a classic gift, the “chafing dish,” get its name? Should it be treated with Vaseline before use?

Have we become “lazy-ass weenies,” she asks, needing “comfort grips” on our tooth brushes and pens? What’s that all about? 

Carol’s experiences in her various doctors’ offices will bring knowing smiles from her readers. But when they get to the part about a mammogram, when the radiology tech says that the doctor wants “a few more films of your left breast,” readers will know we’ve slid off the comic table for a page or two. Luckily all turned out well. What tremendous emotional resonance is in that vignette.

Ultimately, this earlier book is a celebration of aging. Carol helps us all celebrate together.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying, published in a small page format, is also a memoir, and it covers some of the same thematic concerns. This time, however, Carol plunges into her career history as both a hugely successful stand-up comedian and brilliant television comedy writer. Guess what? Carol has found a way to make this self-help book applicable to almost any career that one might wish to enter. And it’s not just about breaking in, but about staying and rising to the top.

While she draws examples from her own experiences – and these are all terrifically entertaining stories – she extracts the transferable lessons in a way that make sense to anyone aspiring to get started in the world of work, to change directions, or to reach a higher level of achievement.

Carol underscores the need for constructive attitude building that leads to positive action plans. She explores the value of making and keeping useful connections. She insists that consistently treating others well will pay off, while treating them poorly is likely to come back to haunt you and block your path. She shows how you can rebound from a negative experience and often transform it into something unexpectedly positive.

It doesn’t hurt that we get to encounter models of successful professional performers whom we think we already know: Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, Bette Midler, David Letterman Jay Leno, and Frank Sinatra are only a small handful of the many show business celebrities with whom Carol has worked and who have helped shape her own expertise about climbing the ladder of success and not falling off. Her rules for the road are in themselves quite a ride. Laughs are everywhere.

An extra added ingredient in this book is the inclusion of dozens of photographs.

Well known for her stand-up specials on TV and her award-winning contributions as a writer to such television series as Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live, and Modern Family, Carol Leifer will be joining the staff for the upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm as a Writer/Producer.

Come to the Hilton Naples to laugh and learn when trailblazer Carol Leifer leads off the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival on October 17 at 7:30 p. m.  Schedule and ordering Information is available online at http://www.jewishbookfestival.org. You can also send email to fedstar18@gmail.com or call the Federation office at 239.263.4205.

This review appears in the October 2018 Federation Star (Jewish Federation of Greater Naples) and also in the Naples Florida Weekly. See Leifer

GREATER NAPLES JEWISH BOOK FESTIVAL 2018-2019

BY PHIL JASON
Florida Weekly Book Critic

BEGINNING THIS MONTH AND CONCLUDING in April, the fourth annual Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival offers a series of events likely to surpass the stellar achievements of its first three years. A project of the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples in cooperation with the Jewish Book Council, the festival brings 25 authors to 16 events at several venues. As in past year, several events feature two authors matched by a common theme or genre; others will showcase a solo presenter. Here’s the fall lineup:

¦ 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the Hilton Naples: Comedy writer and performer Carol Leifer – Television comedy was an exclusive all-boys club for years — until Ms. Leifer came along, blazing a trail for funny women everywhere. From “Late Night with David Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live” to “Seinfeld” and “Modern Family,” Ms. Leifer has written for and/or performed on some of the best TV comedies of all time. Her memoir, “How to Succeed in Business without Really Crying,” charts her extraordinary three-decade journey through show business. An earlier title, “When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror,” will also be available for purchase and author signing. Light snacks and beverages included.

TOBOLOWSKY

¦ 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Temple Shalom, Naples: Actor and storyteller Stephen Tobolowsky, back by popular demand – USA Today listed Mr. Tobolowsky as the ninth most frequently seen actor in movies, having appeared in more than 200 films and TV shows. He is also the consummate storyteller, warm, funny and profound. This year’s festivalgoers will enjoy hearing more tales from his life and his two books, “My Adventures with God” and “The Dangerous Anima ls Club.”

¦ 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, at the Hilton Naples: Jean Chatzky and Dr. Michael Roizen – Two of the world’s leading experts will explain the vital link between health and wealth, sharing an actionable plan to add years to your life and dollars to your bank account. The financial editor for NBC’s “Today Show,” Ms. Chatzky is an award-winning personal finance journalist, bestselling author and AARP personal finance ambassador. Dr. Roizen, chief wellness officer for the Cleveland Clinic and frequent guest on “The Dr. Oz Show,” is the coauthor of seven New York Times bestsellers. A copy of their book, “Age-Proof: Living Longer Without Running Out of Money or Breaking a Hip,” is included in the ticket price. Light snacks and beverages will be served.

CHATZKY

¦ 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, at the Hilton Naples: Jeff Oliver, author of “The Two-Plate Solution” – Mr. Oliver’s wacky novel takes a team of chefs through a TV cooking competition set in Israel. The show’s producers put the chefs into culinary competition against fake “terrorists” — but then actual terrorists invade the set. What’s going on? Mystery and romance join hysteria in an adventure cooked up by the former Food Network executive who invented the hit series “Cutthroat Kitchen” and knows reality TV from the inside. Lunch is included in the ticket price.

ROIZEN

¦ 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18, at the Hilton Naples: Jamie Bernstein, the oldest daughter of composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein – Ms. Bernstein will share insights from “Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein,” her intoxicating meditation on a complex and sometimes troubled man, the family he raised and the music he composed – music that is an unforgettable part of modern American culture. The author shares her family’s relationships with other cultural icons like Mike Nichols and Jerome Robbins. A singer will join Ms. Bernstein to perform some of the legendary composer’s works.

Light snacks and beverages included.

¦ 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples: Brunch with author TBA.

The festival continues in January as follows:

¦ 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 9, at Temple Shalom: Two authors whose books are set in Israel – Izzy Ezagui’s “Disarmed” follows the aftermath of the loss of his arm in a 2009 mortar attack and is a story of determination that focuses on his long and torturous rehabilitation. Martin Fletcher was an NBC correspondent in Israel for 26 years and has won almost every award in TV journalism. His novel “Promised Land” is set in the early years of the new Jewish state, when two brothers reunite.

¦ 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 16, at Temple Shalom: Two nonfiction narratives – Stephen Flatow’s “A Father’s Story” recounts the author’s successful struggle to bring Iran, the funder of his daughter’s terrorist murder, to accountability. Gregory Wallance’s “The Woman Who Fought an Empire” tells the story of Sarah Aaronsohn’s heroic leadership of a Middle East spy ring aimed at saving Palestinian Jews from possible genocide.

¦ 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, at the Sugden Community Theatre: The inside story on the making and astounding success of the classic film “The Graduate” – Beverly Gray’s “Seduced by Mrs. Robinson” tells the story of how a film made from an obscure novel became an iconic hit and influenced future filmmaking. This event will include a screening of the film and a presentation by Ms. Gray, a film industry veteran and entertainment journalist. What makes “The Graduate” a Jewish film? Come and find out.

¦ 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Hilton Naples: Comedy tonight! – Several members of the local community, chosen from auditions, will perform comedy routines with Jewish themes. After an intermission with drinks and snacks, author and professor Jeremy Dauber will discuss his book “Jewish Comedy: A Serious History.”

¦ 1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18, at the Naples Conference Center: Two nonfiction studies – Ariel Burger’s “Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom” offers a provocative and inspiring look at a Jewish icon who was also his decades-long friend and mentor. Yvette Manessis Corporon’s “Something Beautiful Happened” tells the story of how people of the small Greek island of Erikousa hid a Jewish family from the Nazis during WWII. The author, decades later, found the man’s descendants in Israel.

¦ 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the Jewish Congregation of Marco Island; and 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at Temple Shalom: Jenna Blum and Alyson Richman – Ms. Blum’s “The Lost Family” features a husband devastated by grief he cannot voice, a frustrated wife competing with a ghost she cannot banish and a daughter sensitive to family pain. The repercussions of the survivors’ Holocaust tragedies are brilliantly portrayed. Ms. Richman’s “The Secret of Clouds” is told from the perspective of a young mother and the devoted teacher who befriends her son. Spanning two countries and several decades, it examines what it means to live life with a full heart.

¦ 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, at the Naples Conference Center: A day of fiction – From 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Carol Zoref (“Barren Island”) and Moriel Rothman- Zecher (“Sadness Is a White Bird”) will discuss their new works. Ms. Zoref’s book traces several generations of a Jewish immigrant family living on an island near Brooklyn, N.Y. Ms. Rothman-Zecher’s lyrical debut novel explores a young Israeli’s relationship with two Palestinian siblings. Grab a quick lunch (or bring a brown bag) and settle back in from 1:30- 4:30 p.m. to hear from Mark Sarvas (“Memento Park”) and Elyssa Friedland (“The Intermission”). Mr. Sarvas narrates the story of a Hungarian family’s painting that was looted during WWII. Ms. Friedland presents alternating husband/ wife perspectives to illustrate how shallow our knowledge can be about those we love most

¦ 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, at Temple Shalom: Rachel Kadish and Tova Mirvis – In “The Weight of Ink,” historical fiction author Ms. Kadish provides an interwoven tale of two women set in London of the 1660s and the early 21st century. The women are linked by a document for which one was the scribe and the other is summoned to assess many centuries later. In “The Book of Separation,” Ms. Mirvis explores the tensions in her own life as a child in a tight-knit Orthodox family whose doubts eventually lead her, in her 40s, to separate from her marriage and from her Orthodox religious community. How can you enter a new way of living and remain close to those who believe differently?

¦ 1 p.m. Monday, April 8, at Beth Tikvah: Two nonfiction writers, both relatives of Naples residents: David Litt, at 24, became one of the youngest White House speechwriters ever. He also became President Obama’s go-to writer for comedy. Mr. Litt will discuss his “Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years.” In “The End of Old Age,” Marc Agronin, director of the memory center and research program at Miami Jewish Health, helps readers rethink the traditional view of old age as solely a time of loss and decline. Instead, he sees the aging process as a developmental force bringing unique strengths, creativity and opportunity. ¦

>> What: 25 authors, 16 events Oct. 17-April 8

>> Where: Various venues in Naples and Marco Island

>> Tickets, author bios and book synopses: www.jewishbookfestival.org.

>> Questions: 263-4205 or fedstar18@gmail.com

— Phil Jason is co- chair of the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival.

Published in Naples Florida Weekly on October 4, 2018. Also in Bonita Springs and Fort Myers editions.  See Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival and scroll to pp. C20-21. First appeared in September 2018 Federation Star.