A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - From the author of The Chalk
Artist, this beloved collection of linked stories is "one of the most
astute and engaging books about American family life to have come our
way in quite a while" (The Boston Globe).
In this beloved collection of linked short stories, Allegra Goodman
writes with wit and compassion about three generations of Markowitzes:
Rose, the displaced, cantankerous matriarch; her devoted son, Henry, an
aesthete living abroad; his younger brother, Ed, a Georgetown scholar
specializing in terrorism; Ed's wife, Sarah, a housewife with stalled
literary ambitions; and their eldest daughter, Miriam, whose budding
Orthodoxy bewilders her parents. Through the rhythm of ordinary family
rituals--weddings, holiday dinners, hospital vigils--Goodman breathes
extraordinary life into a cast of characters who reverberate with
authenticity and never fail to speak their minds.
Praise for The Family Markowitz
"These stories sound like no one else's. . . . Goodman is brilliant at
capturing the clutter of both interior and exterior life."--Los
Angeles Times
"Entertaining . . . The Family Markowitz has great consistency and
charm."--Claire Messud, The New York Times Book Review
"A revelation . . . Goodman's prose has a steady, silent reserve that
always indicates she has bigger things in mind."--Dwight Garner,
Salon
"One of the most astute and engaging books about American family life to
have come our way in quite a while . . . [Allegra Goodman] has a gift
for conveying the peculiar subtleties of Jewish culture."--The Boston
Globe
"Funny and wise and keenly observed . . . one of the most engaging,
maddening, and recognizable families to come along in years . . . an
enchanting book."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
