cover image The Place I Live, the People I Know

The Place I Live, the People I Know

Lori Mendel. Archway, $23.99 trade paper (367p) ISBN 978-1-4808-1440-0

In her debut, Mendel sketches portraits of the important people she has come to know in Israel. Most of the people Mendel profiles, ranging in age from 27 to 88, have compelling stories, such as Berliner Abe Rosenfeld, who escaped from Germany to what was then Palestine during WWII, and Erika Peitzer Miron, who survived life in the Warsaw ghetto. More recent immigrants include Americans such as Eva Shaibe Rockman, who moved because she didn’t want to marry a non-Jew, and New Yorker Stanley Rubenstein, spurred to immigrate because of the upheavals in the U.S. during the 1960s and early ’70s. Many came with high hopes for the Israeli state, only to be disappointed: in the words of one, “I am... apprehensive.... We have to reach a compromise with our neighbors.” Yet for all the potentially fascinating narratives, and despite liberal, lively use of exclamation points, the accounts tend to read like transcripts: each participant answered a list of identical questions, and their responses were then compiled into this anthology. One wishes Mendel had followed up with in-depth interviews of at least some of the responders. Many, especially the older Israelis, have stories that deserve to be expanded. (BookLife)