The German Money - Softcover

Raphael, Lev

Softcover

ISBN 10: 096795200X ISBN 13: 9780967952000

Publisher: Leapfrog Press, 2003

Synopsis

Best known for Dancing on Tisha B’Av, the groundbreaking story collection exploring the lives of children of Holocaust survivors, Lev Raphael is also the author of five popular mysteries. 

Now he combines his talents in a story of emotional suspense.

Paul has spent his life running—from New York, the city of his birth; from his beautiful beshert; from contact with his own siblings; but mostly from his mother, a Holocaust survivor of inexplicable coldness.

Upon her mysterious death, the children face shocking questions. What caused her to die? Why did she divide their inheritance so that Paul, the least favorite son, was singled out to receive the most, the dreaded "German money,"a bequest of a million dollars accrued from German reparations to survivors . . . a gift as cynical as it is generous.

About this title

About the Author

Lev Raphael is the author of fifteen books and known internationally as the chronicler of the lives of the children of Holocaust survivors. Winner of the Lambda Literary Award, among many prizes, his short works have appeared in two dozen anthologies. He performs all over the country at Jewish Book Fairs and has a weekly book show on NPR.

Reviews

Raphael applies his talents as a suspense writer (he is the author of five mystery novels in addition to the short story collection Dancing on Tisha B'Av) to this unconventional Holocaust novel, a family drama about the upheaval caused by a million-dollar legacy of German reparations money. The passive, introspective narrator, Paul Menkus, is a 42-year-old Michigan librarian who travels home to Manhattan after a heart attack claims his mother, Rose, a Holocaust survivor. He's the sole heir of her reparations-based fortune, which brings him into conflict with his younger siblings, underachieving, bisexual Simon and beautiful but difficult Dina, whose marriage is failing. Rose was in good health when she died, and Paul's inquiries into her death provide an element of suspense. The family interactions range from turgid to poignant, but overall Raphael successfully captures the family dynamic. He also adds narrative momentum with a romantic subplot (Paul reunites with old flame Valerie, a Holocaust memoirist who stayed close to the family after the couple's postcollege breakup). But Paul's mother remains an underdeveloped, shadowy figure, and the specifics of her Holocaust experiences are only sketchily outlined in the closing chapters. The climax, which hinges on a revelation delivered by a seemingly sweet elderly neighbor who played a pivotal role in Rose's demise, is rushed and farfetched. [...]
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Paul, the son of Holocaust survivors, painfully admires and resents his icy, critical mother, who has refused to describe her experiences during the war, and when she dies, mother and son have had almost no contact for a decade. So Paul is surprised, and his younger siblings are shocked, when they learn she has left Paul "the German money," reparations paid her years ago. Returning to Manhattan with his brother and sister, Paul tries to discover why he was bequeathed what is now more than a million dollars and, more important, why the details of her death mysteriously conflict. Revisiting old haunts stirs memories of the girlfriend, still single, whom he fled because of her identification with the survivor community. He looks her up, and the reconnection encourages him to face his doubts and fears. A heartfelt departure from Raphael's brittle, clever mysteries (Let's Get Criminal, 1996, et seq.). Roberta Johnson
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"I used to think that some people had a true gift for life, more than just a talent or even a skill. Call it a richness of being. While others, like my family, like me, were paupers, doomed to struggle against their own inner poverty. I was wrong, of course--but then there's always a story if you think you can see around corners."

Edition details

• Publisher: Leapfrog Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 096795200X
• ISBN 13: 9780967952000
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 206