The Project

Readers' d i cks

By Zev Chafets; Warner Books; $24.

ZEV WHAeife r

4WFMNOW.

Name: Marilyn Weiss
Occupation: Homemaker
and volunteer at DIA
Residence: Bloomfield Hills

Z

ev Chafets has
long been on the
lookout for inter-
esting characters,
especially Jewish ones.
He writes about
these characters in his
nonfiction work, like
Members of the Tribe;
and he conjures them
up in his fiction, most
recently, The Project.
In his newest work of
fiction, Chafets has
blended real life and fic-
tion into a wry look at
power games played at
the highest levels of
government: This time,
the power players are
Jews.
Billed as a thriller,
The Project might be
better described as a
test of nerves between
the first Jewish presi-
dent of the United
States, Dewey Goldberg
(his Republican mother
gave him his first name
to annoy his Democrat
father), and the leg-
endary prime minister
of Israel, Elihu Barzel
(his last name means
"iron"). Weaving past
and present, Chafets re-
veals the events and
motivations that have
brought these two men
to a showdown.
And the players that
lead us to that show-
down are most of the
fun of this novel. The
plot comes in a definite
second to the characters Zev Chafets' new novel The Project involves the first Jewish president of the United States.
that drive it.
On American ground,
fighter for Israel's independence, ously irreverent situations.
we meet Dewey Goldberg, the Nazi hunter, billionaire busi- Politicians and their past drug
Michigan born-and-raised po- nessman, able to reinvent him- use, American Jews and their
litical animal, who hones his po- self as the situation warrants. Israeli-directed philanthropy,
litical skills while a student and His friend and trusted adviser right-wing apocalyptic Chris-
jock at the University of Michi- is Motke Vilk, the man whose tians are all lampooned with
gan in the turbulent '60s and life was saved by Barzel in the great effect.
`70s. His friend and trusted ad- forests of Poland and who
Finally, this book will force
viser is Charlie Walker, a high- pledges eternal loyalty to Barzel you to consider the "who is a
ly respected and incredibly in return.
Jew" issue in a way you've nev-
well-connected reporter who has
Add to this mix a full com- er imagined.
come a long way from his naive plement of assistants, spin doc-
I see Paul Newman in the Eli-
days as Goldberg's college room- tors, wannabe power players, hu Barzel role (there's a lot of
mate.
schemers and, of course, the req- Ari Canaan in Barzel), and as
The Israeli characters all re- uisite beautiful babes with his worthy opponent, Harrison
volve around Elihu Barzel, the brains (Chafets really needs to Ford as Dewey Goldberg, first
powerful, mysterious, implaca- improve on his female charac- Jewish president of the United
ble prime minister of Israel, a ters), and you've got an enter- States.
taining mix of personalities that
Lynne Avadenka is a
Chafets places in some hilari-
— Lynne Avadenka
Huntington Woods artist.

,..,..,

"I loved Stones from the
River [by Ursula Hegii. It was
about someone physically
[challenged], and she made a
life for herself It takes place
during World War II. It had
a lot of histor3r, very sympa
thetic. Unusual, written in a
very prosaic style."

,

Name: Roberta Sokol
Residence: West Bloomfield
Occupation: Housewife

"Recently, I finished Mid-
night in the Garden of Good
and Evil [by David Berendt].
I thought the characters were
very weird and funny. It took
place in Savannah, Ga., and
you could really get a feel for
the beauty of it.
"Also, I just finished read-
ing Open Heart by A.B.
Yehoshua, about a Jewish doc-
tor trying to become a surgeon.
The director of the hospital he
works at is an Indinn, and the
doctor falls in love with the director's wife. And now I'm reading
Imagining Robert, about a man whose brother is schizophrenic,
and how his brother survived."

Name: Amy Albert
Occupation: Runs a dry
cleaning business

Residence:
West Bloomfield

"I just started reading a bi-
ography of Stanley Kubrick.
I like his films and the work
he's done. rm also reading
Mail by Medwed, about a
Harvard professor who falls
in love with her mailman."

Ai Attention book lovers! Reading a good book? "On The
Bookshelf' would like to share your recommendations with our
readers. Send a photo of yourself, along with a daytime phone
number, to Lynne 'Constantin, Bookshelf, 27676 Franklin Road,
Southfield, MI 48034. If you want your photo returned, you
must include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

1^-- •
Cr' I
0") I
1-- I
_ 1
CC) •

<

1(