Gemini

Belva Plain nor Howard Fast. Howev-

s. er, she is at her best when she's like

fl

Faye Kellerman. Charlie Blair and
Lauren Miller have the potential to
become like Kellerman's successful
detective series characters Rina Lazarus
and Peter Decker.
Amidst Isaacs' skillful storytelling,
she manages to jab assimilated Jews.
"You don't know the difference
between kiddush and Kaddish?" she
says referring to Lauren Miller.
While Red, White and Blue is laced
with Isaacs' wit and humor, it's only
when she talks about New York Jews
that the reader laughs out loud.
As she states in the acknowledg-
ments, "I speht a fair amount of time
in Wyoming. Still, to
me, it was not like
Brooklyn, terra cogni-
ta.
Hopefully, Isaacs
will move Charlie
Blair to Brooklyn for
the sequel, where the
heroes will discover
Pearl
more about their spe- Abraham
cial connection. ❑

— Reviewed by Carla Jean Schwartz,
Local Columnist

Susan Isaacs will speak 1 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 1, the Kahn Jewish
Community Center, sponsored by
Michigan Region, Women's Amer-
ican ORT.

`Giving Up America'

T

he Hebrew letters of the
boy's name add up to
95,"he said. "Yours come to
69. Together they make
164, the value of the word bahtzev,
which is what this marriage will bring
you: pain."
These haunting words, spoken by
Deena's Chasidic father, begin Pearl
Abraham's second novel, Giving Up
America (Riverhead Books, $22.95).
She also is the author of The Romance
Reader.
Deena's father opposes his daugh-
ter's marriage to Daniel, an Orthodox
Jew. Determined to prove her father
wrong, she leaves her home in
Jerusalem, marries Daniel and moves
to New York City. '
The couple begins work refurbish-
ing their new dream house. They
strip the walls, knock down a few for
closet space and put up fresh pink

paint. Meanwhile, they learn ballroom
dancing, share bike rides together and
enjoy evenings out for dinner. Father
was wrong, it seems to Deena.
Enter Jill, a Southern woman with
blond hair, who wishes to be a Miss
America contestant. Daniel invites her
and another co-worker, Ann, over for

will perform...

Folk Songs from Around the World

Sunday, November 8 • 4:00 p.m. • JPM Building
Jewish Community Center in Oak Park

Gemini is an upbeat singing-duo with twin brothers,

Sander & Laszlo Slomovits. Join us in a sing-a-long

family concert for children, ages 4 to 10.

JCC Adult Member $4/Non-Member $5/JCC Child Member $3
JCC Child Non-Member $4/Children under 2 are free of charge

Program is sponsored by Target Stores.

For details, please call (248) 967-4030.

PEARL ABRAHAM

dinner.
Initially Deena finds the two to be
a great deal of fun, providing the extra
excitement she feels is needed in her
life. But before too long, Deena is
wondering about the innocence of Jill
and Daniel's flirtatious behavior
toward one another.
And so fractures of suspicion and
jealousy form in the foundations of
Deena's sense of home. Time erodes
the marriage to the point where it
might crumble all together as Deena
and Daniel become different people
with different values.
With spare, intimate prose, Abra-
ham seems to whisper in the reader's
ear as she deftly describes Deena's
struggle in trying to cope with divided
and conflicting worlds — the religious
and the secular, marriage and loneli-
ness, expectations and reality. ❑

— Reviewed by Joshua Cane,
Editorial Assistant

Pearl Abraham, sponsored by Con-
gregation Beth Shalom Sisterhood,
speaks at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov.
12, at the Kahn Jewish Communi-
ty Center in West Bloomfield, and
at 1 p.m. on the same day at the
Jimmy Prentis Morris Jewish
Community Center in Oak Park.

'

.•

•,.7 .4.--•

•

•

1 irm ing kam Tem p le.
2 861 1 W. 12 Mae. Toad

Between Inkster

ktifitilehett OIL the
solaksicte of 1 2 Milk Rd.

"It's Like SeInfeld' Set To Music!"

- The Star Ledger

LOVE YOU,
YOU'RE PERFEC
NOW CHANGE

The Hit Musical Comedy!

Everything you've secretly thought
about DATING, MATING,
MARRIAGE, HUSBANDS, WIVES,
KIDS & 1N-LAWS

...but were afraid to admit!

GEM THEATRE

333 Madison Ave. • Detroit, MI 48226

(313) 963-9800

(248) 645-6666

Call Nicole for groups of 15 or more (313) 962-2913

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

10/30

1 99R