Arts & Entertainment
A Journey Of
Self-Invention
Ann Arbor author's debut novel follows a middle-class Jewish boy
who dreams of making it to the upper echelons of wealth and class.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
Ann Arbor
S
haron Pomerantz grew up in a
Jewish working class family just
outside Philadelphia. Her extended
family was large and lived nearby, mostly in
an ethnically strong neighborhood within
the city.
Pomerantz remembers the closeness of
her relatives and the way they were outspo-
ken. She also recalls being with them at fre-
quent gatherings sure to have an abundance
of traditional foods.
Pomerantz's recollections serve as part of
the backdrop and enter into the characters of
her first novel, Rich Boy (Twelve; $24.99), just
released this month.
The novel tells the story of Robert
Vishniak, who grows up the favored son in a
family with limited means in Oxford Circle,
a working-class Jewish neighborhood in
1970s Philadelphia; moves into a circle of
rich friends starting at an elite law school;
and gets caught up in an unsteady circle of
circumstances as his life unfolds. The plot
develops through the impact of the Vietnam
War, availability of drugs and expanding
sexual freedoms and identities.
Pomerantz, 45, a lecturer in the University
of Michigan Department of English
Language and Literature, is beginning
personal appearances to read excerpts and
discuss authorship.
Before the larger Michigan Jewish com-
munity meets her at the Jewish Community
Center's Jewish Book Fair in November at
the JCC's West Bloomfield, Oak Park and
Ann Arbor buildings, the writer-instructor
is scheduled for two appearances in Ann
Arbor. She will be at the Kerrytown BookFest
on Sunday, Sept. 12, and Nicola's Books on
Tuesday, Sept. 14.
"I set out to write a novel about class in
the Jewish community, and I think I accom-
plished that',' says Pomerantz, who teaches
creative writing and argumentation. "I also
wanted to write a novel that was big and
ambitious and dealt with some of the issues
I care about paced in such a way that readers
"My reality as a Jew
and as an American
has been to be aware o
class."
- Sharon Pomerantz
The novel spans
four decades in
the life of its
main character,
Robert
Vishniak.
would enjoy it."
The pacing
reaches from
the childhood of the main character to his
midlife, the latter in the range of the cur-
rent age of the novelist, who spent almost 10
years completing Rich Boy.
"My reality as a Jew and as an American
has been to be aware of class',' Pomerantz
says. "I think we all live with this idea that
everyone can get rich in America by just
working hard enough, and the truth is that
very few people do statistically.
"There are very few Oprahs out there.
"Most people end up pretty much in the
same socioeconomic group they were born
into. We don't talk about that. Certainly not
the way the English address it in their art
and literature. That was important to me."
Pomerantz, an only child, describes her
parents as autodidacts. Although neither was
able to go to college, they were very cultured
and wanted her to be better educated than
they could be because of limited opportuni-
ties.
Pomerantz, who started writing in child-
hood, went to the Pennsylvania Governor's
School for the Arts on a high-school scholar-
ship for talented students. While attending
Smith College in Massachusetts and major-
ing in political science, her writing direction
detoured to theater.
"When I got out of school, I realized the
great thing about fiction was that you didn't
need a production company so I went back
to fiction:' says Pomerantz,, who moved to
New York City after graduation and includes
her impressions of Manhattan life in Rich
Boy.
While doing freelance work for nonprofits
and various publications, such as Hadassah
magazine and the Jewish Week, Pomerantz
was having success with short stories. Her
story "Shoes" was nationally broadcast on
NPR's Selected Shorts; "Ghost Knife" was
included in The Best American Short Stories
2003.
"It took five or six years for me to realize I
wasn't going to be able to live that New York
life and put the amount of time and energy
into writing that I felt I needed," she explains.
"That's when I applied to master of fine
arts programs and was fortunate to get into
the University of Michigan. I got to study
with fantastic teachers and guest artists.
Being around serious craftsmen pushed me
forward to the next level."
Eileen Pollack, director of the MFA
Program in Creative Writing at U-M and an
accomplished published author, has high
praise for Pomerantz and Rich Boy.
In the press materials for the book, she
writes: "Very rarely, a writer come along who
understands the very rich, and those who
are determined to become very rich. Think
Fitzgerald and Gatsby, Bellow and Augie
March, Wolfe and Bonfire of the Vanities.
And now here comes Sharon Pomerantz,
bringing to life in an utterly convincing way
Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s, with all
its avarice, ambition, snobbery, love, lust and
self-delusion. If you want to understand what
made Bernie Madoff possible, I can think
of no more serious, sensitive and intelligent
novel to read than Rich Boy."
The publishing world agreed. After finish-
ing Rich Boy about a year ago, Pomerantz
turned it over to an agent. It sold in two days.
"An agent contacted me after my work
appeared in Best American Short Stories;' she
reveals. "Many agents contacted me. That
seems to be the place where agents get to
read the writing of unagented writers.
"For those people who are trying to write
books and feel they don't know anybody and
don't come from prestige, I want them to
know I was somebody who really worked my
way up to this.
"I think a lot of people assume that [suc-
cessful] writers come from families that give
financial support or have connections. I sup-
ported myself from the moment I got out of
college after working all through college."
Pomerantz, who often travels to New York
to see the man with whom she shares a long-
term relationship, has been planning a book-
launching party in the city.
Considering herself culturally Jewish
— after having had a bat mitzvah, spending
a year studying in Israel and continuing to
attend services — she jokes about holding
on to the storied interest of Jewish hostesses
wanting to make sure guests have enough to
eat. "What I've been thinking about for the
launch party is if I ordered enough food;' she
laughs. ❑
Sharon Pomerantz will be intro-
ducing her book at various events
around the state. For a complete,
regularly updated listing, go to her
Web site, www.sharonpomerantz.
corn.
August 5 • 2010
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