Search Results: roberta silman

Book Review: “Motherless Child” — The Redemptive Powers of Classical Music

July 31, 2012
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For anyone interested in classical music, “Motherless Child” is a novel to be savored. And there is no doubt that Zeitlin has gotten those details right. She is the widow of the great violinist and teacher, Zvi Zeitlin, who died this past May at 90.

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Book Review: “Erebus” — A Brilliant Hybrid That Bears Witness to Tragedy

April 10, 2015
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Erebus is wonderful, original book that defies categorization.

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Book Review: “Women in the World of Frederick Douglass” — Crucial Partners

June 25, 2017
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Focusing on these indomitable and sometimes troubling women, Fought has written an engaging book that is compelling, sometimes even fierce.

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Theater Review: “The Waverly Gallery” — A Powerful Look into a Descent into Dementia

June 5, 2019
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A splendid production of an impressive early effort from the talented writer Kenneth Lonergan.

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Book Review: “The Marrying of Chani Kaufman” — The World of the Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Treated With Verve and Empathy

April 25, 2014
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Beneath the humor and the warmth and the charm of this novel, author Eve Harris bears witness to an existence far more complex and troubled than Ultra-Orthodox Jews might like to admit.

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Book Review: A Pair of Darkly Jolly Jolleys

December 14, 2010
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But make no mistake about these two novels; they are not just delicious, hilarious capers. They glow in the mind because they are informed by Elizabeth Jolley’s understanding of our common loneliness and her sympathy with the myriad, ingenious connections we make to try to alleviate it. The Sugar Mother by Elizabeth Jolley. Persea Books,…

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Book Review: Marilynne Robinson’s “Lila” — A Vision of Life More Damned Than Redeemed

October 2, 2014
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Lila is an ambitious book that is deeply flawed and not nearly in the same class as Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gilead.

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Book Review: Two From Andreï Makine — A Matter of Trust

September 8, 2015
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Makine may be plagiarizing himself, which is a perfectly legitimate thing for a writer to do, but scenes of spring snow and railroad stations become clichés even in talented hands.

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Book Review: “The Poets’ Wives” — What Does it Mean to be Married to a Poet?

May 23, 2014
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Taken as a whole, “The Poets’ Wives” is a fascinating, brave novel whose love of poetry breathes through all three sections.

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Book Review: “Your Duck Is My Duck” — Not Enough Tingles

September 25, 2018
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Deborah Eisenberg’s stories pull you in and imitate life in an uncanny way.

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