"Dear once": A novel

by Zelda Popkin

Book Overview

"Dear once": A novel [Jan 01, 1975] Popkin, Zelda This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0006CJ9CC
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Lippincott
• Length: 382 Pages

Customer Reviews

Dear Once- A Family Saga

In this Zelda Popkins novel we meet the lively Springer family and are drawn into their chaotic family history. Starting when this colorful Jewish family enters into the United States, the story is told through the eyes and narrated by a 2nd generation daughter named Millie. Through Millie we see the sad lost love story of her Aunt Daisy, the hypocrisy yet strong family pride of her Uncle Rueben and Aunt Fannie. And the hurt and life-long scarring of Millie after a traumatic incestuous incident. Most of all we share her bittersweet love of Jay. We also get a glimpse of a rarely spoken of time of turmoil in United States history. Seeing the fanatical voice of fear destroying people during the McCarthy hearings. Millie tells her story with blunt self-scrutiny and candor. Showing no matter how far we go we can never escape our family and their influence because after all our family is who builds our attitudes, our loves, our hates, our life. One thing I really like about Popkin is her lively narrative the way she shares even her unspoken (very often sarcastic) thoughts with the reader as though we the reader are her dearest friend. All in all this book reads as real-life not tied up in pretty ribbons but messy and bitter (even if a little on the bitter side). But sweet with ends hanging just like life really is.