Giving Up America

by Pearl Abraham

Book Overview

Pearl Abraham's critically acclaimed first novel, The Romance Reader, follows a Hasidic girl caught between the strictures of tradition and the yearnings of her own heart. In her second book, the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573227528
• ISBN13: 9781573227520
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

BITTERSWEET UNDERSTANDING AND PENETRATING INSIGHT

The sad dissolution of a marriage is often fodder for fiction, but seldom is this experience related with the bittersweet understanding and penetrating insight found in Giving Up America, a second novel by Pearl Abraham. As in her well received debut, The Romance Reader, Ms. Abraham's latest offering is framed by Jewish tradition, the dichotomy between Hasidic and Orthodox beliefs, the struggle to reconcile centuries old values with contemporary secular life in that quintessential street-of-dreams city - New York. Despite paternal objections, Deena has married Daniel, an Orthodox Jew. Her father, a scholarly Hasidic, opposed the marriage for Kabbalistic reasons, citing numerics to warn her that the sum of the numbers assigned to the couple's names forms the Hebrew word for "pain." "Within a mere two years," he cautioned, "you'll know it was never meant to be. But it will take more than two years to correct your error." Deena becomes a copy writer for an ad agency, employment she considers irrelevant, "The best ad was only an ad; and it was disposable." After seven years, the pair buy the home of their dreams, an older house in need of restoration. Finding satisfaction in the labor of "scraping, stripping, sanding and painting," Deena is content. But Daniel grows restless, saying he works hard enough during the week, and wants something else on weekends. He suggests inviting Jill, the new secretary at his office, and Ann, her roommate, to dinner. A former North Carolina department store model and Miss America wannabe, Jill laughs easily, bringing a heretofore unknown insouciance into their home. As the friendship between the four grows, Daniel and Deena attempt ballroom dancing lessons, even buy a Walkman in their attempts to become au courant. But this is a mix that curdles rather than blends. As their habits become more secularized, as Deena and Daniel discover more about themselves individually, they appreciate each other less. Daniel, Deena opines "fastened onto bad news like it was some kind of insurance." While Daniel sees his wife as difficult, obsessed with running. Eventually, Deena suspects that Daniel has become romantically involved with Jill. There are late night whispered phone calls, and his admission that he has kissed her. Fleeing from a situation she does not know how to resolve, Deena moves into a co-worker's Manhattan apartment. When she sees her friend's name by an entrance bell, "...suddenly Deena wanted her own name affixed on a door somewhere in this city. She'd never lived alone." While Daniel, "...frightened and exhilarated at once," pulls off his ever present yarmulke, "the constant cover a lid, and walked like that bareheaded under the blue-ink sky, under the stars, under the eyes of God." Finding her freedom intoxicating, Deena is attracted to another man, and refuses to return home. When pleas from Daniel's family are ignored, Daniel phones to say that he has spoken w

giving up

this book is not really about a man leaving his wife for a model. That would be a very shortsighted and superficial way to look at this book. I am a 27 yr old catholic woman but I could really relate to Deena. She is really someone caught between two worlds like many women my age who felt like marriage was the answer but found out it can keep you from being a truly magnificent woman and forces you to compromise much of your inner integrity. As a first generation american albeit of irish descent, I could also relate to her feelings about keeping hasidic tradition as opposed to the more americanized orthodox jewish ways. This is something that I also have to deal with in my search for a life partner because most american men do not understand the way that I was brought up and I find it difficult to find a good alignment to my ideas and feelings. Americans do not realize how difficult it can be at times to truly blend in on a very deep level. The character was very interesting and really is on a journey to live with integrity as a unique individual in the american landscape. The title of reflects the main characters toying with the idea of just giving up and moving back to Jerusalem and living a traditional life. I will not give away the ending but obviously this book spoke to me and I look forward to reading other novels by this author.

Another excellent book by a gifted writer

I loved the Romance Reader and Pearl Abraham tops that book with her latest novel. Easy to read from beginning to end and just the right length. Her style is wonderful. I am surprised by some of the criticism posted here. The characters are very well developed and original. O f all the writers I have read in the last couple of years that explore these kinds of themes, Ms. Abraham is the best.

An engaging, honest look at everyday life

Pearl Abraham has written another book that quietly grips the reader from the first to the final page. In direct and beautifully spare prose, this story of a marriage focuses on ordinary life; somehow Abraham manages to make mundane details significantly interesting. Giving Up America is an engaging, honest look at everyday life that offers complex insights which remain with the reader long after the book has been finished. I've read and re-read this book and continue to love it.

A page-turner that manages to be both subtle and complex.

I just read Giving Up America and experienced it as a real page-turner. It's quite different from The Romance Reader, Pearl Abraham's first book, and interestingly so. It's a more difficult book somehow. The themes aren't obvious and the writing more subtle, which probably means that lay readers won't take to it. Oh well. My advice to the writer of the above criticism: It might be wise to learn to spell before passing judgement on a true and gifted writer. I highly recommend Giving Up America to all those who like reading books that make them think.