Customer Reviews

Beyond the Pale

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the most wonderful, beautiful books I have read in the last 20 years. The author has woven a lovely, touching -- and yet, horrifying -- chronicle of Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement in Russia and the tenements of New York in the late 1890's and early 1900's. Some of the language simply takes your breath away. Ms. Dykewomon's command on the language is so outstanding I found myself stopping at sentences and marveling at what she had written. Obviously exquisitely researched, Beyond the Pale makes daily life in primarily rural Russia come alive: with all its beauty and all its horror. I have read no finer, more human-oriented account of a pogrom -- and this is an area of historical interest to me. Ms. Dykewomon's characters do not find the "Golden Streets" of the new world when they migrate to New York. Instead, they discover numbing poverty, bedbugs and rats they were hardly used to in the "old country" and the dehumanization of their lives by the factories and take-home piecework which were necessary for mere survival. The author shows these poor souls as the human beings they are and does a truly outstanding job of detailing how the love, kindness, wants and needs of such people can survive amid terrible conditions. Beyond the Pale is a song; it is a lament. While the major characters and author are lesbians, it would be inappropriate to characterize Beyond the Pale as lesbian literature. For those who would be offended and refuse to read this book because of that, it is your great loss. Read this book and cry when you finish. Both for what happens and because there are no more pages to read. I hope the author, who has published other works, will return to the general theme (or a sequel) in the future. She writes historical fiction at its best.

This is perhaps the best novel I've read in years -- and I'm a college literature professor, so I read a lot. I'll admit that I'm a Jewish lesbian, so the book has tremendous personal resonance for me. But this is a novel that should greatly affect anyone who cares at all about women's history, the Jewish experience in America, the history of the labor movement -- or, for that matter, fine contemporary writing.

I disagree with the earlier reviewers who characterize the book as either flat or overwritten; I can only imagine that as the reaction if you were looking for a hot but not-too-taxing lesbian romance. This is a different kind of book. There is love between women in this book--quirky, believable, and heartbreaking--but it is not a book that makes the drama of what happens in a couple the entire world. This is love immersed *in* the world. I found the book richly and elegantly written, with excellent depth and insight into the main characters. Elana Dyke! womon is also a fine poet as well as a novelist, and this comes through not only in the verse fragments within the book but also the way it circles around a number of recurrent, evocative images. Anyway, I cannot recommend enough that you take the time to immerse yourself in this finely-crafted, large-spirited, woman-centered novel.

This was a book that I could not put down. The story follows two immigrant women from Russia to America, where they quickly learn that they have left neither poverty nor struggle behind. The characters face so much hardship and tragedy in this story, and yet the darkness is far from oppressing, as one might find with other authors who have attempted a story such as this.
Yes, there is profound sadness in this book (the account of the Triangle fire is almost to hard to read), but there is also joy, understanding and an amazing sense of connection with the characters that will stay with the reader long after the book is finished.

Amazing story about amazing women. Also about the Jewish identity. The author mentions that she wanted to tell a story of Jewish persecution outside the Holocaust, to show that it was not an isolated event but the result of a worlwide hatred and she succeeded completley.
This is a book that I felt brought my heritage, both as a woman who likes women and the daughter of a Jewish man into sharp relief, but I'd reccommend it to anyone, for the writing and the stories that need to be told that are braided into it.

I finished Beyond the Pale more than 4 weeks ago, yet it is still resonating within me. The author's writing style is wonderfully rich. Her love of language is obvious as she writes quite poetically. I am neither Jewish nor a lesbian, however I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In many, many ways it is a great educational experience that I would recommend to anyone.

Elana uses the themes of love, loss, family, tradition, and religion to weave a novel that tackles life's core issues and illuminates several historical time-periods. This book does not use the ho-hum traps most "love stories" employ to keep the reader from figuring out that the plot is recycled. The narration is poetic and the dialogue fresh. The characters are complex women, identifiable and yet unpredictable. While making the lesbian characters and their "culture" the central focus of the story, Elana incorporates the families, friends, and general society into the plot beautifully. Even they seem as real as your own mother and neighborhood Rabbi. The historical settings, of both Russia during the Pogroms and early industrial America, give the book great depth. There is no guilt in the pleasure of this novel.

Opening in the early years of the twentieth century, Beyond The Pale by Elana Dykewomon is the engaging story of Gutke Gurvich and Chava Meyer -- two Russian Jewish women who go through hardship. Chava loses her parents to the brutality of a Russian pogrom, and then both women immigrate to New York City, where they find a new definition of cruelty awaits. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire figures prominently in this award-winning historical novel which provides the reader with a superbly written tale of endurance, love, and stalwart courage.

Wow, what a great book. The story is quite captivating. It was interesting to me how the main character's lives ended up inter-twining. Not only was the story interesting but it gave you a peek at the atrocities that went on in Russia in the late 1800's and in America in the early 1900's. It makes you think, well it made me think, how far we have come as a nation and how far we have yet to go. I think the author focused not only on lesbian relationships but also on women as a whole. The relationships between Mothers and daughters, between Fathers and daughters, the relationships between women in general and the lot in life that women seem to perpetually get, each of these things added up to make the book as interesting and as appealing as it was. I cannot recomend this book enough. Whether you are a lesbian or not or whether you are Jewish or not, if you are a woman - this book is a MUST read.

Dykewomon's latest novel is intricate and well-researched. It was a treat for my mind and my heart. Prospective readers should know that Beyond the Pale is no ordinary cotton-candy escape novel; it provokes thought, it compels joy, sorrow, and everything in between. I love it ferociously!

When I first finished this novel, my girlfriend looked over at me and said, "Parsha, you're crying like you lost your own loved one." As I tried to explain the story to her, I couldn't make out one sentence without breaking into tears. Even at work that week, thoughts would lead me back to that book and once again I'd became a blubbering mess! A few months have passed and yesterday I found myself pulling it off my bookshelf. I noticed several pages were wrinkled up by the salt in my tears that fell upon them. And still I'm left with the same feeling all over again... this is the best book I've ever read! It is a story of struggle, love, loss, and perseverance through the eyes of many characters. It is an incredible journey that is so intensifying your heart will bleed! You'll find yourself searching at the bookstores for copies to share with those who appreciate only the best. One recommendation: When reading Beyond The Pale, don't forget the Kleenex... trust me, you'll need it!