From Publishers Weekly
The standup comedy of Fintushel's stage work echoes through his debut novel, a highly original, seriously skewed take on kabbalistic lore, like a shofar on Yom Kippur. Lea Tillim, a 16-year-old runaway, has a psychic "talent" that allows her to kill anyone who gets in her way. She begins to blossom after she rescues Jack "the Yid" Konar, a smalltime drug dealer who also happens to be "the Chosen of the Chosen of the Chosen." The Yid has constructed a mystical spaceship—complete with a Fleshpot and the Holy of Holies—to transport the select few to the true
Ish-ra-el. As Lea aids Jack on his quest, she gets stoned, receives epiphanies, is chased by the mob, is befriended by an adorably whiny minyan, helps foil the Evil One and his marquetry ladies and teams with an unlikely multitude from various religious persuasions. Though Lea's voice wanders from infatuated teen to world-weary kvetch, this uneven coming-of-age story is a virtual cornucopia of strange delights.
(Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Fintushel's first novel has it all: a girl who can kill with her mind, an opinionated cat, strange little old ladies who believe they're daughters of the devil, the Mob, and a spaceship stashed in the abandoned part of a Sears & Roebuck building. Lea Tillim, aka Cadaver Dimples, killed her face so that people wouldn't bother her. She kills with her mind, which her cat, Tule, disapproves of (Lea thinks her targets are probably better off that way). When she rescues the Yid from a couple of toughs with her power, the two become friends, and he tells her about the room he is making into a spaceship. When it's complete, the
Mesiach, a ship that has been waiting for its moment to come, will join it to take 13 people who'll be called when the time is right to the promised land. Lea wants to go, too. Bad attitude and all, Lea's an interesting narrator, whose changes as the story gets more and more bizarre keep the reader guessing.
Regina SchroederCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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