Customer Reviews

Days of Awe

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

 

 

This compelling and exquisitely wrought novel ­ from a National Book Award and Pen-Faulkner Award finalist ­ at once luminous and discreet is Hugh Nissensonšs masterpiece.

At 67, Artie Rubin, author of illustrated books of mythology, finds his world shaken to its foundation. With breathtaking insight into the human condition and a delightful dry sense of humor, Nissenson finds the symbols, the language, and the wisdom to shed light on seemingly unfathomable aspects of all our lives.

Even as it questions the meaning and purpose of life, The Days of Awe resonates on many levels, offering a story of heartbreak and hope, portraying the soulšs endurance and confirming the fidelity of love, all while laying bare the myths of post-millennial America. An amazing read- I HIGHLY recommend it.

To this non-Jewish reader, "The Days of Awe" presents a trove of conflicts, both as a literary work and as to its subject matter. I would not characterize this novel a masterpiece, as some have, because I agree to a certain extent with another amazon reader's review that this book could have been more than it is. The domestic ordinariness of Muggs' three walks per day, breakfast foods, the abiding health worries of senior citizens, etc., began to wear me down as I worked my way toward September 11 and then proceeded into its aftermath. Also, there is that the vulgar treatment of sex that diminishes Artie and Johanna rather than believably humanizing them. Earthiness is one thing, crudity dropped on the pages for seeming shock value is another.

Stylistically, the novel's habit of skipping into and out of characters' minds at the drop of the proverbial hat reduces readability. Author Nissenson remarks in the book's-end conversation (that offers valuable context) that he experimented for the first time with switching points of view between characters in the middle of scenes. That experiment unfortunately leads to narrative confusion and density this reader would rather have done without.

Returning September 11, I had gotten the impression from reviews I had read prior to opening the book, that "The Days of Awe" turned on this event. It doesn't. Nissenson says that he began writing in the spring of 2001 and when September 11 happened, he had to include it. He did, but it is clearly an inclusion, not a seminal anchor, and I think that was an opportunity for germane and thorough character exploration lost.

However, I'm glad I read the entire novel. It provides remarkable food for thought. Not only does it inform convincingly about the lives of well-to-do New York West End Jewish (and to some degree, Protestant) people, but it explores the reality -- common to all people -- of grappling with the meaning of life and death. Secularity has encompassed and largely defined Artie, his family and most of their friends. Yet, as is so often the case with human beings, when he is faced with the threat of loss through death, he turns to a form of religious expression. Despite his lifelong interest in other cultures' myths (Greek, Navajo, Nordic), Artie Rubin seeks a kind of sanctuary in the faith of his fathers. He convinces himself that garbing himself in "tefillin" and praying according to Jewish tradition will keep death at bay. In so doing, Artie makes the human error of converting religious ritual into a superstitious formula. He isn't really doing what Rabbi Klugman advises; he isn't letting himself be a conduit for prayer's ends, he is using prayer as a means to his own obsessive-compulsive ends. That this results in bitter consequences for Artie and leads him to resume living in the secular world "from which there is no appeal" is perhaps the consummate message of "The Days of Awe," in my opinion.

Both Artie's personal and professional life zero in on death. Artie is writing and illustrating a book about the god, Odin. He spends a lot of time assembling a digital image of Odin's face at the pivotal moment when he (Odin) realizes he must die. The finished image is the only picture in "The Days of Awe," and it is quite stunning. It encapsulates the raw and primitive, uncomprehending disbelief that we mortals feel too about life's finite essence.

Despite its imperfections, this book says something rich and yet ineffable about the struggles we all have with the meaning of life and its inevitable end. I recommend it highly for precisely that discussion.

Hugh Nissenson's recent novel "The Days of Awe" explores the realities and mysteries of aging, sickness, and death in the lives of a secular Jewish family and their friends in New York City at the time of September 11. The story takes place between August and October, 2001. The two primary characters are Artie Rubin, 67, an artist and a writer of books on various world mythologies, and his wife of nearly 40 years Johanna, 62, a financial planner who is seriously ill with a heart condition. The book includes a large range of supporting characters. The couple's daughter Leslie, works with Johanna. She is married to Chris, a non-Jew. and the couple is expecting a child. Rabbi Klugman, of Etz Hayim Synagogue, where Artie attends services and tries to find God, tries in an unobtrusive way to encourage skeptics such as Artie to deepen their religious practices. He delivers several sermons during the book which illustrate religious themes and possible responses to the issues of modern life. Artie's friend and attorney, Adam and his family, several immigrants from Israel, a Yiddish poet and Holocaust survivor, and many other secondary characters enrich and provide variety and commentary on the story.

The book is short, with no chapter breaks. The story is told in a collage of voices and from a variety of perspectives, all of which intersect in the themes of the book. We see Artie struggling with his final project, a book with illustrations about the Norse god Odin -- unique among all mythology as a god that dies and with the illness of Johanna. Artie worries about his grandchild and whether he will be raised Jewish. Joanna and Artie work to maintain their sexual attraction for each other and their sexual activity amidst the vicissitudes of old age. Many characters get an opportunity to speak in their own voices during this novel. The book shows the impact of September 11 for a variety of secondary characters in the story as well as the principals. The characters combine the mundane and the trivial activities of daily life with the serious as they face their own mortality and that of their dear ones.

Much of the story revolves around themes of secularism and religion. Johanna has long made her peace with secularism. She fears death but is able to write to her husband: "I am grateful to have spent so much of my allotted time in time with you and Leslie." Johanna loves the rondo of Beethoven's "Waldstein" piano sonata (a woman after my own heart!) which appears at many places throughout the novel and appears to have an almost mystical siginficance for her. She also loves the family pet, a sheepdog named Muggs, which is over-sentimentalized, I think, in the story.

Artie, is a secular Jew as well but reflects the author's own ambivalences. He is a conflicted character who experiences a religious experience as Johanna's health deteriorates. He becomes increasingly interested in the practices and beliefs of traditional Judaism as it becomes interthreaded with his life work on mythology and with Johanna's illness. Artie's increasing religiosity and devotion to Jewish ritual threatens briefly to drive a wedge between the couple after a long, happy marriage.

The book has a positive tone with a happily married couple and a vibrant New York City and United States at its core. The author's love for our country and the City -- and the opportunities for life and life-choices which they offer are at the center of this book. There are deep issues explored in this book, centering largely on death and religion, and they are explored well, if somewhat lightly.

Artie, and presumably Hugh Nissenson, show some fascination with traditional Judaism and its rich teachings, but in the end the values of secular living -- living in and loving the everyday -- win out. This theme deserves treatment in more depth than we get here. Readers who enjoy this book might also enjoy E.L. Doctorow's fine novel "City of God" which also explores the relationship between religion and secularism in New York City as the land of American dreams.

Robin Friedman

"The Days of Awe," by Hugh Nissenson, is set on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the months before and after 9/11. The protagonist is sixty-seven year old Artie Rubin, who is working on his twentieth book, "Norse Myths Retold and Illustrated." Twelve of Artie's books on world mythology are still in print and some are considered cult classics. However, he is feeling old and tired, and fears that his talent may be waning. Still, Artie is grateful for the companionship of his loving wife, Johanna, and their married daughter, Leslie, who is expecting her first child.

Nissenson's writing style is a blend of disparate elements--third person narrative, emails, diary entries, the inner thoughts of each character told in the first person, and snippets of Artie's book in progress as he struggles to perfect both his text and illustrations. There are no clear-cut chapters, just demarcations by date, starting in August 2001 and ending three months later. If this style sounds messy and disorganized, it is, but it works well.

The author explores a whole host of themes, including whether religious belief has any value, how people cope with their fear of infirmity and death, the importance of family ties, the pleasure and fulfillment of work, and the ephemeral nature of happiness. Yet, "The Days of Awe" is not heavy and ponderous. There are many witty and humorous scenes along with some dark and heartbreaking ones, and the narrative is both fast-moving and engrossing.

The characters are beautifully delineated. Although Artie has never been an observant Jew, he longs to reconnect with his dead father, Samuel, by rediscovering his Jewish roots. Johanna scorns religion, and wants her husband to come to his senses. After the tragedy of 9/11 and a series of health crises that afflict his friends and family, Artie experiences an emotional meltdown that forces him to reevaluate what is really important to him. "The Days of Awe" is a deeply moving kaleidoscope of all the ordinary events and relationships that makes life beautiful, intolerable, unpredictable, and wonderful.

Hugh Nissenson has given us a touching, realistic, sweet and sad portrait of a couple greeting their own mortality with fear, loathing, and, ultimately, respectful acceptance. The book hums with the telling details of everyday life for a family of New Yorkers and their friends and relations against the distant but affecting background of the 9/11 attacks. If you were in the city in those dramatic days, you'll recognize the eerie mood of tragic helplessness. For curious non New Yorkers, the book provides a fascinating glimpse of how it felt to be so few degrees of separation away from public catastrophe.

I laughed, I cried and, most important, I thought a lot as I read DAYS OF AWE. Don't be hesitant because of its themes and subject matter. This is definitely a book to ENJOY--a short family saga heavy on both humor and thoughtfulness.

In an incredibly, almost prescient manner Nissenson has produced a book that brings the reader into the heart of intercultural and marital anomalies and problems. His writing style is brilliantly sprite. The entire book can be read in about 4 to 5 hours and it tends to keep you at it. The pages flash by as Nissenson describes the interactions and dysinteractions of the family and it members.

The story is primarily about his main character Artie. While Artie is the main character, it is difficult to actually name a protagonist in this story. Nissenson has crafted the text so that there are several main characters. But in particular, the story centers around the character Artie and his wife and daughter.

With some expert prose, Nissenson discusses the impending heart problems of Artie's wife along with the religious philosophy and the change within Artie as he ages. His change in perspective toward religion, until it becomes obsessive is illustrated. Finally, his failure to cheat death of taking his wife, despite his religious fanaticism is clearly spelled out by the author in the manner of her death.

Previous to this book, all of Nissenson's work has been either about the future or the past. In this book, he takes on the present. And his book deals with all these normal and terrible life problems against the backdrop of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on NYC which is where the book takes place.

Once again, Nissenson has produced a classic piece of literature for those who enjoy the subtle and the grand. The book is highly recommended for all readers interested in domestic relationships and how they tend to shape personality and action.

Artie Rubin, 67, lives in the Upper West Side, with his wife Johanna. Artie struggles with his aging and is certain that he will die at 73 (year his father died). Then his wife Johanna suffers a heart attack. Author does a marvelous job in developing the characters of Artie and Johanna with the day-to-day travails of work, family and faith. When involving the two leading characters, the book is funny, moving and compelling. It is when the author broadens the novel to other characters and events (9/11, Middle East, secularism, religion, friends), I thought the book and storyline lost its way.

This is book to read and reread as one absorbs the meaning of life, tragedy, and love. Funny, heartbreaking, and humane.

I am compelled to add my review of this book, if only because I feel so misled and betrayed by the others who wrote such glowing reviews. I found this book to be so disappointing because it COULD have been so much better. The writing was choppy,rambling and disjointed. It was almost impossible to follow the italisized running commentary by Artie who was attempting to write another fable. What was most disconcerting to me (and I swear I'm not a prude) is the crude description of sex acts as well as the continual use of the "f" word. So, so unnecessary, so gratuitous, so out of place. The plot could have moved along so well without it. I was going to promote it to my book club -- until I read it. We won't be discussing this book.

Citigroup 29.89, Intel 29.89, Cisco 19.08, Microsoft 43.92, Johnson & Johnson 57.98,

BP 156/97

Interest level in this book: 4.7 on a 1 to 10 scale ...

New Yorkers struggle to cope with 9/11 and its aftermath. Some rediscover spirituality. Other discover Absolut vodka. The narrative unfolds in a diary-journal type format.

On the bright side, it is a relatively quick read.

Not a terrible book, but not a great one, either. Your mileage (and enjoyment) may vary.