Customer Reviews

The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky

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

 

 

Like "Schmadrian," I came across this book by accident -- in a bargain bin, and I was drawn in by the title and the description brought it to the counter. The book was a really fun read. I grew up on my father's stories of Jewish prizefighters in the '40s, and have done a lot of reading about them. [My dad's were in New Jersey and New York, but old immigrant cities in the New World really aren't so different.] Karen Tulchinsky created a character in Sonny Lapinsky who is filled with motivation to do all the things he needed to become a champion fighter but not wear that belt as a father and husband. This is a complex, character-driven novel which was well researched and well executed.

There are only two minor disappointments. One, the title gave me the impression that the story would unfold in a way that mirrors The Bible. That doesn't happen. Second, as a writer, Karen Tulchinsky's focus seems to be on lesbian erotica -- which leads me to believe we're not going to see another historical sports novel from her. This is a shame, because this effort is filled with promise and I'd love to read another.

It was purely happenchance that I came across this novel. I was in a musty, basement second-hand bookshop, looking for something else entirely, when I found it. Well, 'we found each other' is probably more appropriate, given the end result: an almost perfectly satisfying reading experience. (Full disclosure: I was sold by the cover...and the jacket blurbs. What can I tell you; I'm a sucker for great artwork and tasty marketing. To be truthful, the packaging, the cue words, the intimation of what the novel promised was what had me reaching for my wallet.)

My personal reading preference is for literatary novels, featuring prose that has me, as a writer, wishing I'd written it. I crave if not the transcendent, then the staggering. As novelist, I have a love of powerful prose. As a screenwriter, I have an appreciation of the visual. But either way, I love a great story. A tale well-told. 'The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky' is strong on the storytelling...if not exactly scoring top marks on the literary impact.

The story spans (if only tangentally) a century and three continents. And yet it's fiercely focused on a Toronto family. It has Sonny Lapinsky at its core, but everyone plays a part, everyone has something to contribute. What I appreciated most about Ms Tulchinsky's efforts was that she chose to mix things up chronologically, and how well she managed the mix; the layout was refreshing. And I never felt anything but confidence coming off the page. I don't think 'masterful' is too great an adjective to use in this regard.

As for the actual writing, her literary 'chops'... Well, I chose the title of my review carefully. Her style is simple. As in 'spare and effective'. There is nothing strained about it, nothing flowery. It reminded me of Richard Russo's...although hers is even more factual. That she writes in the present-tense undoubtedly magnifies the effect. No, it's not Ann-Marie MacDonald's 'Fall on Your Knees'. (And granted, I'm not sure Ms Tulchinsky has it in her to write that way, or whether she'd even want to.) But the novel did captivate me completely from start to finish.

And in conclusion, I'll pay Ms Tulchinsky as heartfelt a compliment as I can: it would make an incredible film/mini-series. Oh; did I mention I was a screenwriter...?

The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky by Karen X. Tulchinsky is a phenomenal deviation from her previous style. Although I have come to love her wit, humorous characterizations and dialogues in previous books, I appreciate the maturity of her latest achievement. Her novel is based on the Christie Pits riots and depicts the four brothers of the Lapinsky family struggling through the depression into the fifties. In so doing, she connects a multitude of characters on whom the brothers rely and paints an exceptional portrayal of resistance.
Tulchinsky's keen eye for injustice, which her reader's have become accustomed to, is different and arguable much more advanced than in her previous fiction. Centering her characters around the horribly ambivalent situation of Canadian Jewish immigrants during the Second World War, she captures a slice of Canadian identity often left untold. In addition, she convincingly exposes hypocrisies surrounding her closeted gay character through his relationship to the military and his family and surroundings. As tragic as many of the chapters of The Five Books are, Tulchinsky still delivers humour and moments of lightness laced with profound triumph.
It is no small feat to build such a massive conglomerate of intertwined tales around a central metaphor. In The Five Books, that metaphor is boxing or, if one wants to make a broader leap, fighting. The book demonstrates what I believe Tulchinsky is trying to share - that fighting must be methodical, structured, practiced and, most importantly, that the struggle to win a fight begins and ends in the heart.