Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes [Paperback]

Laurel Snyder (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2006

Written by authors born into the so-called “dilemma of intermarriage,” the stories in Half/Life explore the experience of being raised in a half-Jewish home. Though each essay is distinct, and the experiences are vastly different, each describes growing up without a streamlined identity, unsure of community or religious direction. From Jenny Traig, whose experiences led her to extreme devotion in the form of religious-obsessive compulsion (scrupulosity) to Thisbe Nissen, who finally felt Jewish after discovering a rosary in her boyfriend’s sock drawer, these authors examine the complicated relationships they felt with the Jewish community and the world at large. By turns tragic and funny, religious and heartbreaking, angry and surprisingly familiar, Half/Life represents the altogether diverse memories and reflections of a handful of men and women who have spent a lifetime grappling with how to define themselves, or not. Resulting from that struggle is a complex exploration, and some truly brilliant prose.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This anthology of 18 essays takes for granted that Jews will intermarry, and that the children of intermarriages will be "halfs," or half-Jews. Being a half, says Snyder, is not second best; it is not a pale imitation of being really Jewish. Rather, "half" is an interesting, incorrigible, perplexing and profound moniker in its own right, a label that somehow captures the existential angst that all people experience. Read cover to cover, the anthology begins to feel suffocating in its predictability—smart folks reflecting smartly about their struggles with identity. But many of the individual essays are engaging, funny and provocative. Dena Katzen Seidel describes, in a strikingly detached tone, the emotional abuses doled out by her flaky mother, a Christian Scientist. Novelist Thisbe Nissen explains that every New Yorker is a little bit Jewish, while Renée Kaplan observes that the only deal her mismatched parents ever made and kept was the agreement to raise the kids Jewish. "My half-Jewishness is a memento of that short-lived moment of concord between the two," she muses with a touch of melancholy. Half-Jews will see themselves and their families in this book, and they will laugh, and maybe even cry, while reading. (Apr.)
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From the Publisher

ADVANCED PRAISE FOR HALF/LIFE:

"Half/Life is evocative, provacative and ultimately engrossing. Because of the cumulative effect of the intense individual gazes of each of its authors, it achieves breadth and depth a subject that resonates with all of us: identity. At turns hilarious and heart-wrenching—Half/Life is so full of life the essays leap from the page and burrow into the heart (and soul)."—Julianna Baggott, author of Girl Talk

"Half/Life comes at a time when it is most needed—in a culture which insists exclusive category at every turn, the tendency of stone writ rightness or wrongness of this or that so rampant in our religious, geographical, sexual, familial, artful, psychological, etymologic, and even culinary lives; the work here offers something rare, contemplative discourse about from where delineation is sprung, and questions those lines with a veracity and tenderness that is so relevant."—Brad Land, author of Goat

"A thoughtful, fun, and fabulous collection -- not just for children of interfaith marriages, but for anyone who has ever felt conflicted, questioning, or caught in between. With her wide-ranging and compulsively readable selections, Laurel Snyder makes a convincing case that living a Half/Life is not about being half empty or half full, but whole (and holy) in your in own way."—Peter Manseau, author of Vows and Killing the Buddha

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (April 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933368241
• ISBN-13: 978-1933368245
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing pretty devotedly, in one form or fashion, since I was about seven. In the fourth grade, I announced to the world that I planned to become "rich and famous writing books and plays for children!" Then I intended to adopt every stray dog and cat in the city of Baltimore and move them all into an old mansion, not far from where I lived.

Well, I'm not rich by any means, I live in a rather small brick house, and I only have one cat, but I am (blessedly) writing books for kids, and I couldn't be more amazed or delighted.

Most days I spend with my sons (who are tiny) smeared with peanut butter, finger paint, and silly joy. But late at night, I write these books... and I hope you'll read one...

And if you like that book, (or even if you don't) I hope you'll write to me, and say hello!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny insights into the evolving Jewish community, July 21, 2006

By 

Gerald L. Sorokin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes (Paperback)

This collection of essays--by a talented group of writers--confronts the big hidden question of the Jewish community: if you're not entirely Jewish, what's your status? With humor, irony, and some deep insights into the nature of community and self, Snyder and the other authors open our eyes to the richness of Half/Life--a status that's not less than Jewish, but different from Jewish. Unless the Jewish community understands that identity, it will lose the connection with this growing segment of the population.