In the Image: A Novel [Paperback]

Dara Horn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

A young woman's coming of age, a romantic love story, and a spiritual journey—each infused with the lessons of history.

In the Image is an extraordinary first novel illuminated by spiritual exploration, one that remembers "a language, a literature, a held hand, an entire world lived and breathed in the image of God."

Bill Landsmann, an elderly Jewish refugee in a New Jersey suburb with a passion for travel, is obsessed with building his slide collection of images from the Bible that he finds scattered throughout the world. The novel begins when he crosses paths with his granddaughter's friend, Leora, and continues by moving forward through her life and backward through his, revealing the unexpected links between his family's past and her family's future.

Not just a first novel but a cultural event—a wedding of secular and religious forms of literature—In the Image neither lives in the past nor seeks to escape it, but rather assimilates it, in the best sense of the word, honoring what is lost and finding, among the lost things, the treasures that can renew the present. Reading group guide included.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In an enchanting, introspective and emotionally charged debut, Horn travels back and forth through time and space offering snapshots of the intertwining lives of Vienna native William Landsmann and his late granddaughter's best friend, Leora. Following the hit-and-run accident that killed his granddaughter Naomi in the suburbs of New Jersey, the depressed Landsmann tries to forge a friendship with high school student Leora by showing her slides from his travels, image after endless image. As Leora matures and slowly heals from the loss, she meets and falls in love with Jason, a college jock who has his heart set on caring for the elderly until he undergoes a religious transformation. Things end badly with Jason, but a few years later, Leora meets introspective Jake, at a lecture on Spinoza in Amsterdam. Jake, to Leora's fascination, "could have been born in any era, in any place in the world, and would probably have turned out more or less the same." Tossed into the mix are flashbacks from Landsmann's childhood and stories of his grandmother Leah, who flings her father's tefillin into New York Harbor at the tragic end of a love affair. Horn examines the religious and secular choices of each character, questioning the true nature of Judaism and of faith in general without being preachy or overly judgmental. An occasional stiffness in the narration is overcome by the warmth of her appreciation of Jewish culture and heritage, and she makes eloquent use of recurring motifs-modeling clay, photographs, miniature dollhouses and deep sea diving among them-as she captures life in early 20th-century Europe and contemporary New York.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Horn, a journalist and a scholar, debuts with a story that is partly about the Jewish immigrant experience and partly about people seeking love, commitment, and fulfillment, at times within a religious and cultural context. The book opens with the sudden death of a teenage girl, which brings together for a short time the girl's grandparents, Bill and Anna Landesmann, and her best friend, Leora. These lives eventually diverge, with passages alternating between the grandfather's European beginnings and Leora's quest for meaning as a young adult. Horn effectively draws the reader into the losses and desperation felt by these American Jewish immigrants while also portraying them as strong and hopeful people who believe that here is better than there. With Leora in particular, the author has created a woman of depth and complexity whose emotions and reactions often resonate with accuracy. Even those characters embodying the worst of human nature are compelling. Strongly recommended for larger fiction collections.
Maureen Neville, Trenton P.L., NJ
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393325261
• ISBN-13: 978-0393325263
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dara Horn was born in New Jersey in 1977 and received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard University in 2006, focusing on Hebrew and Yiddish. In 2007 Dara Horn was chosen by Granta magazine as one of the "Best Young American Novelists". Her first novel, "In the Image," published by W. W. Norton when she was 25, received a 2003 National Jewish Book Award, the 2002 Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and the 2003 Reform Judaism Fiction Prize. Her second novel, "The World to Come," published by W. W. Norton in January 2006, received the 2006 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the 2007 Harold U. Ribalow Prize, was selected as an Editor's Choice in The New York Times Book Review and as one of the Best Books of 2006 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and has been translated into eleven languages. She has taught courses in Jewish literature and Israeli history at Harvard and at Sarah Lawrence College, and has lectured at universities and cultural institutions throughout the United States and Canada. Her new novel, "All Other Nights," was published by W. W. Norton in April 2009. She lives with her husband, daughter and two sons in New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most enjoyable things I've read in a long time, November 21, 2002

By 

BW (Menlo Park, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Image: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a fantastic book; I would recommend it to anyone: Jew, gentile, and in-between.

The story lines are great, especially those set in modern times; I think that some of the scenes in the book will resonate strongly with (and amuse!) anyone who has had contact with the religious Jewish community. (I especially got a kick out of the use of the term "Mad Hatter" to describe a formerly non-religious Jewish boy who turns deeply religious later in life.) The balance between seriousness and glibness is struck perfectly.

What I found most impressive about this book was its accessibility. It is a really cleverly-written book with many layers (with all kinds of references to stories and ideas from the Bible and Jewish tradition... and I'm sure there are many that I missed), yet it is not pretentious at all. This is rare and very refreshing. Horn is able to write a great book without resorting to making her writing purposefully obscure or weird; this quality truly distinguishes _In the Image_.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning literary achievement, November 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Image: A Novel (Hardcover)

I must say, in the absence of overzealous marketing, I simply did not know to expect so much from this outstanding debut. (This book thankfully does not seem to have fallen victim to the overhyped and often misleading marketing campaigns so typical of young debut novelists.) But it deserves all the attention and praise of the year's "hot new fiction," and then some. I was stunned by this young author's ability to apply her real wisdom and appreciation for history, culture, and literature, to an engrossing story that flows across generations and continents. Every line seems imbedded with literary or philosophical meaning that becomes palpable as you near the second half of the book, culminating in two final chapters that are shocking in their originality of style and substance. It is a story that will speak to anyone, whether young or old, Jewish or not, someone out for a "literary" experience, or someone just looking for an enjoyable book that leaves you with many things to think about even as it entertains with its mysteries of character and faith. The layers of the story make this a book you can enjoy again and again as you reread it (I am halfway through my second reading). One criticism, though, is that it takes until about the third chapter for the author's full momentum to get going. But once you realize how the chapters start inter-connecting, the effect is staggering, sort of like a mystery you didn't realize was being woven all around you. Going back to re-read all the things you miss on the first pass feels like a guilty pleasure. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the bunch, November 7, 2002

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Image: A Novel (Hardcover)

The last year has seen a spate of first novels by Jewish -- and, more importantly, Jewishly aware -- authors... "In the Image" is... a phenomenal read. Any student of Yiddish literature will recognize deliberately traced patterns of Singer, Peretz, Sforim and other giants of the Yiddish canon throughout what proves to be a carefully crafted, deeply thoughtful meditation on identity and meaning in modern life. This is not to say that one has to be a Yiddishist to appreciate it as a work of art: "In the Image" is the beautiful, well-written and closely felt statement of a brilliant mind.

Make no mistake: its relative lack of flattering press clippings notwithstanding (and it is encouraging to note that those publications that have reviewed this book have done so in the most positive, enthusiastic fashion imaginable), this is the best work of Jewish-themed fiction -- one might even say the best work of fiction, period -- by a new author in years... Dara Horn has genuine talent and evidences an equally genuine passion for the written word. I look forward to following her career as it develops.