Customer Reviews

Kaaterskill Falls

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

A small sect of Orthodox Jews comes each summer to a tiny town in upstate NY, supposedly the devout followers of Rav Elijah Kirshner. But all is not calm, all is not bright. Some struggle with ghosts from the past, with desires related to the modern world outside their restrictive sect. Elizabeth Shulman, mother of 5, is feeling the heebie-jeebies, restless as she craves something more than toiling at household chores day in and day out. Renee, whose father is a Holocaust survivor, becomes friends with a girl from `outside,' and all sorts of possibilities suddenly open to her.
This is a quiet book, a soft and subtle book, but the individual characters will captivate you and stay with you for a long time.

As someone with largely Catholic heritage (the expression "recovering Catholic" applies neatly here), I worried that I would find no point of entry into Goodman's book for one who knows little about Judaism and especially Orthodox Judaism. How wrong I was. In her careful chronicle of a relationship, a community, a family of people with faith, Kaaterskill Falls eludes cliche' or severity. That overweening, heavy sense of Faith that so often invades novels involving religion, so that my fellow 20-somethings and I cower and read High Fidelity instead -- that is nowhere to be found here. Instead, against the backdrop of tangibly beautiful, almost edible countrysides, men and women shed their city personas and relax. You taste the cherry rugelach they eat, you feel the heat of an argument based on faith -- you must have had one at some point in your life -- and this book reflects such everyday experience with subtlety and wit.

The love story is so true; so full of angles and points, and tiny discussions about daily life. Goodman leaves in the tangible and leaves out "summer vacation" schmaltz, the absence of which one reviewer bemoans. A beautiful, respectful, unintimidating novel.

I loved this book! As a secular Jew, I have often wondered how Orthodox women have been able to reconcile their intellectual, spiritual, familial, and cultural worlds in an atmosphere that seems to deny them voice. Allegra Goodman has done an outstanding job of developing strong characters whose struggles to define themselves and their world often puts them at odds with all they have been taught to believe. I admired Elizabeth even as I became impatient with her; likewise I anxiously awaited Nina's growth that would allow her to assume status within her husband's family. I've recommended this book to many people; I was literally transported into the world of Katerskill Falls, and didn't want to leave.

The vacation community of Kaaterskill Falls is dominated by townies and the Kirshner community of Jews, who leave Washington Heights every summer and spend the summer in this lovely New York town. This book chronicles the lives of the Kirshner Jews, intertwining stories of the Rav, the leader of the community, and his struggles with his two sons, with stories of a Jewish woman, Elizabeth, who struggles with the operation of a store and the unexpected birth of a new child. Minor characters flesh out the feel of a Jewish community in the 1970s.

The writing and story telling is so smooth that you come to enjoy each character, and to look forward to their exposition. Characters are vivid -- even if they do not develop much.

The book falls short on several levels. First, you do not learn anything useful or telling about Jewish life in America. The Kirshners are in many senses a fringe community, but not a particularly interesting one. Their struggles with acculturization are not well told, and their conflicts with the townies are muted and uninteresting. Second, you do not learn anything fun or useful about vacations in America -- this very much wastes the backdrop of Kaaterskill Falls. Some plot elements seem forced -- a mysterious car accident seems to have no real plot purpose.

This book is ultimately about relationships -- sons and fathers, brothers, husbands, wives, kids. It is about orthodoxy and rule bound religion and what it means to be a good person. The book is a good read and fun, but stops short of penetrating any great questions or developing any character too well, too deep, with too much meaning.

This books succeeds on a number of levels. It vividly portrays life in a very conservative Jewish sect. The many characters in this novel deal with the restrictions imposed by the religious leaders in their own individual ways - some challenging, some subversive, some submissive.

Within this context the reader will find the classic themes of parent/child conflicts, marital problems, the joys and constrictions of community life.

The author wisely does not give us tidy endings, leaving some loose ends, just as life does. But what I went away with was an idea of the direction in which the characters were going and how they had changed and (most of them) grown in the two years covered by the book. This is a good and satisfying read.

I picked up this book because I am interested in Jewish American literature and I liked the premise of the book -- the life inside a small, somwhat cloistered community. What I found though to be the overarching problem with this book is that Goodman looks at this world from such a distance that the story is ultimately unengaging. Other readers have complained that it's boring or that there's no plot -- I know what they're referring to, but I think it's not so much the lack of plot that makes it a boring read as it is the fact that there's so little passion here. Even the writing is so unwaveringly precise that instead of being a virtue of the book, it becomes a flaw, rendering the book dainty instead of daring. I came away from this book wishing that something, anything, might shake Goodman up a bit, that next time we might see some flash of real emotion, some hint of unrestrained raw energy.

I first read this book a few years ago and have since re-read it, recommended it, and given it to many people. The setting, an orthodox Jewish family in the Catskills one summer in the 1970's, does not sound very promising as a popular reading book, but of course that's the joy of really great writing. And Allegra Goodman is definitely a great writer: funny, insightful, casually profound. I've enjoyed everything I've read by her, beginning with a short story I found in a collection of Great Stories by Jewish Writers. Totally unknown to me and up next to works by Singer and other icons, her story in the collection was easily the best, in my opinion. I'm not Jewish, I might add, nor particularly interested in "the varieties of religious experience," but then she doesn't write about religion per se. Her characters are just very interesting people. That said, the culture her characters inhabit is fascinating and entirely accessible. I used to teach Comparative Literature at the college level, and I would definitely recommend this book to teachers, and students, as well as anyone else who has an imagination and knows good writing when they see it.

After reading both KAATERSKILL FALLS and PARADISE PARK, I feel that Ms. Goodman's talent lies in masterful characterization. From the lost yet loveable Sharon Speigelman of PARADISE PARK to Elizabeth Schulman and the surrounding Kaaterskill community, the characters are always interesting, always real!

KAATERSKILL FALLS is the story of a community of Orthodox Jews who migrate between Washington Heights (Brooklyn) and Kaaterskill Falls, an Upstate NY community, in the summer. This novel deals with this community's relationship with both non-Jews and non-religious Jews as well as with their own feelings toward their religion.

I have read some reviews saying that this book went nowhere. My perspective is somewhat different: Ms. Goodman writes here about a slice of life and life doesn't always have definite conclusions; it doesn't usually wrap itself up in a neat little ball. Plateaus may be reached but there are always new mountains to climb and ongoing decisions to be made.The novelist, in my opinion, is intentionally leaving us with questions, thus enhancing our imagination and perhaps even leaving the door open for a sequel (How about it, Ms. Goodman? I'd love to find out how Chani ever managed to explore her budding yet forbidden Zionist sentiments! How does she ever manage to get to Israel anyway?)

I look forward to reading Allegra Goodman's short stories next!

This is a tight, sociological and psychological novel about a community of Orthodox Jews; although she follows many intersecting characters, this is primarily the story of a young, married woman with five children who wants to express her personality apart from being a homemaker while staying within the community. The theme is reflected in the development of some of the children. It's moving and it moves!

I found this novel to be very thought provoking. It accurately describes the world of Elizabeth Shulman (for me, the main character) as one that is confining (not necessarily in a bad way). When she sees the painting it evokes in her a passion, defining her as an artist. From then on she is on a mission to create something that is her own, her art if you will. The store represents her individuality and her ability to remain both a part of her summer community and to be independent and artistic. We all feel (or at least I do) heartbroken at the new rav's decision concerning her store, after all she goes from having created something from scratch to book-keeping and taking orders. I would strongly recommend this novel to anyone interested in seeing a mind that has been enlarged, or anyone who loves the romantic writers.