Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound [Paperback]

Judith Katz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This eclectic first novel about a Jewish family with three daughters unfolds through the female voices of the family; even the much-maligned mother is given the chance to speak and defend herself. Most of the plot concerns two of the sisters: Nadine, a troubled violin player, who has been estranged from her family since the Friday evening she set her hair on fire; and Jane, who is torn between her political identity as a lesbian and her family identity as a ``good daughter''--a conflict that comes to a head as she prepares to be maid of honor in the wedding of the third sister, Electa. Nadine and Jane's accidental meeting in New Chelm, the lesbian Jewish community in which they both reside, is the beginning of a series of events that eventually lead the sisters back to their family. A number of surprising and hugely comical turns keeps the story moving, although it slows down a bit during a trip through a mirror to a land where events in Jewish women's history reoccur and with the constant retelling of dreams. There is sorrow as well as laughter in this novel. At one point the mother reveals that her painstaking preparations for her daughter's wedding were the closest she could get to her childhood dream of becoming a rabbi.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 186 pages
• Publisher: Firebrand Books (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563410192
• ISBN-13: 978-1563410192
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,573,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical, December 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound (Paperback)

Uneven at times, but within its covers there is music to be found. It is difficult to write a novel with different perspectives, but Katz pulls it off. Here, the story is told in the first person by the different characters. An emotionally fragile, outcast of a daughter who sets herself on fire, a resentful mother who hasn't made peace with her own parent, and a lesbian sister trapped between two conflicting worlds, struggle to live their lives while caught in each other's webs. There are beautiful moments laced throughout, and images that soar. From the onset we are warned that "Nadine and my mother rubbed against each other and made dangerous sparks", and we are taken along on an unusual ride. Nadine's pain and abandonment are compelling, and coupled with her mental illness, I was left with a sad yearning for her to find peace. "Me, I bay and bay but nobody hears me. . .Do you see me? Nobody puts the fire out, but nobody burns either. Only me." Near the end of the book, the story heads in a direction I didn't really care for, a magical realm of past lives and struggles, but the writing and imagery continued to shine.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this Book!, November 12, 2001

By 

Matthew McBee (Cookeville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound (Paperback)

Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound by Judith Katz is an examination of the lives of a Jewish family in the late sixties. The story is told from a variety of viewpoints, but centers around the experiences of Nadine and Jane Morningstar, two daughters, who leave their home for the small college town of New Chelm. Both of them happen to be lesbians, and both of them quickly settle into the lesbian subculture of New Chelm's feminist movement. (Actually, it is questionable whether or not New Chelm houses any heterosexual residents, as they play no role in the experience of the women who live there.) Although the story centers around a thrice-marginalized group (e.g., lesbian Jewish women), the themes of alienation, familial dysfunction, coming-of-age, identity formation, drug addiction, and romantic obsession make the story extremely accessible to anyone who did not have a perfect adolescence. Perhaps the crux of Katz's genius lies in her ability to render each character in such an honest, realistic light that one begins to really understand and experience the uncommon struggles of these women. She creates such intimacy between the reader and the characters that the reader finds himself or herself forgetting the cultural, sexual, or religious differences that may exist between them and instead experiencing the events of the story along with the characters. The book's ability to produce this profound understanding, which is needed so desperately, is reason enough to recommend it to a wide readership, but Katz has done much more than producing a book that promotes understanding and empathy. Upon closer examination, one discovers that Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound is not about lesbians, Jews, the mentally ill, or females. It is in fact a penetrating, honest, and entertaining examination of the human condition in modern society. Katz's greatest strength lies in her characterization, specifically in establishing a unique voice for each character, the realistic portrayal thereof, and her ability to advance the plot through the subjective viewpoints of such different viewpoints and voices. Her greatest weakness, perhaps, lies in her usage of clichéd elements, such as Rose's "trip through the mirror." These clichés, though very rare, do mar an otherwise beautiful piece of writing, but the impact of these flaws on the total experience of reading the work is quite minimal.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Actually, 3 1/2, March 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound (Paperback)

Others have said it, and I repeat the sentiments of those who have gone before me. This is a wonderful and engrossing read--the kind of book you could read in a few hours if you were so inclined. The characters and storyline are moving and touch upon many emotions. Katz is particularly good at capturing the different voices of her protagonists. My only complaint is the extended magical realism portion that occurs in the last two-thirds of the book. In such a short novel, I found it distracting and even in a lengthier piece I may have felt like it was forced as well as a distraction from the main story. Regardless, this is a book that upon finishing I immediately turned and handed to my roomate who took it in one big gulp. This is what can happen when families literally drive one another nuts and when political types lose sight of the lives of the people they profess to help. The book is also meditation of loving someone whether or not they are capable of giving back 100 percent.