Customer Reviews

The Same Embrace: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a gay jewish man who grew up outside of Boston, what can I say...I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Okay, I am an only child, and this work centers on two twin brothers, not something I thought I could relate too, but the basic emotions and search for love and acceptance cut through that.

Narrated by Jacob, the gay brother, we learn about teh close bond he shares with his brother Jonathan. ALthough they look alike, they are very different. In the end, Jonathan transforms from a party boy teen, to a devout Orthodox Jew in school in Jerusalem.

Jonathan can not accept his brother's homosexuality, and it made me wonder if he turned to religion in suppression of his own homosexual desires? Jacob sees he and his brother begin to grow apart intheir teens, and it is upsetting him.

What was revealed about the family's history in WWII in Nazi Germany shocked me, and that was when the book really kicks in. Jacob learns about an Aunt who was shunned by his Grandparents and I was completely thrown over!

This is a must read for any gay jew out there. And if you have ever been curious about jewish religion and history, regardless if you are gay or straight, I believe you will throroughly love this book!

Reading this again four years after I first read it, I'm still amazed at the scope and impact of the story. "The Same Embrace" centers on Jacob, gay and Jewish, whose twin brother Jonathan has embraced Orthodox Judaism and now lives in Israel. While mostly about the struggle of the two brothers to reconnect after years apart, the book also deals with the legacy of the Holocaust, the impact of family secrets, and the essence of family. For me though, it is the story of the two brothers that resonates so clearly and brilliantly. And by having the brothers be so similar and yet so different, Lowenthal presents the reader with a fascinating portrait of what could almost be two halves of a whole: one man trying to bring together his sexuality and his religious beliefs. Even without this context in mind (whether it's intended or not), "The Same Embrace" is a marvelous, insightful, and ultimately joyous story that expands past the genre distinctions of Jewish fiction and gay literature to a wholly American novel of family.

Now this is a good book. I don't share Lowenthal's perspective, so hopefully it's of some value that as a "general reader" I found this an utterly compelling read. He holds his own with my favorite classic novelists.

Identical Jewish American twins distinguish themselves by going in opposite directions - Jacob Rosenbaum is a gay activist and sensual playboy while Jonathan becomes an Orthodox Jew and scholar in Israel. Interestingly enough, the parents of these prodigies are troubled by the choices of both their sons. This is an excellent study of the two sides of the Jewish religion as well as the twins who are the central characters. - the compassionate, all-encompassing humanism of one interpretation and the hard, one-dimensional prejudice and hatred of another perhaps fundamentalist interpretation. I love this book for its courage in comparing the hard, unyielding and judgmental Jews like Papa Isaac, the rabbi grandfather of the twins to the cruel, hard judgmental Nazis who hound him and his family.

There are some graphic homosexual love scenes but, after all, why not? The compassionate side of Judaism can envision love as the conjunction of the sexual and spiritual spheres.

I read this book when it first came out years ago, and, like Lowenthal's other book, "Avoidance" I kept recollecting some of the dramatic dilemmas and situations he presents. I decided therefore to re-read it, and see if it held the same interest as it did originally: it did.

Lowenthal has written only two books that I know of, but he is a talented writer who has been masterful in both novels at presenting different but complementary plot lines, and at the end the reader is left with the sense that a big lesson about life has been vicariously but vividly experienced. Just don't expect wrenching story-telling.

Read this and "Avoidance", and see if you aren't also haunted by these books and characters for years to come.

THE SAME EMBRACE tells the story of identical twins, Jacob and Jonathan, who once shared an unbreakable bond and synchronized their breathing, had gone separate ways divided by religious faith, desire, and sexual identity. Jonathan has taken up Orthodox Judaism, settled in a yeshiva in Jerusalem, and scrupulously observed all religious creeds. Halfway around the world at home, Jacob, also at the age of 24, is a gay activist in Boston who has just mourned the death of his partner and assumes little hope for a heartwarming reconciliation with his estranged brother.

Jacob has always blamed the church and its invidious indoctrination for his brother's isolation from family. The novel begins with Jacob's mission to convince Jonathan returning home from Israel, at least for a visit. The trip, as promising as it initially seems to be, with both brothers being unusually polite to each other, meets a disastrous conclusion as Jacob's inappropriate (borderline lewd) behavior with Jonathan's study partner sends him packing homeward. What has attempted to break the ice between the brothers causes a breach that teeters on the edge of hatred.

The narrative in THE SAME EMBRACE alternates between the present and Jacob's childhood memories. Entwined with family anecdotes and Jewish traditions are Jacob's own reflections of his coming out to his family. Lowenthal writes about Jacob's indecipherable fear and insecurity of his sexual identity as well as his guilt of his self-censorship with an insurmountable adroitness. The novel sets against the backdrop of a time that is struck by the convergence of so many momentous happenings: the initiative campaign, the Bush/Clinton/Perot presidential debate, the Columbus quincentenary (1992) and the launch of AIDS quilt display. In the heat of a politics-dabbled milieu, Jacob contrives to rebounce from anger and alienation toward reconciliation and acceptance. An unexpected arrival of an unheard-of relative during a family mourning spurs him onto love and hope in reconciling with his twin brother and rekindles a hopeful future.

THE SAME EMBRACE embraces the essence of a young gay man's inner struggle: a prickling dilemma of wanting to tell the truth but lacking the courage. Jacob finds himself caught in the hypocrisy that his relationship with his family is superficial and even fake because people are not seeing the real him. THE SAME EMBRACE evokes the love the that allows families to embrace the difference of one another.

What I most enjoyed about this book was it beautifully told of a relationship between a gay brother and a straight brother. As the two were trying to discover some common ground after all they'd gone through as kids and so far as adults, I felt a resonance with my own life. There's no guarantee they'll ever become close, but they just might try anyway. It reminded me somewhat of the movie "In the Gloaming" where I wanted to get back in contact with my family. Another reading of the twin brothers is that it's two aspects of one mind trying to figure itself out. It's like the gay side of the brain is conversing with the side that was brought up to believe that being gay is wrong and the only life is through strict religion. I'm sure there's more levels that that could take, too.

To paraphrase an old ad slogan for Levi's Rye Bread, you don't have to be Jewish or gay to love Michael Lowenthal's first novel. All you have to be is someone who grew up in a less-than-perfect family. Anchored by the angst of half-a-twin Jacob Rosenbaum whose other family members are long on silences and short on support, we cross oceans and generations to put the mysterious pieces of this puzzling clan together. The isolation each brother feels (one for his sexual orientation, the other for his choice to become a fundamentalist Jew) proves to be just the tip of the iceberg that passes for warmth in this outwardly nuclear family. The antithesis of a soap opera, this nonetheless compelling page-turner is a blend of craftily forshadowed plot and vibrantly visual prose. Here's an original storyteller who can take easily pidgeon-holed plot devices and unfold the tale for the broadest possible readership. Lowenthal choses to be true to his true-to-life muse rather than to slavishly tie too many loose ends together. The result is a giant canvass with enough white space to leave the reader both satisfied and wanting more. Having discussed this novel in a formal book group comprised of Christians and Jews, straights and gays, its mainstream appeal has passed the test of eight extremely critical readers. May Michael Lowenthal find eight million more.

I'm neither Jewish nor do I have a twin, but I really enjoyed this book. The subject matter was not an easy one to tackle, but I think Lowenthal did a great job of balancing each of the characters. While there is a main character, Jacob, the book is not entirely about him. I would not characterize this as a religious book, yet I feel I learned something about what it means to be Jewish through the story and dialogue. I also would not characterize this as a gay romance either, yet there were moments of feeling and physical passion to make the story appealing on that level too. For a first book, this is an impressive effort for Lowenthal and I enjoyed and finished reading this book much faster than I thought I would. It felt good.

From start to finish the writer holds you with his tale of life. His Jewish background parallels so many of our lives that are gay and Jewish. Michael Lowenthal does a superb and gripping job of a not so uncommon struggle for today's gay Jewish male. Hopefully, he will continue the story where he leaves off, as he has left me hungry for more details of what happens between jacob/danny/jonathan/their father/aunt ingrid etc!