Secret Anniversaries of the Heart: New and Selected Stories by Lev Raphael [Paperback]

Lev Raphael (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

“The power of Raphael’s stories comes from his passion for telling the truth, however painful.”—Hadassah Magazine

“His characters are voices of reason, observers rather than judges. The prose is poetic, the sex scenes sweat with passion.”—Los Angeles Times

When Lev Raphael published the controversial story collection Dancing on Tisha B’av, he broke new ground in the publishing world. Never before in one book had an American writer dealt with the conflicts between homosexuality and traditional Judaism, linked the chilling mind diseases of antisemitism and homophobia, and borne witness not only to the legacy of Holocaust survivors but the suffering and conflicts of their children. Winner of the prestigious Lambda Literary Award, Raphael opened the door to a new kind of American Jewish fiction.

Secret Anniversaries of the Heart unites the best stories from Dancing on Tisha B’av with 12 new stories, including one never before published. Here we encounter tales of antisemitism on the college campus, of self-hatred and body obsession, and of survivor parents whose only response to the Holocaust is to isolate themselves, unconsciously committing a kind of emotional suicide.

In a collection that encompasses over 25 years of his award-winning stories, Lev Raphael proves himself a visionary like James Baldwin and shares Anita Brookner’s gift for dramatizing the pain of seemingly quiet lives in stories that are both passionate and precise.

Lev Raphael is the author of 17 books published in a dozen languages. A winner of the Lambda Literary Award, among many prizes, his short works have appeared in numerous anthologies, including the star-packed Who We Are: On Being (and Not Being) A Jewish American Writer (Schocken/Random House). The author of a popular mystery series, he performs all over the country and hosts a weekly book show on NPR.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Michigan NPR commentator Raphael is the author of Little Miss Evil and other mysteries; he also penned The German Money and other "second generation" fiction centered on the children of Holocaust survivors; coauthored Coming Out of Shame and other nonfiction works on being gay and Jewish; and wrote a memoir, Writing a Jewish Life, also pubbing in January (Reviews, Nov. 28). About half of these 25 stories are new; others appeared in his collection Dancing on Tisha B'Av. In many of them, the children of Holocaust survivors grapple with their parents' silences and disclosures, caught in the eddies of their losses and expectations. Many of the protagonists are gay, considering their Judaism and their sexuality with measures of passion and reluctance. Raphael's language is searching and expansive, but the awkward dance between Old and New World repeats from story to story; while the facts surrounding the tensions change, the characters take on a studied familiarity. (Jan.)
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About the Author

Lev Raphael is the author of fifteen books and known internationally as the chronicler of the lives of the children of Holocaust survivors. Winner of the Lambda Literary Award, among many prizes, his short works have appeared in two dozen anthologies. He performs all over the country at Jewish Book Fairs and has a weekly book show on NPR.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Leapfrog Press (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972898476
• ISBN-13: 978-0972898478
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,303,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lev Raphael has wanted to be an author since he was in second grade, and he's not only achieved his dream, he's published 19 books in genres from memoir to mystery; had his books translated into nearly a dozen languages; appeared in two documentaries; won various prizes; done hundreds of invited talks and readings on three different continents; recently sold his literary papers (92 boxes!) to the Michigan State University Libraries (MSUL); been the subject of scholarly articles, papers and book chapters; and seen his work taught at colleges and universities around the country. Which means he's become homework. Who knew?

Born and raised in New York, he got over it and has spent half his life in Michigan. He's a pioneer in writing about children of Holocaust survivors, which he's been doing since 1978, longer than almost any other American author. He frequently tours with his books (check http://www.levraphael.com for his current schedule) and is currently touring with My Germany, a memoir/travelogue exploring the role Germany has played in his family, his life, and his career. After he escaped academe to write full-time, he reviewed extensively for over a decade for the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Radio, The Washington Post, Jerusalem Report, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Forward, Boston Review, and Lambda Book Report. He now reviews for Bibliobuffet.com and WKAR 90.5 FM/East Lansing Public Radio, and when he's not busy, he sometimes imagines some graduate student years from now in the MSUL archives puzzling over his handwriting.

A seasoned reader of his own work, with a background in theater and teaching, he loves the performance aspect of touring, as well as meeting people he'd never meet back home. And the sightseeing. And the foreign foods. German fans in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hannover, Magdeburg, Dessau and Halle will get to hear him next fall. Stay tuned to this page or check his web site for details of his next German book tour. For photos and description of previous sones, go to http://www.levraphael.com/europe_photos.html.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of the Best, October 7, 2006

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secret Anniversaries of the Heart: New and Selected Stories by Lev Raphael (Paperback)

Ever since Yom Kippur I've been reading this book of stories as though my life depended on it, and strangers have gotten used to the sight of my walking down the street, boarding the cable car, and poking my way through the alleys of San Francisco with Lev Raphael's book propped up in front of my face. I might as well have a cane because I'm blind to everything else when I'm reading one of his books. And this one, i think, must be the best of them all, for as a collection of stories this improves on his earlier DANCING ON TISHA B'AV by abstracting the best of them and then adding as many more. The first book came out perhaps 15 years ago, and since then he has only gotten even more into writing, and his wisdom about people has only grown, exponentially as it happens, so when you read one of his stories, it is like having a new life to live.

I don't know much about Jewish life so I don't know how accurate he is being about the mindset and customs of his characters (though I should say, not all of them are Jewish) but even a Gentile like me, who hardly ever has a religious thought in his head, comes to understand some of the conflicts shown by his people. In the title story, a writer living in Michigan with a successful and somewhat overbearing partner joins a writing group and encounters a Hungarian novelist with a mean streak who runs the group like a little Dick Cheney. To his chagrin, David can't speak up against this tyrant's ranting, even when it turns homophobic and a Bolivian newcomer is attacked for his poetry. Another workshop participant, Chase, reveals in rapid succession that not only is he Jewish, but he's on the down low, a married man with a hankering for David. To his surprise, Jake (his boyfriend) and his accepting nature helps him realize that his paralysis during the workshop has everything to do with his now dead mother, who was a survivor of a death camp and who just wasn't emotionally available to little David. She kept a suitcase under her bed just in case the Nazis, or their US equivalent, came again, and now David and Jake reflect that such a time may not be too far away. "She'd take it out and update the contents once or twice a year, always on the same date. Why those particular days? She never explained, but the bag was always ready, and so was she."

While our shelves groan with volumes of the American short story, we have a wealth of talent, but if I had a suitcase under my bed and wanted to take just a few books of the best, I would pack my Raymond Carver, my Grace Paley, and my book of Lev Raphael stories. He is beyond wonder, beyond guessing, his talent overflows like the gift of itself.

And plus, in "The Pathfinder," he has written possibly the sexiest story of all time. Check!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small press, big book, January 25, 2006

By 

Dr. Dr. "Retired Academic" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Anniversaries of the Heart: New and Selected Stories by Lev Raphael (Paperback)

PW has it all wrong. I totally agree with the Kirkus review which says in part:"Raphael writes from a highly distinctive perspective: a compassionate celebrant of souls squeezed by mainstream pressures and fighting for pride. Concerned ultimately with the struggle for love both human and divine, these are searing stories." The full review can be found on Raphael's web site and it's clear this is an important and must-read book for fans of the short story and contemporary literature. Secret Anniversaries of the Heart is a quiet blockbuster, as important in its own way as Raphael's Writing a Jewish Life, also out this winter. What a gift for his fans!

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, August 2, 2011

By 

D. Casto "Tweety" (St. Petersburg, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secret Anniversaries of the Heart: New and Selected Stories by Lev Raphael (Paperback)

He's a very good writer. As an atheist non-Jew non-Christian person, it was interesting to read, especially from the children of the holocaust survivors point of view.