Customer Reviews

Three Part Invention, a novel

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Alice is Jewish, growing up in New York, playing the piano, and marrying her music partner just as World War II's about to start. After the birth of their daughter Beth, Alice and Izzy move to Jersey, where Alice learns to deal with the quiet prejudice of her new neighbors--friendships that stop at the front door--and Beth absorbs a little too much American culture and American faith. Judith Laura's novel, Three Part Invention, runs the gamut of emotions; anger and hope lead to an early celebration of Hanukkah; a child's confusion challenges the world of religion and prejudice; a mother's pain and self-doubt lead to depression.

Lists of friends, clear and vivid memories, dress styles, weight problems, sickness, history, birth, and traditions all give the feeling of a life truly lived, though the changes in point of view can be distracting, particularly when the same event is seen through different eyes. As a non-Jewish reader, I was fascinated by the details of Jewish life--Sunday school, Confirmation classes, even the playing of the organ. But Beth grows up and now it's college life, music, racial integration, coffee shops, the Committee for Human Rights (and the question of whether it's a Communist front) that fill the pages.

Looking at prejudice from many different directions, and history from the vantage point of someone living through it; listening to traditions and music, and growing accustomed to the different voices of this novel's protagonists; feeling the winds of change blow through the pages; Three Part Invention tells Ali's story in three parts, building her from her family up, and leaving the reader on the stage as the future begins.

Disclosure: I read this novel as a judge in the Multi-Cultural sections of the Dan Poynter Global eBook Awards