Jay Greenfield

Greenfield, who was raised in Rockaway and was a respected trial lawyer with an international law firm, has written this engaging and thought –provoking debut novel from his heart. It is a coming of age story filled with secrets, lies, and an overwhelming sense of grief. Spanning decades, Paul, the protagonist, is forced to confront his moral culpability, the legacy of impossible loss, and the claims of his Jewish identity. He is haunted by relatives who survived the Holocaust, benefitting from their tragic past, which helped to put him through law school and provided the ring on his fiancée’s finger. Themes of difficult family relationships and guilt are combined with evocative descriptions of settings spanning the years of his life. There is a musical element hovering over the story of whether Jews should perform or listen to Wagner’s music. The novel pits the legacy of the Holocaust against the conflicting morality of ambition.
You can find this engrossing novel in the paperback display rack on your right as you enter the library. If it is already checked out please add your name to the waiting list found on the clip board on the blue cart. The library is open all summer!… (meer)