Being a geezer I have rediscovered reading.
When I was young - pre-first grade - I was taken to the main public library in Indianapolis IN. Then it may have been the ONLY public library in Indianapolis. Now Indianapolis and the surrounding Marion County hosts the "Central" (a/k/a "main") library and 22 branches. I had a library card before my first grade class at Benjamin Franklin PS#2 was marched to get library cards; to earn a card we had to be able to print our name.
The library, unlike the school, is right where I left it - half-a-block down an alley from where I once lived.
Now basking in Florida's relatively warm - it was in the high 30s the other night - I still am hooked on libraries. I usually go through four or five books-a-week, books that range from the silly works of Janet Evanovich to classics such as Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Sun Tzu's The Art of War. My local lending library, despite being in the center of Hollywood's "Jewish section" doesn’t have a lot of "Jewish" books - although it does have Hebrew books in both adult and children's sections. (My synagogue also has books available; right now, Rambam's Mishna Torah has my attention.)
According to the author, " The Chaff is a story that grew out of my awareness of anti-Semitism that still lurks beneath the rocks where bigotry lives. I picked a time when that intransigent hatred reached the surface, 1881 Russia, after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. The story centers on a young woman who just wants to study and define herself (much like the average American trying to make their way through the constant pressures of modern life) when the world explodes around her and everything she knows and cares about is destroyed. She gets caught between forces over which she has no control."
Chafetz' lead character, Usell Binah, not only gets caught between political forces over which she has no control, but romantic forces as well. Unfortunately for me, I was left guessing which of the men in Usell's life would end up sharing the rest of her days.
An aside to Chafetz' book: Just before picking it up I was reading David Nirenberg's scholarly work Anti-Judaism. Nirenberg's book looks aT anti-Judaism from the time of the pharaoh who "didn't know Joseph" until the end of the 20th century.
The pogroms of the period in which Chafetz sets his work were, as Solomon pointed out, "nothing new under the sun."
I don't know much Russian history and while I did count a number of "Russians" - mostly from the Ukraine - as friends when I was in the ulpan (Kibbutz Netzer Sirni, 1975), I know little actual "Russian" history. I have read enough, however, to believe the scenes Chafetz portrays. Chafetz' antecedents came to the U.S. from the Ukraine and Belarus; I suspect he learned his "Russian" history at his parents' knees.
Because I am curious, I dug around the World Wide Web and found things about the Chafetz name I doubt even the author of The Chaff knows, including probable ancestors in Voronovo in Belarus; there is a site of photos at http://367-safe.com/voronovo/pictures.htm and the Chafetz name frequently appears.
All-in-all, I thought The Chaff was a pretty good yarn, although the end left me wondering with which male the young woman chose to continue her life.
The book may be ordered online at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Chaff-Joel-Chafetz/dp/0984049363 in paperback and for Kindle.
If you want an autographed copy of the 150-page paperback - signed by the author, not this scrivener - contact him at via his agent:
Nicole Chafetz
The CGK Family Law Firm
222 East Main Street Suite M
Auburn, WA 98002 . The cost for the book with author's signature is US$12.98, includes shipping.
It's worth a read and I understand it is the first of a trilogy.
