The places in Miriam Levine's In Paterson ignite the senses as you wander the dawn-streaked streets of Paterson, New Jersey in the years before World War II after the Great Depression, feel the softness of Ben Shein's fur coats, or smell the fresh tomatoes from South Jersey. The book has a gritty, other-worldly feel to it--like a dream you almost remember after a restless night--full of its implications as the facts of what occurred smear like lipstick on crystal.
Ben Shein is a widowed furrier who lives with his young daughter Susan and his widowed mother Brona and as the novel begins he is making a great success of his business. He meets a fragile and attractive young woman named Judith Karger. The story is really about the journey that the Shein family takes after Judith enters their life. Susan, a budding and talented artist, misses her mother and immediately distrusts and dislikes Judith.
The tragedy that ensues from this mix of dispositions and culture is haunting and the reader's visceral reaction mirrors the author's understated writing. The descriptions of everyday life drip with sensuality and linger like the smell of a good french roast. The book is thought-provoking, and at the same time, seems to capture a time in Paterson that was not as simple as it looked.
It is only fair to admit that Ms Levine was once a professor of mine and that made it difficult to review her book objectively. However--that being said--the writing is lush and surreal, and I highly encourage you to visit the author's fictional Paterson, New Jersey.
Leane M. Ellis, September 27, 2002.
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library
- lme.