- Paperback: 164 pages
- Publisher: Hushion House (January 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1902881826
- ISBN-13: 978-1902881829
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.1 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #526,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Based on novelist Ragen's own experiences growing up in an ethnically mixed low-income housing project in the Rockaways, this novel opens a window into the bittersweet world of the Markowitz family as they struggle to make ends meet in 1950s New York City. A first-generation Jewish immigrant with incredible reserves of optimism and ambition, David Markowitz trades in his religious identity for the promised gold of America, believing that "if you really wanted to, if you worked your can off, you could not only get out of Brooklyn, but get Brooklyn out of you." After being conned into making a bad investment that leaves him and his family financially and emotionally bankrupt, David dies suddenly. For the first time in her life, his wife, Ruth, must take sole responsibility for her three children, something that seems overwhelmingly difficult. Ruth manages to enroll her eldest son, Jesse, and her daughter, Sara, at a private Jewish day school. Sara embraces her educational and spiritual environment and finds hope and self-renewal in the form of her parents' lost religion. But Jesse, to his mother's dismay, refuses to attend the school and instead self-educates himself in business so that he can fulfill his father's vision of success. Terrorizing his mother with his unreasonable plans and propositions, he self-destructs. Ragen (The Ghost of Hannah Mendes; Sotah) elaborates on her usual themes, extolling the comforting power of faith in a hostile modern world. Working with familiar characters, plot and setting, she crafts a comforting if somewhat shopworn tale of family, hope, religion and the dark side of the American dream.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.Book Description
Set in the 1950's in New York City, CHAINS AROUND THE GRASS is a portrait of a Jewish-American family that glows with affection, tenderness, and courage when tragedy changes the lives of all who are left behind. A passionately personal and heartfelt book, based heavily on autobiographical material, this is the book Ms. Ragen says that she became an author to write.
Sara is barely six years old when her beloved father unexpectedly vanishes from her life. Her mother, Ruth, a dreamy and reluctant housewife, is now left with three small children to bring up, and the knowledge that she will somehow have to pick up the pieces, if she is to survive and fend for the family. But Sara takes up a vigil at the window of their dismal apartment, refusing to accept that her father won't be coming back.
"She thought of herself as a lighthouse keeper, a watchman on guard, a sailor on the topmost rigging, scouting for land. It was her duty to be there when the magic moment happened as it surely must, for no other explanation made any sense.
She scouted the men passing by, searching for those of a certain height, a certain weight, a certain walk... She followed each with hope until he turned right instead of left or left instead of right, or drew close enough to prove too tall or too short, too thin or two heavy. And each disappointment chipped away at her hope, reducing it, but never actually killing it. Like a plant cut to the ground, the roots sent up foolish new growth that twined around the facts, embellishing them, giving them something akin to beauty."
To this bittersweet and moving tale of childhood and the loss of innocence, the author brings the added intensity of a personal memoir. This is Naomi Ragen at her best, her writing charged with a searing, emotional truth as she unravels a tale of childhood, betrayal and the unending resilience of family love. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Depressing novel about a family mired in poverty.,
By
This review is from: Chains Around the Grass (Hardcover)
Naomi Ragen's four previous novels dealt with Orthodox Jews and their personal problems and struggles. These novels were intensely human, very frank and controversial. In a departure from these themes, Ragen's new novel, "Chains Around the Grass," focuses on the unfortunate Markowitz family and their myriad personal problems. The time is the 1950's and David Markowitz, husband of Ruth, and father of three children, is again forcing the family to move, for the fourth time in ten years. He is a dreamer who thinks that one day he will strike it rich, and his family will then have the life that they deserve. For the time being, however, the Markowitz family is moving into a low-income housing project in Far Rockaway, Queens, while David plies his trade as a taxicab driver. "Chains Around the Grass" does not succeed, mostly because Ragen has no central focus beyond describing the family's miserable lives. She touches on many themes, but they do not coalesce into a satisfying whole. Ruth Markowitz stays at home with the children, as was traditional in the pre-feminist fifties, although she has few domestic skills. Her considerable brains and talent are underutilized, which contributes to her depression and keeps the family income low. David is a charming but unstable man. He fights with his relatives who are better off than he, and he is simply unable to work at a steady job long enough to make good. None of these themes has enough resonance to make the novel come alive. The book does have its poignant moments, especially those that center around the middle-child, Sarah. She is an excellent student, who believes that school and perhaps religion will be her ticket out of her dead-end existence. However, Ragen does not show us what is unique about this family and why their story is worth telling. "Chains Around the Grass" is little more than a very bleak story about a very unhappy family.
2.0 out of 5 stars
I've read better by her,
By Heather (Lafayette Hill, PA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Chains Around the Grass (Hardcover)
I typically love Naomi Ragen's book, but this one left a lot to be desired. I believe that she felt that she needed to write a book and this is the first thing that came out of her pen.While the first half of the book is the story of Dave, the husband, the second half is the story of no one. Depsite the fact that the back of the book leads you to believe it is about the daughter, Sara, she is not the main character in any sense. There is no story for you to follow and the characters don't develop well. Their characteristics just sort of "appear." The Jewish thread seems manufactured as if she had to insert it somewhere. If you want to read a bood Naomi Ragen book, read ANY of the others.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not as compelling as previous works by this author,
By A Customer
This review is from: Chains Around the Grass (Hardcover)
I agree with another reviewer who said that the obviously autobiographical nature of this book would have been better as a memoir than disguise of fiction. Ms. Ragen treats the entire book as fiction until the last chapter, when she clearly reverts to autobiography; the switch is somewhat out of place for someone who has written such concise fiction in the past. I was disappointed.
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