If I Told You Once
by Judy BudnitzPicador, 294 pp., $24
Stories that portray magical events taking place in the real world are not generally set in the good old U.S. of A. Yes, there’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Samantha twitched her nose on Bewitched. But something about the collective vision of America — with its hard streets, hot dogs, and diners — does not lend itself to magic. Budnitz’s story begins in “the old country,” where the first narrator, Ilana, grows up among witches, spells, and wolves. When she meets her husband and they travel to America, Ilana’s fantasic childhood begins to fade (“Strange how we adapt so quicky to a new climate,” she says, “and the old becomes a dream”). Ilana’s daughter, Sashie, begins to narrate and reveals herself as one of the people who refused to believe her mother’s magical stories. Surreal events begin to intrude on Sashie’s life, and she gives birth to a daughter who believes in them wholeheartedly. In America, however, Sashie’s daughter’s beliefs seem misplaced (she suspects her brother’s fiancée of being a mermaid, and plots to murder her). Although at times the first-person narrators sound confusingly similar, If I Told You Once is lyrical and compelling, like a collection of Grimm’s fairy tales.
This article appears in February 11 • 2000.