News From the New American Diaspora and Other Tales of Exile
by Jay Neugeboren
University of Texas Press, 184 pp., $16 (paper)
With “diaspora” in the title, you might expect sweeping tales from throughout North America. Indeed, Jay Neugeboren’s News From the New American Diaspora travels the world, but more often than not, the most memorable pieces of his third short-story collection capture the grandness of those small, personal epiphanies.“What I loved,” Neugeboren writes in his preface, describing his boyhood fascination with reading the Bible, “was the language – the words, sounds, cadences.” Fortunately for his contemporary readers, he was also digesting the craft of writing.
No need to be Jewish or a student of the Jewish experience to appreciate Neugeboren’s work. “Poppa’s Books” not only speaks to fellow readers about the joy of books, but does so in a troubling tale of a bitter woman and the appalling way she punishes her husband, a man of letters, for not realizing the American Dream. With a stately and economical use of words, “His Violin” astonishes with its deep and sudden poignancy. In this, an elderly man shares memories of his beloved brother when they were children, revealing the twinge that comes from knowing one is not the favored child, but longing – even in the twilight of life – to experience being the apple of his father’s eye.
One of the most satisfying stories, again marked by Neugeboren’s gift of capturing those small, enchanting moments of grace, is “This Third Life.” It sounds silly out of context, but when Ellen, the protagonist, regards the artfulness of a fresh napkin and cutlery placed before her, the joy of embarking on her new life – her third life – powered by her own desire following life as a dutiful wife and mother, leaps from the page like fireworks. And then, some of the stories are simply enjoyable. The title story about a Rabbi, his fiery-tempered wife, and the petulant stream of people who seek his counsel, ably moves from troubling, to funny, to wistful. The 12-story collection ends with the careening “The American Sun & Wind Moving Picture Company,” about a film crew working on the fly. Taken together, Neugeboren’s work delights, amuses, and moves with uncommon skill.
This article appears in October 21 • 2005.