The German Money

by Lev Raphael

Paul has spent his life running—from New York, the city of his birth; from his beautiful beshert; from contact with his own siblings; but mostly from his mother, a Holocaust survivor of inexplicable coldness. Upon her mysterious death, the children face shocking questions. What caused her to die? Why did she divide their inheritance so that Paul, the least favorite son, was singled out to receive the most, the dreaded "German money,"a bequest of a million dollars accrued from German reparations to survivors . . . a gift as cynical as it is generous.

Genres: Fiction, Jewish

206 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

I've wanted to be an author since I was in second grade and fell in love with "The Three Musketeers", which I read to pieces. It hasn't been a swashbuckling life exactly, but one full of surprises, including recently selling my literary papers to Michigan State University's Libraries.

Since second grade, I've loved all sorts of books and have ended up writing nineteen books in many genres: memoir, mystery, short story collections, a children's book, and more. I've been an academic, a radio DJ, had my own talk show, and currently have three terrific giugs.

I write a monthly column for Bibliobuffet.com called Book Brunch. I blog at Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lev-rap...). And I do a monthly "Under the Radar" book review for WKAR 90.5 FM in East Lansing, MI. I'm always on the lookout for beautifully written books in any genre, but I more and more favor books from smaller presses, because they need more exposure.

I love reading my work and have done hundreds of readings on three different continents. Readings are performances, and I practice, practice, practice.

Reviews

[Willowamber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy reading, but like another person has mentioned I also found the characters rather unlikeable... which meant that i had to be in the mood to keep reading it. Not a complete waste of time but not game changing in my opinion.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was interesting to see how it all unfolded and the twists were unexpected, but the characters were really unlikable, pretty much all of them. The main character was very often fantasizing about sex, talking about it, or having it every other page, especially in the second half, which took away from the plot, in my opinion.

[Georgia James · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVE it when you don’t like any of the characters in a book but you can’t put it down

[Maha · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I felt the characters weren't particularly likeable, they were rich in character, just bordering the bounds of believability. The tale itself was disjointed, pulling you in a number of directions, building up the anticipation of a radical finish, only to let you down with something fairly typical, not in the slightest out of the ordinary.

The saving grace of this somewhat mediocre novel is the occasional metaphor which is so striking to life that it carries you through, onto the next chapter, in hopes of finding another. Like a designer whose only signature piece leaves you searching through racks of hum drum hoping for another, so are these glimpses of poetic perception. They alone make it worth the read.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book certainly had me turning the pages quickly. It was heart wrenching as the author describes the characters and their fragile lives. This was a very difficult read in some ways, but well-worth my time.

[Suzette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book, but I was really irritated by the non-ending! After setting the scene for the denoument, Raphael didn't GIVE us a denoument at all. Maybe he had a deadline and rushed the ending?

[Dana Brittan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was so-so, but the ending made it worth reading! The ending is totally not expected!

[C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Shirley]

my favorite book!