Faith for Beginners

by Aaron Hamburger

An acclaimed short-story writer has created a miraculous first novel about an American family on the verge of a breakdown–and an epiphany.

In the summer of 2000, Israel teeters between total war and total peace. Similarly on edge, Helen Michaelson, a respectable suburban housewife from Michigan, has brought her ailing husband and rebellious college-age son, Jeremy, to Jerusalem. She hopes the journey will inspire Jeremy to reconnect with his faith and find meaning in his life . . . or at least get rid of his nose ring.

It’s not that Helen is concerned about Jeremy’s sexual orientation (after all, her other son is gay as well). It’s merely the matter of the overdose (“Just like Liza!” Jeremy had told her), the green hair, and what looks like a safety pin stuck through his face. After therapy, unconditional love, and tough love . . . why not try Israel?

Yet in seductive and dangerous surroundings, with the rumbling of violence and change in the air, in a part of the world where “there are no modern times,” mother and son become new, old, and surprising versions of themselves.

Funny, erotic, searingly insightful, and profoundly moving, Faith for Beginners is a stunning debut novel from a vibrant new voice in fiction.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Judaism, Gay, Religion, Queer

360 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2005

About the author

Aaron Hamburger is the author of the novel Nirvana Is Here, a story collection titled The View From Stalin's Head, which was awarded the Rome Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and nominated for a Violet Quill Award, and a novel titled Faith For Beginners, nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. His latest novel is Hotel Cuba. In 2023, he was awarded the Jim Duggins PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize by Lambda Literary.

His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Village Voice, Tin House, Michigan Quarterly Review, Subtropics, Crazyhorse, Boulevard, Poets and Writers, Tablet, Out, Nerve, Time Out, Details, and The Forward. In addition, he has also won fellowships from Yaddo, Djerassi, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the Edward F. Albee Foundation as well as first prize in the Dornstein Contest for Young Jewish Writers.

He has taught creative writing at Columbia University, the George Washington University, New York University, Brooklyn College, and the Stonecoast MFA Program.

Aaron enjoys talking with readers - to chat, find him now on Skolay: skolay.com/writers/aaron-hamburger

Reviews

[Benjamin Rubenstein]

This book--written by my former writing teacher!--shows readers the inner workings of an older Jewish American woman and her neuroses triggered by thoughts and feelings about her spouse, religion, sons, new lover, and more. It makes me realize I do not want a mind that active, as I can't imagine having that. And then I wonder: does almost everyone have a mind that active and neurotic, and if we were to see it in print we'd think just as I think about this book's co-main character?

This is an enjoyable read with a quirky cast of characters.

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found the characters down to earth, well developed, believable. Enjoyed learning a little about Israel through the eyes of a Midwestern family as tourists. Laugh out loud satire at times, and other times painful and yet funny, like when someone trips and falls, but they are okay. In this book, the characters trip up often, but you can laugh with them because you feel they will be okay in the end.

[Steve K · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a nasty, dispiriting, demoralizing book. Its one redeeming feature is that it was, thankfully, a quick read. The family which is at the center of the book - a father, mother and 22 year old gay son - are all neurotic and spend way too much time either second-guessing themselves or sniping at each other; the husband/father is dying of cancer, the mother cheats on her husband and can’t find anything remotely pleasant to say to her son, Jeremy, and Jeremy himself is aimless and conflicted and ultimately causes harm to two young, gay men - one Jewish, one Palestinian - while the family is on a tour of Israel. The rabbis in the story are slimy and manipulative, either of women (including Jeremy’s mother) or of the yeshiva students they mentor. The book is replete with cliches about Israelis and Arabs - oy.

Why did this book need to be written? Don’t waste your money like I did!

[Jim Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent novel and may even be a masterpiece. It expertly blends pathos, philosophy, the political situation in the Mideast, and comedy to form an absorbing and compelling novel. Although I don't know much about Jewish culture, politics, or even their religion, I was none-the-less transfixed reading this book, which I finished in only 3 days. I highly recommend this novel - it's an amazing first book by an author whose subsequent novel, "Nirvana is Here" I also enjoyed a lot.

[Acree Macam · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many laugh-out-loud moments in this book, and yet I never felt like it was making fun of the characters. The relationships felt real and the character growth genuine and interesting. I also enjoyed the snapshot of Israel at this point in time and the complex racial and political dynamics still at play today.

[Jay Kovach · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first this book went really slow and I had a hard time catching its rhythm, but as I got it I grew to really like it. I really got into it although I felt detached somewhat from the characters, but I thought that you would get to know them better. However, you didn't. To me it felt disconnected and like a skipping record. There wasn't any impacting change in the main characters. The ended left much to be desired. I actually thought there was to be some big revelation and that is why the chapters were dwindling down, but there wasn't. I don't know if the writing style was so different I missed something or if it just failed as a book. I will admit however that I was compelled enough to try to figure out what was going on that I read more than half of the book in one sitting. Instead of my usual mourning of the end of a book and the end of my relationship with the characters, I was just confused. I tried to sleep on it before writing this, due to my agitation, but it is fired up by writing this. I just feel like I missed the point of the book and if it is what I think it is, there was too much deviation for my tastes to make that point and not enough color. Oh, and the players in this, they were almost fleshed out to be real people, but they didn't make it over the line and the characters stayed just that, characters. You didn't feel for them. I actually felt more for the homos Jeremy screwed with like they were toys because they were fleshed out enough to get hooked without conflicting detail. You also gained more insight into their being due to others' treatment of them than from the interaction of the major players. The organization too. Giving a chapter or two to other characters like the last one, really? I'm so agitated that I bought this. It had such great reviews in my old book club and I need to buy a full priced selection to meet requirements. Never again with the book clubs! Sticking to Amazon.com. I wouldn't normally go on like this, but I'm really irritated.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful and more awful and little to redeem it; it's a complete mess. A middle-aged Jewish couple take their troubled, gay son on a tour of Israel. As disaffected and destructive as is their son, the parents have double the history of controlling, repressive and neurotic behaviors. The frequent and explicit episodes of joyless sex are grimly crude, characterized by frantic explosions of semen abundantly shared, showered and smeared. The characters are two-dimensional and, as the plot progresses, they become less believable and more contrived. The entire experience of Israel, as described, is ludicrous, even from the perspective of the most superficially connected tourist, and though lip service is given to substantive social/political issues of race, religion and national identity, the characters prove themselves to be the self-serving, hypocritical and ultimately insincere wastrels that we took them for at the beginning. I finished this book, but only because of my base and bestial fascination with watching a complete catastrophe unfold....and because it was the assigned reading for this month's Jewish book group (I plan to skip the discussion as I've had quite enough of this lot); thankfully, I have a realm of alternate reading options. I only hope that this writer has other career options.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am torn between 2 and 3 stars. I liked the premise of this book: a woman takes her husband and her gay son to Israel to connect with their roots, despite everyones disinterest in the trip. But, the political points and messages get a little obvious and heavy-handed in some parts, and some of the metaphors and such were contrived. I mean, his mother had a whole sequence at the end of walking through a tunnel...come on...

But, what I did like was some of the nice character development, the Michigan references and that it was a book with a central gay character who didn't come out or have some very typical gay storyline going on.

[Djrmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel manages to funny, enlightening and thought provoking in just the right balance. The plot is simple - a mother hoping to salvage her relationship with her just barely adult son books them and her dieing husband on a vacation to that place so well known for peace and tolerance - Jerusalem. They tour the sights, discover what faith and religion are really about, and in the end, discover that families are a lot like the Middle East conflict: getting along comes down to the people, not ideas. This is also a great book about vacations often being more work than what they're supposed to get you away from. I'd recommend this as light reading with a eye opening message.

[Ilona · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a well-written book. The characters -- Mr and Mrs Michaelson and 20-something son, Jeremy -- are realistic and the family dynamics true. However, the characters are a kind I find tedious in the extreme in real life, the the family they've created just the sort of unit I avoid whenever possible, so it's hardly surprising I didn't enjoy the book. Ironically, my antipathy is a credit to the author's skill; had they been poorly drawn I doubt I'd have done more than toss the book aside. As it was, though I couldn't warm to any of them, I hung on long enough to find out what happened in the end.

[Mark Gaulding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a a great book. Really thought provoking and interesting characters. I hate to admit it though I but I've re-read the ending several times and I'm not sure I get it. I absolutely thought that Mrs. Michaelson was about as perfectly realized, multi-dimensional as a character can be. This book is just so multi-layered. The political issues that are handled are complex alone, not to mention the relationship of the three Michaelsons. Please read this book. And I'd love to hear what others thought of the ending. It was a great ending. I'm just not exactly sure what to make of it.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was hard for me to first get into. It revolves around a Jewish family who visits Israel. I felt it was more about the Mother in the story finding herself, then her gay son. For me, its not something I would recommend. I was disappointed but still would mention it if someone were interested.

[Itai · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Friday, I found this novel at the public library and gobbled it up! His characters live and breathe and Hamburger also has an uncanny way of evoking a sense of place (in this case, Jerusalem). I'm heading back today to find his collection of stories,The View from Stalin's Head.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

such a weird story

[Nannette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost didn't make it but at my 100 page rule it started to hold my interest. Was a diversion from my norm, but a worthwhile read.