The Changelings

by Jo Sinclair, Nellie McKay (Afterword)

First published in 1955 and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, this novel revolves around a pair of stubborn adolescent girls who refuse to accept the racism and anti-Semitism of their respective communities. Their courage allows them to question and to cross over into the no-man’s land of segregated urban neighborhoods, claimed most recently by Jews, but now, in the early fifties, increasingly by African-Americans. The New York Times praised “the power with which the author reveals the impact of [racial] struggle on the new generation, whose survival lies in their power to love.”

Genres: Fiction, Classics, LGBT, Queer

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Ruth Seid (July 1, 1913 - April 4, 1995), was an American novelist who wrote under the pen name Jo Sinclair. She earned awards and critical praise for her novels about race relations and the struggles of immigrant families in America.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

I had high hopes for this book. The publishing house, the subject material, its presence on one out of the way compilation of great books by women, and then to come across a copy years before I expected to at an iteration of one of the greatest book sales ever put on in recent history. Such didn't prevent me from letting this copy hang around for a few years more, but when the time came, I was more than pleased to finally get to a work that, in addition to having hints of queerdom and the claim to fame of having been nominated for a Pulitzer, seemed well equipped to garnering a rare five star from my readership. In the aftermath, while I found a great deal of what I had been promised, the narrative didn't go as far in certain respects as I had been expecting, nor did the structure hang together all too well, the too forceful grandiose nature of a few parts not meshing well with the overall straight-shooting, West Side Story-esque style of prose. Ultimately, it felt as if the author were trying a tad too hard to infuse the narrative with 'deeper meaning' without accompanying with suitable levels show-not-tell style writing, in addition to minimizing the risks their writing was taking by confining their discussion of deeply embittered sociopolitical conflicts to an obsession of ridding certain individuals of their 'ignorance.' I give it full kudos for taking on an issue of antisemitism vs antiblackness that continues to infuse modern day social landscapes, however much liberals prefer to gloss over such, but it could have been better.

I've built up a bits and bobs picture of the inner city/'ghetto' landscape of the United States, where first Jews and then Black people were herded into via the various modes of white supremacy and went on to build up communities and play on the basketball courts (my only interest in the NBA and associated topics is how the demographics of the teams changed over time in that regard). Talk of antisemitism amongst the Muslim Brotherhood surfaces in my periphery every so often, and the fact that Black Jews, and furthermore Black Rabbis, exist is something that seems to have to be reiterated every once in a while. So, another dynamic of divide and conquer classic to the behavior of the powers that be of this home turf of mine, and the fact that one of this work's afterwords mentioned Yours in Struggle: Three Feminist Perspectives on Anti-Semitism and Racism was extremely gratifying, and I hope the mention of it inspires at least one of this work's admittedly few readers to track a copy of that extremely enlightening work down. For, while this book doesn't flinch when it comes to tracking the myriad ways in which antiblackness viciously displays itself in a mid 20th century Jewish neighborhood, it also refuses to take on any talk of the development of political consciousness when it comes to taking on the larger social forces that have shoved one marginalized group and then another into the same often underfunded, often consciously neglected areas of a city's available housing. That last bit would certainly go over well in today's continually depoliticized mainstream landscape when it comes to reading and their readers, but it doesn't make for good literature. It was refreshing to get a take on Jews that acknowledged Hitler on a rare occasion, but focused mainly on making the journey from Europe to the US and establishing oneself in all the highly diverse ways available to a community that keeps itself together through Yiddish and the shul. However, this work basically never attempted to take on the humanizing portrayal of the inner life of any of the Black characters, and, in the end, the cut itself off just before individuals of the community would have had to confront a couple of truly violent events that, as a result, never end up getting resolved.

So, this work is no Strange Fruit. That work also doesn't do anything in regards to portraying any sort of community organizing against the virulent antiblackness and white supremacy in its tale, but the prose, the characters, the meaning: all of it carries through beautifully and cohesively in a manner that Sinclair aimed at, but largely failed to capture. Such, however, doesn't mean that 'The Changelings' isn't criminally underread (not to mention the publisher, The Feminist Press, of this edition), or that the manner in which it isn't included in this site's databases of nominations for the Pulitzer Prize is classic of GRAmazon's conceited ignorance in regards to works by marginalized demographics. I personally didn't engage well with the overabundance of pathos that was inordinately sprayed in ever increasing consequences as the story went on, but I always appreciate a work that delves into the Jewish community without making the events of WWII the alpha and the omega of its existence. As I mentioned earlier, the tension between the Black community and the Jewish community has a long and complicated history, and the manner in which liberals these days tend to shove issues with no clear hero, no clear villain, under the rug when it comes to them trying to solve all the world's problems with representative democracy doesn't help. This work won't do much to break one out of that mindset, but it will at least give readers a window onto a part of history that is no 'Mad Men' or other intensely whitewashed picture of the US in the '50s, but a chunk of a reality often subsumed under more mainstream media representations that, in a way, continue to plays out today. The right kind of reader will appreciate such. For the rest, I suppose the work's Pulitzer nomination will throw it their way, if nothing else.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for many audiences - historical fiction, fiction of the 1950's, working class fiction lovers, people who grew up in Cleveland, people interested in post-WWII Jewish immigrant fiction, just anyone, really.

Jo Sinclair is a pseudonym for Ruth Seid - more info on Wikipedia - click on the link below. This is her best book, but I'm not sure if it's still in print. Some may call her a "minor" American author, but having read some of the just plain crap out there from "major" authors, I urge you to give her a try.

The book is written about a Cleveland lower working class neighborhood on the verge of becoming integrated. The narrator is a teenage girl trying to negotiate her parents' traditional Jewish home, poverty and her social network of first and second generation American kids and their families. It's an idealistic work that makes you feel good about the possibilities of America, and is all-too-poignant given what's happened in the 60 years that followed its publication.

I've read it several times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Sinclair

[Elida H · Rating 5 out of 5]

omgggg so good, the later part of the book just makes me want to cry. it is so interesting how people can be so good in one way and so evil in another (hahah basic i know). i love vincent and clara and manny and chip and ruth. vincent and daves character arc is so good. i like hearing about the streets family’s dramas. i wish we had an ending to alex and santina, but i think she escapes like vincent’s mother said. the bonds between parent and child are so beautifully written about😭😭😭

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is Jo Sinclair ie Ruth Seidl not better known? This amazing novel, written in 1955 and republished 30 years ago by the Feminist Press, opens with an unforgettable depiction of an attack by adolescent boys on a girl who had been their gang leader. Set in an unnamed Ohio city (Cleveland) in 1945 (not in the 1950s as Nellie McKay writes in the afterword) the story centers on a Jewish neighborhood as African Americans begin to move into it. Sinclair does not minimize racism but she shows how the European experience (pogroms and the Holocaust) are projected on African Americans. Race, sex, gender, economics, and religion are interdependent. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the American immigrant experience, African-American, Jewish, or gender studies.

[Alexia Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

yes. yesyesyesyes. goosebumps and the universality of trauma and emotion and struggling, complex webs of characters and plots, I liked it. main plot was a bit too much of a fairytale if you ask me, and the amount of symbolic coincidences was a little strong, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did not want to put this down. yes.