Camp Jeff

by Tova Reich

An old New York Catskills hotel is converted into a Reeducation center for star #MeToo offenders in a story full of cunning and craft, double meanings and doppelgangers. A finalist for the Jewish National Book Award strikes again with another brilliant satire—a treat for readers of Philip Roth, Dara Horn, Nathan Englander, and others.Somewhere in the Catskills there’s a camp, it’s called Camp Jeff. The place is named for Jeffrey Epstein, not that Jeffrey Epstein, this is the good Jeffrey Epstein, a benefactor who wants his name on the building, though the bad one’s not entirely irrelevant to this story. Tova Reich’s newest novel, on the heels of her award-winning Mother India is a raucous and biting tale of a reeducation camp for alleged sex offenders. Reich’s verbal blade is sharp and she slashes with it, but not without the sensitivity that such incisiveness requires. Camp Jeff is a work in Reich’s signature satirical mode, an unhindered indictment of both #MeToo and therapeutic culture, and at the same time is also a deeply considered work of psychological portraiture and an examination of love, faith, and affection in American culture.

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 2025

Reviews

[Aaron Anstett · Rating 4 out of 5]

As noted by others, this novel does not maintain the uproariousness of its beginning, but I'm glad I read the whole thing.

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good idea, but couldn’t get into it. The run on sentences with myriad of commas were so hard to follow, that I was unable to finish it.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off so strong and outrageous and funny but got sidetracked by a pandemic plot unfortunately

[Jono · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pandemic quarantine fever dream… as another reviewer said, it starts very strong. Totally worth the read.

[Sarak · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blech! Unreadable.