Famous all over Town: A Novel

by Bernie Schein, Janis Owens (Foreword)

Novelist Walker Percy once said that the only remaining unexplored territory in Southern literature was the Jewish southerner. Famous all over Town , the first novel from Southern storyteller Bernie Schein, stakes a claim on Percy's unexplored terrain with a comically candid multi-generational account of two Jews, a lowcountry native and a Northern transplant, at the epicenter of momentous events in the sleepy southern coastal hamlet of Somerset, a fictitious stand-in for Schein's native Beaufort, South Carolina.

Schein's diverse and memorable cast includes Southern Jewish lawyer Murray Gold and his foil, displaced New York psychiatrist Bert Levy; emotionally scarred USMC drill sergeant Jack McGowan and his alluring and unconventional wife, Mary Beth; corrupt and adulterous sheriff Hoke Cooley, his deeply conservative wife, Regina, and their violent son, Boonie; African American madam and later city councilwoman Lila Trulove (also Hoke's mistress), her brilliant daughter, Elizabeth, and her conflicted Harvard-bound son, Driver; fallen Southern belle turned voice of a generation Arlanne Palmer; remorseful Vietnam veteran and flamboyant transvestite Royal Cunningham; and inspirational schoolteacher Pat Conroy. Famous all over Town also uses its web of interconnected storylines to make its setting, the town itself, a central character with a personality and an arc as complete as that of any other member of the deftly rendered cast.

Delving beneath the surface of the Southern status quo, Schein's tale follows these interconnected lives through the private and public upheavals in small-town life from the turbulent 1960s to the eve of the new millennium, confronting the ramifications of the civil rights era, Vietnam, Watergate, and―closer to home―a deadly version of the infamous Ribbon Creek incident. Somerset's colorful citizens also confront their own repressed memories, conflicted identities, burgeoning ambitions, and romantic entanglements. Even as events unfold to often-uproarious effect, Schein's novel holds true to a deeply realized sense of intimacy and authenticity in the interactions of its myriad characters as revelations expose how these disparate lives are conjoined in surprising ways. Shifting points of view place readers squarely in the mindsets of many of Somerset's key citizens as Schein lovingly and laughingly invites us to reconsider what it means in the modern South to be white, black, Jewish, Christian, military, civilian, sane, insane, old, young, male, female, gay, and straight―and to be of a place rather than merely in it.

Best-selling Southern novelist and self-described "Florida cracker" Janis Owens, author of American Ghost, The Cracker Kitchen , and other books, provides a foreword.

Genres: Fiction

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[S R · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend who grew up in the South suggested that our book group read "Famous All Over Town" and loaned me the book. I am so happy that she did. This book is hilarious and insightful book that starts in 1966 and ends in the 90's based on characters from a small S. Carolina town. Each chapter has a "voice" of a different characters which were well developed and psychologically complex.Issues of racism, women's rights, homosexuality were addressed in serious and hysterical ways. The well built plot and figurative language helped me to enter another world where eccentric well-liked characters interacted, a world that I enjoyed being in.

[The Jewish Book Council]

Review by Miriam Bradman Abrahams for the Jewish Book Council.

[Wilson Trivino · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book captures the spirit and dynamic found in the low country. It follows a motley crew from the 60s to the 90s and the changing times.
The book has many multi-dimensional character that thrive in this rural setting. Most important it shares how two prominent characters the distinct lives of two Jewish men intertwine. One from New York, Bert Levy and one local, a lawyer Murray Gold.
Time shares all as the secrets and drama are spelled out in this juicy book about small town living.

[Lorene Haupt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like its author, Famous All Over Town is spastic and vulgar, but also funny and endearing. The novel is a series of poignant vignettes about the residents of the "fictional" Lowcountry town of Beau.. Oops, I mean Somerset. Bernie knows and loves all of these characters and spins their tales as only Bernie can.

[Dottie Resnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all inclusive if you are Southern, white, black, Jewish, Christian, military, civilian, sane, insane, young, old, male, female, gay or straight. It was an enjoyable read, mixing all the variations into one novel and a cohesive story.

[Tashia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads. What a bizarre twist of a journey. Everyone has some kind of issue in this story. I won't give anything away but be prepared for the unexpected at times.