Ask for a Convertible: Stories

by Danit Brown

Ask for a Convertible is a wonderfully assured debut that ponders what it means to be Israeli, to be American, or to be a little bit of both. In there connected stories, Danit Brown introduces Osnat a slightly fatalistic, darkly funny, and utterly winning heroine who is struggling to find her place in the world.

In the 1980s, Osnat moves with her American father and Israeli mother from Tel Aviv to Michigan. She's leaving behind security threats and a crazy grandmother, but entering a world where she seems doomed never to fit in. Her father hated absolutely everything about life in Israel; her mother hates absolutely everything about life in America.

Osnat's best friend and sort-of-boyfriend, Sanjay, Indian by birth, instructs her on the "arts" of assimilation; later, as Osnat moves into her twenties, a series of boyfriends all named Chris misguidedly attempt to instill her with holiday cheer. An Israeli soldier visiting the United States makes Osnat realize that it's time to face what she believes is her cowardly past. But it's her friend Harriet, an American who as a child practiced holding her breath just in case Nazis took over the Midwest, who somehow manages to show Osnat the meaning of home.

As the perspective shifts among the characters--spanning fifteen years, returning to Tel Aviv and then going back again to Michigan--Osnat tries (and often fails) to belong. Danit Brown gives is an irreverent portrait of a young woman for whom finding a foothold in the world is an obsession, a challenge, and a great adventure.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[eb · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are yearning to be turned into a novel. Why didn't she let them take their natural shape? I don't get it, but I'm not that bothered, because the writing here is so fresh and good. Every two pages or so, you get an OHMYGODEXACTLY! moment. That's a pretty unbeatable percentage.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been waiting for *months* to read this collection, ever since I saw a sampling of Danit Brown's stories in Nextbook, and this did not disappoint.

The stories in this book more or less revolve around a girl named Osnat, an Israeli who moves to America with her parents (mother from Israel, father from America) when she is 13, and follows her through her school days, boyfriends, brief stint in Israel, and awkwardness with parents as she ages into her thirties. (A few of these stories go into the personal lives of people who touch Osnat's life as well.)

Danit experimented with all narratives, mostly third, but a few in first and even second as well. I applaud her flexibility but feel that she sometimes was hitting us over the head way too much with Osnat's feeling of not belonging anywhere, especially since it is not an *uncommon* way for young women to feel. Certainly Osnat's situation is a little more unique than most of ours, but loneliness and vulnerability are easy to find everywhere.

Harriet's advice to Osnat in the final story ("just talk to your mother") is certainly not as profound as it might sound on the cover of the book, but the intensity does ring true to life. So many of us struggle in the shadows of our parents' histories, as well as who we imagine they want us to be. I found it somewhat relieving that Osnat's life, like those of her parents, couldn't be "solved" by an easy pronouncement from an authority figure. At the end of the day, life is more a question than an answer to be glib about it. :P

My one final complaint was- I wish there were more Harriet stories! I found her to be fascinating (perhaps due to the bias of having a Holocaust obsession and being a recent graduate of college, but that's beside the point. :P) Perhaps Miss Brown will think to write something else with this character again. *bats eyes pretilly* One can only hope!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Danit Brown's Ask for a Convertible: Stories, running is a motif that, well, runs through many of the stories. Osnat is often running from relationships, to places or people that she hopes might be a home for her, or just from the ennui of modern life. The other people in her life often wonder whether they're making any progress either or if they're just hamsters running on the wheel.
What is it like to be from Israel and to live in Michigan but feel like you belong in neither place? Brown uses deft humor to help us understand the struggles of her characters as they run from each other and from themselves.
The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because I know that Danit will do even greater things - these stories left me aching for the novel that I know she will write someday.

[wmc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, sharp stories, with drunk, insane, and entirely sympathetic characters.

[Stephanie Gross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Osnat - pull it together! The self-pity got old.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended especially with the description of:

"Danit Brown introduces Osnat a slightly fatalistic, darkly funny, and utterly winning heroine who is struggling to find her place in the world."

Only slightly fatalistic? funny? winning? On the plus side, I was impressed with the author's ability to capture the feeling of not finding a home and the pain of not connecting with others. I have read too many books lately that have a character living in self-pity and misdirected anger. Not a fun character to hang out with.

[Margaret Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn't really care for the way it ended

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Torn by wanting this to be a novel, yet finding the loose affiliation of these short stories around a central character to be a refreshing way of illustrating just how much of an outsider the main character feels. This book is mostly about Osnat, Israeli-born American, whom we first meet as a teenager in the 80's in Ann Arbor, MI (my time, my place, and though I am not an Israeli wondering where I belong, I can assure Ms. brown that though her character and narrative may be set apart by her origins, her quest for herself resulting from feelings of disconnectedness in Junior High School and the number of years that the search and background loneliness extends into the future certainly resonates with a wider audience). Being beyond that stage, I was at once sympathetic with her character and impatient for her to figure out that while her observations might be more concise, she's really just stuck in the thought that her maturity is just supposed to happen to her; that her observations and interpretations of the outside world don't translate to revelation and maturity without effort and self-examination...this is splendid writing, however...we are taught in writing courses to show, rather than tell, and Ms. Brown's work shows that her character is a writer at heart. I am very much looking forward to a second effort in which the writer is less apparent.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I meant to just read a few of these stories since Danit Brown will be teaching a workshop near me this summer, but I ended up reading the whole thing, which is high praise when you consider how I usually moan and groan over short stories. It helped that the stories were interconnected, concerned with the same characters, and even progressed sequentially through time. They were mostly funny and child of the 80s that I am, I liked the period details of things I had nearly forgotten, like Hands Across America and Samantha Smith, the little girl who wrote to the Kremlin - and later died in a plane crash. Did you remember that bit? I totally didn't. But I guess that's why she hasn't showed up on Dancing With the Stars.

[Dorinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of short stories, not really chapters, with characters reappearing in unexpected yet logical places. The main character is the Israeli-born daughter of an American father and Israeli mother who return to the US after her first 13 years in Tel Aviv. Israeli is not Jewish in Ann Arbor, but who is a Jew or why is not as clear as many characters think or hope. I really liked the humor combined with some very serious ideas. It is especially satisfying when you discover the source of the title.

[Nettle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this. The series of loosely linked short stories are so beautifully evocative of the identity issues of being homesick wherever you live. But I found it hard to get engaged by any of the characters, and I have to agree with the reviewer who commented, "Get it together, Osnat! Enough self pity." These characters lack the ability to be happy, and while that's true of many of us in life, I found it painful to read about. Still, a fascinating and skillfully written book. I just wish I had liked it more...but I don't think that was the writer's intent.

[Heather Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of short stories where the themes and characters interconnect throughout. The main character moves to the US with her parents from Israel when she is thirteen. All the characters are trying to find happiness and themselves. I found I didn't engage with any of them. There was no hook that kept my interest.

I used to enjoy short stories but haven't read any I liked in a long time. I would not have read this book if it wasn't this month's book club selection.

[Ashley Rangel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. After reading the sleeve and a few reviews on amazon.com I thought I would. But even at halfway through I still couldn't feel a connection to any of the characters..I am giving up on this one.

[Kary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't sure what to expect. Not sure that I actually cared for the book but one of those where you need to finish reading it to see where the author was going. I would have enjoyed more insight into Harriet & Noam.

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very unusual book - not quite a novel, but more than a collection? - and I wished that some threads were pushed more than had been. And sometimes the title character grated.

[Arlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories around characters in context of Israeli/American identity. Whole different view of a culture not previously explored. Stories well written

[Erika Dreifus]

See my review on My Machberet.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book. it follows several characters as they adjust to living in the US and try to fit in yet maintain their own national identities with varying degrees of success.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Family like the backyard sanctity of a swimming pool, rather than the treacherous strange waters of a Great Lake. A comfortable read that feels like the Michigan home Brown writes from.

[Will Meurer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book of inter-related short stories. It was thoroughly entertaining and I look forward to reading more from this promising young author.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the humor.

[Larry · Rating 2 out of 5]

angst that Israeli's in America have