Total Immersion: Stories

by Allegra Goodman

A collection probing the idiosyncrasies and dilemmas of contemporary Jewish life deftly and with humor captures the struggle of merging group tradition with individuality and modernism, from the school, to the workplace, to personal relationships

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Jewish

260 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Hello, Good Readers!

My new book "This Is Not About Us" will be published in February! You can order it here.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

My novel "Isola" is now in paperback. This is a historical novel based on the true story of a young woman who sails from France to the New World in 1542 and is marooned on an island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

I am also the author of several other books including, "Sam," a novel about a young girl's exuberance, wonder, and ambition as she comes of age.

Jenna Bush Hager picked "Sam" for her Today Show book club and said, "Sam is about as perfect of a coming-of-age story as I have ever read."

About me: I was born in Brooklyn, but I grew up in Honolulu where I did not have to wear shoes in school until fifth grade.

I now live in Cambridge, MA and I own boots. In addition to writing fiction, I read a lot and teach on occasion. In my free time, I swim and walk around the city.

I have four children, now getting pretty grown up. My oldest son (an economist) reads everything. My second son (a law student and grad student in political theory) reads mostly non-fiction. I'm working on this! My third son (an aspiring chemist) loves science fiction, fantasy, and history. My daughter (a user experience designer) enjoys biography and YA novels--but only if they have exceptionally beautiful covers.

I read fiction, biography, history, poetry, and books about art. I also enjoy discovering authors in translation.

When I was a seven-year-old living in Hawaii, I decided to become a novelist--but I began by writing poetry and short stories.

In high school and college I focused on short stories, and in June, 1986, I published my first in "Commentary."

My first book was a collection of short stories, "Total Immersion."

My second book, "The Family Markowitz" is a short story cycle that people tend to read as a novel.

Much of my work is about family in its many forms. I am also interested in religion, science, the threats and opportunities of technology, and the exploration of islands, real, and imaginary.

My novel, "Kaaterskill Falls" travels with a group of observant Jews to the Catskill Mountains.

"Intuition" enters a research a lab, where a young post-doc makes a discovery that excites everybody except for one skeptic--his ex-girlfriend.

A rare collection of cookbooks stars in my novel, "The Cookbook Collector."

A girl named Honor tries to save her mother in my dystopian YA novel, "The Other Side of the Island."

With Michael Prince, I have co-authored a supercool writing textbook. If you teach composition, take a look at "Speaking of Writing: a Brief Rhetoric."

If you'd like to learn more about me and about each of my books, check out my website:

http://allegragoodman.com/

Find me on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/AllegraGoodman

Or on Instagram:

@allegragoodmanwriter

And of course, you can check out the reviews I post here on Goodreads. Generally, I use my Goodreads reviews to spotlight books I love and recommend.

Reviews

[Adele Goetz · Rating 1 out of 5]

How are you supposed to enjoy a book without one appealing character?

[Alex Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories seemed a very mixed bag - - the early work of a young writer who clearly has talent but who also has flaws. If the entire book had been like the fine, sensitively portrayed work in the story "Retrospective," I would be searching the Web for other fiction by Ms. Goodman. However, much of the writing seems like warmed-over Philip Roth, and there is not enough variety in the stories to keep some monotony from setting in. In addition, "Also Much Cattle" features some coarse stereotypes which would have led to accusations of antisemitism if the author had been a gentile.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful early collection. Goodman's stories are a blast to read, capturing people in all their flaws and life in all its mess. If anyone had an epiphany, I missed it - her characters just struggle through daily disappointments and crises. My only problem is that the book went on too long, and the last few stories, set among the Jewish community of Hawaii, got very repetitive.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of related stories, but I didn't feel compelled to finish. I prefer Allegra Goodman's less religious writings. I feel a little lost with the heavy Judaism. It's interesting, but just doesn't do much for me.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interwoven short stories about a group of Jewish people in Hawaii. Only a couple of the stories really caught my interest. Most of the rest were not my cup of tea.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allegra Goodman's first set of short stories introduces readers like me, who are traveling largely backwards through her collection, to familiar places, cultures and characters. The very first story, "Onionskin," is an excerpt out of Paradise Park. Our beloved Markowitz family, featured in their own collection of short stories published a decade later, are included, through the perspectives of the two brothers, in "Young People" and "Wish List." Other, new characters crop up in different stories- often changing from protagonist to vague background character, like with the case of Ginnie in "Fait'" and the titular piece, "Total Immersion." Sometimes it feels like a cheat, considering that Goodman doesn't have to introduce us to the characters all over again, and the reader may be filled with biases from the old story. But this is perhaps superseded by the metaphor behind Total Immersion- we are "totally immersed" in the worlds Goodman has created, viewing them from all different sorts of angles.

To me, the most fascinating recurring culture centered around the Hawaiian Jewish community. This is a hybrid enclave--siphoned off not only by it's religion, but by the heavily Pan-Pacific influence on the islands. I love watching the Jews, both natives and "haoles" from the mainland, interact in this rich landscape, complicated by their attempts (and often inability) to find religious, cultural and familial fulfillment.

One complaint I have about Goodman is that she often writes about dry academics, and it can get a little stuffy and pretentious from time to time. That being said, brothers Henry and Ed Markowitz, a flamboyant Oxford culturalist, and a Georgetown-ensconced professor of the philosophy of terrorism, are fan favorites.

[Ed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contrary to the back cover blurbs extolling her deep insight into a wide variety of characters from different backgrounds, Goodman's writing (though let's keep in mind she was in her early twenties and this was her first book of short stories) struck me as two-dimensional. Her 'understanding' seemed to encompass only the already well-trodden worlds of arrogant back-biting ivy-league intellectuals and dysfunctional american jewish families. I get the feeling most praise for her work was based on the 'novelty' that most of her irritating diaspora lived in or were connected to Hawai'i. None of her characters were particularly likeable, and her ability to capture large, chaotic, overpopulated scenes such as yom-kippur observances or meaningless summertime academic lecures in the wilds of rural england was, while impressive, so much like watching TV sitcoms that I'm a little surprised and dissapointed with myself for having kicked through to the end.

Her character-oriented writing (NOTHING happened in her stories) stands in sharp contrast to that of Jonathan Franzen, whose 'Freedom' I just started and already love to pieces. Since I have several more of her books on my shelves, here's hoping she improved as she matured.

[Kit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of short stories == Goodman has a very sharp sense of humor and her characters are interesting, with distinct voices. From 'Onionskin': "Because obviously I am not eighteen and I work, so school is not an academic exercise for me, and not just me, as I'm sure you'd realize if you looked around the room one of these days and saw there are thirty- and forty-year-olds and some a lot older than you are in the class -- the point is, when you've been through marriage, kids, jobs, welfare, and the whole gamut and you come back to school you're ready for the real thing, and as far as I'm concerned Augustine's Conception of the Soul or whatever is not it." [~A week later =>].....Hmm. Well, I may not finish this. Some of these stories are stronger than others..... Finally unsatisfying as a collection. Some of the individual stories are good, and she's a lively writer, but I got bored. I'd recommend this if you want something to dip into -- read one or two and then re-shelve the book.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is populated by lunatics. The stories interconnect because all of the characters are connected to a community of Jewish people living in Hawaii, but I found the connections hard to capture. The stories drift about and flash freeze moments in time, and many things happen but nothing happens. Families bicker, and love each other, and couples struggle to understand each other and support each other but fail miserably. And everyone is so unhappy! I found myself futilely trying to understand a thread between the stories, trying to see repeated characters and how they fit together in familia relationships, but I did not succeed. I am not sure if that was my failing, or a failure of the author. In the end, I think maybe the jumble is the point. Enjoy each little vignette, each triumph, each sorrow, and recognize that everyone everywhere is living life as best they can.

Some of the sections were incredibly beautiful.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...which I aplogize for tone-wise but not for the feelings behind it" (2).
"We had to keep a gun out there too, which was a pain in the ass morally, because I've always been a complete pacifist" (7).
"The playground reminds Cecil of a hamster habitat he once saw displayed in a pet-store window" (27).
"And in fact had written to his father in the hospital about the 'ugly woman.' 'She's nothing to write home about,' he had written" (28).
"...old historians who have grown so eminent that modest qualifying phrases encumber every statement like clinging ivy" (53).

[Jendi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodman is a great satirist who perfectly spots the status symbols and petty remarks that reveal much more about a person than he or she intended. Her target is affluent, professional, observant Jews in Hawaii, Oxford, and New York. I take pleasure in her prose but her characters are mostly repellent, giving the book a nihilistic feel, overall. Reminds me of "Madame Bovary" - all that skill in creating an ultimately airless world where characters have no hope of self-awareness and self-transcendence. I couldn't finish this book (stopped about 3/4 through) because of this hopeless mood.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a series of short stories, Goodman takes the reader to New York, Oxford, and Hawaii. Stories include:

• Onionskin, a tale in which a woman explains why she walked out of a religion class;
• The Succession, an account of a new rabbi’s appointment at Honolulu’s Martin Buber Temple; and
• Fait’, a story in which college student Ginnie returns to Oahu for her sister’s wedding, only to be confronted by some disturbing family truths.

This collection is okay, but I’d rather read a novel by Ms. Goodman.

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had the same experience as I have had before when I encounter this author--story looks interesting, beginning intriguing and then I get part way through and wonder why I began the book. I never got my rhythm with this one finished with a shrug of the shoulders. Goodman aims to make statements about giant topics....religion, success, relationships but tends to just miss making meaty one or provoking ones!

[Gayla Bassham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Allegra Goodman's work -- her novel Intuition is one of my favorite books -- but this lightly-linked collection of short stories is not her best. There are definitely some great moments, and some sharply observed characters, but none of the stories really resonated with me.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the record, never have immersed myself in Jewish life before. I enjoyed the writing. Her setting in Hawaii put a beautiful spin on each story. Great intertwining of each character although almost needed a cheat-sheet.

[Stacey Palevsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think these stories are anything special. THe first one is clever and funny, but some of the others felt plodding and slow.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the best collection of interrelated short stories about observant Jews in Hawaii you will ever read.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get past the second story! Such a bummer. LOVED "The Cookbook Collector" and liked "Intuition," but couldn't dig through the heavy religious focus of this one.

[Erika Dreifus]

Read it in 1989, but rereading now, inspired to do so by http://figtreebooks.net/reviews/jewis....

[Jacqueline]

Depressing. Spot on.

[JenniferB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories, mainly set it Hawaii, interesting and some very good descriptions.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ear for dialogue, eye for odd but true detail.

[Miranda · Rating 1 out of 5]

As much as I enjoyed "Sam", the opposite

[Danielle Lemon]

I got halfway through this book of short stories. I love Allegra Goodman usually, but didn't find any characters here that made me want to continue reading.