The Doorposts of Your House and on Your Gates

by Jacob Bacharach

Is there any father worse than Abraham?

Are there any unhappier families than the first family of Genesis?

In the follow-up to his The Bend of the World, Jacob Bacharach enlivens these existential questions in a tale that replaces the biblical Ur with New York City, the land of Canaan with the rust-belt river valleys of western Pennsylvania.

Fleeing from a failed relationship, Isabel Giordani leaves Manhattan for Pittsburgh to accept a job at the underachieving nonprofit Future Cities Institute and insinuates herself into the aimless lives of Isaac Mayer and his father, Abbie. An architect turned crooked real estate developer, Abbie claims to be chasing after an unexpected heavenly vision—one that inevitably embroils the Mayer family within the political and familial machinations of Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Genres: Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

Published March 14, 2017

About the author

I’m a writer in Pittsburgh. My forthcoming second novel, The Doorposts of your House and on Your Gates, arrives in March, 2017.

Reviews

[Robert Wechsler]

Although the writing is professional, Bacharach’s observations and descriptions are excellent, and the details about Pittsburgh (my hometown) and architecture interested me, I put this novel down nearly halfway through. What bothered me most about it was the switching back and forth between protagonists and times, and the realization that I really didn’t care about the characters.

[Melon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Updated review:

I am sad to report that I did not enjoy this book nearly so much as I thought I was going to. I have to quote the acknowledgements section in the back of the book; "This book wouldn't have been possible without my agent, Gail Hochman, who read the first draft and told me in the nicest possible way that it didn't make any goddamn sense." Presumably several drafts later, I have to still agree with the sentiment. I mean, it made sense in the sense that I could follow the plot, but not in what the point of the novel was, or what I was supposed to get from it. There were a few pearls in here for sure, but a cohesive novel it did not make. Now, I know this was supposed to be a "retelling" or "reimagining" or maybe at least a homage, to the story of Abraham and Isaac--and maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it--but I just thought it was poorly and barely connected. I don't generally get hung up on "unlikeable" characters, but these folks really took the cake. Barely a redeemable quality in the lot of 'em. In fact, the only character I really enjoyed was the arbitrator present in one chapter. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I just couldn't. My apologies to the author, who as I mentioned below, was kind enough to send me a copy of this book for this review.

Placeholder review...
I just want to say that I won a free copy of this book, but it never arrived. I tried to get in touch with the publisher, but never heard back. Finally I sent an email to the author, and he mailed me a copy himself! I just got it in the mail today; barely started, but I can already tell I'm going to enjoy it.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange and intricate retelling of Abraham's story in the Old Testament, reset in the 1980s and present day. All the same characters are here for reader's pleasure: Sarah, Isaac, and in due course we meet modern versions of Hagar and Ishmael. At heart the plot appears to be about God's promise of land for Abraham and his descendants. Although the author is too clever to make that an easy assessment. I would have enjoyed the book more if it rambled less and employed more surprises. Surprises were used to very great effect. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Matthew Gallaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book uses real-estate development and small-town corruption to explore -- in ways that are both dramatic and funny (or both) -- the complexity of family relationships and the often inexplicable and possibly mystical forces that lead people to act the way we do. If you're from or familiar with the geography of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, this book will have extra appeal, as the landscape and place-names serve as the unspeaking character that binds everyone together.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"On the Doorposts of Your House and on Your Gates" is a strange, wonderful, discursive beast of a novel. The book is populated by New York Jews (gay and straight) and Pennsylvania thugs (mostly straight) and touches on spirituality, land deals, architecture, hipsters, Pittsburgh culture, alcoholism and drugs. The book is too long and far too weird, but somehow it also totally works.

Note: I read an advance review copy for free via NetGalley.

[Cecil Paddywagon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author read Franzen's Twenty-Seventh City and, instead of recoiling like a normal person, was like, "I, too, want to combine the essential joylessnesses of real estate development and local politics and put it into a novel."

All brains, no heart. Meh

[Barbara Barrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this smart if somewhat unevenly graceful book, which goes back and forth mostly between Abbie, a once-principled architect who sells out to big developers, and Isabel, a recent transplant and CMU employee in Pittsburgh who becomes entangled with Abbie's family. On one level, it is about a man who has visions and gets wrapped up in a corrupt real estate deal; it is also, somewhat surprisingly (given how the book is marketed), about the environment, the vulnerability of ecosystems, and the destruction of wooded lands. There are many striking descriptions of Pittsburgh and there's a fair bit of of jumping back and forth between characters' present and past lives--a device I sometimes found a little distracting when I wanted to stay in the characters' heads for longer. When we get to stay in their minds and spaces for a bit (as in the powerful concluding chapters) the story works well for me.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leaving goodreads reviews feels so mean sometimes. I'm just a bored 20-something looking for entertainment from my bookshelf, and I'm certainly glad I read this and can return it to its rightful mother many years long gone (absent much like Abbie and Arthur?) It's pretty cool this was assigned in a class! There's certainly a lot to consciousness-raise about sustainable infrastructure, and a lot of melodramatic sugar to help the medicine go down. But it also ends up turning imminent climate catastrophe into the backdrop for disgustingly rich people's psychosexual issues?

Idk, if I keep reading books about rich people & complaining about it that's on me.

You can tell this novel is thoughtful, both in its prose and its subject matter, but it feels overworked. The best passages are also the ones that taste distinctly chewy, like, you can tell they've been combed over and over again until all the spontaneity and naturalness has been bled out of the words.

[Bill O'driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine second novel by the Pittsburgh-based author, set mostly there and in the small southwestern Pennsylvania city of Uniontown. It's a modern retelling of the story of Abraham and Isaac, and smartly recapitulates the Old Testament obsessions with land ownership and paternity and filial duty. As in his debut novel, "The Bend of the World," Bacharach's style is witty, his observations deft, but he's going after even bigger game here, in God, or man's relationship to God, and the difference between having a moral code (or any sort of ideals) and actually living up to it. Greed, neuroses, the lust for power and status, plus a proximity to shady land deals, all assure these characters won't make it to that particular promised land. An ambitious project, a highly entertaining book.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here because I don't really know Bible stuff, so I got the big picture but I'm quite sure I missed out on many of the the finer points. Bacharach's a little manic, he wore me out a bit, but there is a really fine sense of place and some of that place is my place, Pittsburgh.

[Robby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A humane, witty and sad retelling of the story of Abraham, set in modern times, involving real estate scams and fracking in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written book, the author does a very good job of pulling you into the story and it is paced very well. The plot is a retelling of an Old Testament story and it fit well within that but I was sort of unsure what the author was trying to say. Overall decent book.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this (and his first novel) up because...Pittsburgh. And that's about all that worked for me on this one!

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a totally no -pejorative way: the only auto-fiction I want to read takes place in slightly debauched Pittsburgh

[sare]

I have seen the author on twitter so i picked up the book when i found it for a dollar in a used book store. Extremely moving

[Kane Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess the bible is mostly a book about daddy issues

[Jo Dervan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abbie Mayer was an architect who had a lucrative consulting and speaking business. He and his wife, Sarah, lived comfortably in NYC until Sarah discovered that his girlfriend was pregnant. In an effort to repair the marriage, Abbie and Sarah move to Pittsburg near where his sister, Veronica lives. Abbie gets into the construction business and is soon working with shady characters on corrupt deals.

About 30 years later Isabael Giordani, reeling from a failed relationship, also moves out to that area and looks up Abbie, someone who she has researched for years. She becomes friendly with Abbie's son, Issac, Veronica and eventually Abbie and Sarah.

Both Sarah and Abbie have secrets that are exposed in this tale of a dysfunctional family.

[Sue]

"Zany," according to NYT review.

I've read almost half the book. Not much has actually happened, & I don't really care about the characters. The writing is very clever, & sometimes had me laughing out loud, but the cleverness has gotten tiresome. It's time to quit this book.

[MeatResponse · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 3rd of the book is horrendously written with characters who inspire nothing but contempt. The last two thirds are better but not much.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew this book was written just for me when I got to the chapter that was just a transcript of an arbitration hearing. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bacharach's first book was one of my favorite novels of all time, and the follow up doesn't disappoint either. It's a bit more low key than Bend of the World, but the characters Bacharach creates are rich, multidimensional and the dialogue feels real and is witty and funny. It's a really excellent read that I couldn't put down like his last one. Read it!

[Susanw · Rating 3 out of 5]

For most of the book you could tell it was try to go somewhere, it just took a very bling time to get there. The characters where all over the place and their motivation for acting certain way was never made sense and was never clear. Things seem to happen for no apparent reason. Many stories just ended, not concluded, just ended. The premise was good but I think it needed another draft and some editing. I didn't hate the book, it was ok but it probably could have been better

[David Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bacharach's fiction is good and getting better. I can't help but hope his best work is still to come.

He's too earnest to be the P.G. Wodehouse of the 21st century American bourgeoisie, but he's not confident enough to let his more skillful but more plaintive and vulnerable blogger/poet voice take on the burden of a whole book. Caught in the middle, he has to work extra hard to keep his project vibrant, but that's to our benefit.

As his ambition and his confidence grows, he may yet have a masterpiece or two to show us.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious! An over the top story of one very disfunctional family. If you're from Pittsburgh you recognize most of the people and places. If you're not from Pittsburgh don't worry. You'll love it just the same.

Come in the store on Independent Bookstore Day, Saturday April 29. Jacob Bacharach will be in from 1:00 'til 3:00. I can't wait.

[Rebecca]

The first chapter was beautiful and poetic, and then it got weird, and I don't want to read things that don't add value, so I stopped.