Jewish Mothers Never Die

by Natalie David-Weill

The mothers of some of the most illustrious Jewish men in recent history—Albert Einstein, Marcel Proust, Sigmund Freud, Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers—are chatting in heaven. The their respective sons—and their undying love for their mothers. Each one, as before in life, engages in one-upmanship toward the others when speaking about her own renowned offspring, and no opportunity to boast can ever be

“He loves me so much that for my last birthday he bought me a fabulous fur coat.”

“Oh! Mine topped that. He saved money for an entire year and treated me to a fantastic trip to the Caribbean.”

“As for me, imagine, three times a week he actually pays a psychiatrist to talk about me.”

Each woman insists on being the force, the savior, the raison d’être of her son’s career and success. We follow the intricacies of each woman’s marriage and details of her social environment, but more specifically, the relationship with her “unique” child.

Written with a delicate touch, Jewish Mothers Never Die reveals in tender, funny, and searing portraits how some women continue to live through their children—even after death. Every reader will have a good chuckle, and all will enjoy this utterly charming and entertaining novel.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Genres: Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[JANIII]

Easy to read and enjoy. I liked the opening, and was impressed at how the book maintained that tone through much of the action. A few of the more dramatic parts were less competently handled. All in all, I was reminded of "Old Jews Telling Jokes", and that's just fine.
Edit: Less than an hour after writing this, I watched some videos on the YouTube channel, "Old Jews Telling Jokes". The opening joke from the book was among the jokes from YouTube. Less impressed now.

[Melanie]

Full disclosure - I couldn't bring myself to finish this book. Not being fully immersed in the history of the men and their mothers, this book seemed to drag on and never quite pick up. I became lost in the details and attempting to keep each of the overbearing mother and her offspring straight sucked the joy out of reading it.

[Lana]

I have mixed feeling about this book. The premise was fascinating to me and the characters were super interesting. My dilemma is that the book moves reallllly slowly so I found myself skimming huge sections of it. Having said that, I felt I had to go to the end because I was caught up in the premise. As the mother of a young son, it gave me lots of food for thought.

[Janet Garber]

See my upcoming review (July) on www.neworldreview.com.

[Dan]

DNF. Concept was more interesting than execution

[Anna]

3.5

[Rachel]

See my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...

[Michelle]

As a Goodreads winner, I am delighted to leave a review of Natalie David-Weill's book, "Jewish Mothers Never Die: A Novel."

Whether or not you believe heaven exists, Jewish mothers do. And they talk.

In this novel, the mothers of Albert Einstein, Marcel Proust, Sigmund Freud, Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers are in the heavens, and their earthly sons' love is the subject.