Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound

by Judith Katz

25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Nadine Pagan's dyke sister Jane wants to find her. Her lover Rose wants to marry her. And her mother Fay wants to forget her. All Nadine wants is to stop the buzzing in her head.

Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound follows Nadine's (née Morningstar) adventures as she escapes from her incendiary Jewish family into the lesbian town of New Chelm—and far beyond. This is the novel Isaac Bashevis Singer might have written if he'd been a lesbian with a keen eye for contemporary middle-class assimilation. It's Jewish magical lesbian realism, a good story, and a dynamic piece of writing.

Includes an all new introduction by the author

Judith Katz is the author of two published novels, The Escape Artist and Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound, which won the 1992 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction. She teaches cultural studies and literature courses for the University of Minnesota's Center for Jewish Studies.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Jewish, Lesbian, Magical Realism, Queer, Judaism

188 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

Reviews

[Corrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound certainly was something special although I have to read it again at some point to really absorb and appreciate the third part of the book where it all gets very esoteric and dream-like. At this point I wasn’t really in the mood for it so I mostly skimmed over that. But I want to do Judith Katz justice because the writing is too good to treat it like I did.

The story is about a somewhat dysfunctional Jewish family in the late 60ies and centers around lives of Electa, Nadine and Jane Morningstar. Nadine, the deeply troubled one, has been estranged from her family since that time she put her hair on fire. After a stay in the hospital she can no longer bare to live at home so she moves in with her grandmother until she runs away and vanishes from their lives. Jane accidentally spots her 5 years later in a lesbian Jewish community where they both live and it sets off a series of events with Electa's wedding extravaganza as one of the high points.

The writing is good, there’s some good Jewish humor (the kind I like) and although we alternate between Nadine, her girlfriend Rose, Jane and their mother, they have very distinctive voices. You have to get used to it though because there is no warning in who’s head you’ll be (I started reading the story thinking it was Jane engaging in some incestuous activities with her sister Nadine and was mildly confused about that until I figured out we were actually seeing it from Rose’s pov).

f/f

Themes: coming of age, mental illness, familial dysfunction, bridezillas, a lot of pot, romantic obsession, weird dreams, political lesbians in the 70ies.

3 stars for now, but I know it might get a higher score after I give it another try at some point.

[Steph E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowing this book from the library solely based on its usage of the independently published 70s radical feminist lesbian typeface and having it be the best read of 2023 is proof that sometimes you SHOULD judge a book by its cover.

[l · Rating 4 out of 5]

the feral dyke novel we needed.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three Jewish sisters, one emotionally abusive mother, a violin that came from the old country, and a small lesbian town: there's a lot going on in this short novel, and while the execution is quite rough around the edges (the first half was much meatier and more emotionally vivid than the rather airy-fairy fantastical womynpower bits later on), I'm glad I read it.

[Bucketsofbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

My beautiful girlfriend got me this book for my birthday and I’ve been working my way through it and absolutely falling in love. I already know I’ll need to revisit it again in a couple years. I loved its voice and the characters and world it painted. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time

[Val Kurz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book ever.

[ND · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a perfect book, but so original, thoughtful, intense and original that I had to give it five stars! Go, Judith Katz! The idea alone that Northampton could be New Chelm amuses and delights me.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a trip! (And no, I haven't been sampling Rose Shapiro's wares.) This is like no other book I've ever read.

This book is Jewish through and through in a way that many more traditional plots couldn't match. Yet it is also lesbian through and through, a blend that makes turning Northampton, MA (where I lived in the 1980's) into New Chelm seem both like a good joke and reality the way it should always have been.

I cannot tell which parts of the book are supposed to be real, which are dreams, which are hallucinations, and which are metaphors, and I'm sure that's how the author intended it to be. The book is hilarious, bitter, appalling, and lyrical, often at the same time.

I'm glad that the mother, Fay, got a voice in the story, and not only because I have a mother Faye and a father Mel, too, but because she becomes real to me. She can be awful to her daughters, but I am sympathetic to her anyway. Even at her worst, she has a point.

Hurt people hurt people, they say. If you're Jewish and female, you may find this a painful read about mothers and daughters and the rivalry and bonds between sisters. Because I have a bit of distance, I am mainly full of wonder.

[C.M. Caplan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe one of the best books I've ever read. Few novels have quite kicked me in the head the way this one did. It wriggled into my mind months ago has not yet released its grip. I cannot stop thinking about it and how it was able to achieve what it wanted to achieve. It's a really unique novel. I've never read anything quite like it. The closest book that contoured my brain in this weird way might be 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad, but even that doesn't fully capture the vivid rhetorical flairs, cultural nuances, and deliciously mystical turns this story takes. It's a great novel. Definitely check it out.

[sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short weird feral Jewish queer mystic lesbian read. I liked this book however the back half of the book felt sad to me, as Nadine, the main character, is basically hanged out to dry by her family for being queer and mentally ill. A little dark, but still very compelling and a nice tale of lesbian life in Northampton during the 1970s.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

- dyke lit, classic feral woman lit
- if I had grown up in a neurotic jewish family like this one I would've been a school shooter
- freeing oneself to gain access to the substructure of wild queer womanhood that runs all throughout history, the history of all families
- opposite of 'intergenerational trauma'

[Valentin · Rating 5 out of 5]

extremely special to me. it’s been sitting on my shelf since hs and i read it at the perfect time. start date is approximate since i’ve been getting thru this at a snails pace, wrestling time to read it away from the greed of grad school

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm here for anything calling itself "Jewish magical lesbian realism"

[Skylar Karzhevsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely feral

[Seren B · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this I feel an intense mix of emotions, what an amazing book.

[ira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well… the first two thirds really hit

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, compelling, iconic, well written - it's got everything

You should read it. I just didn't like it that much idk

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I say this with the highest praise, this is cultural trauma if you are jewish and of a certain age (extremely good)

[Catherine]

I don't think I'm going to try and give this one a rating. I'm adding it to this list because it often shows up as an example of Jewish lesbian magical realism. It can certainly be read that way. The writing is quite compelling and the magical bits, which can also be read as hallucinations, are lovely. However, and this is a big however, it can also be read as a book about a family abusing a mentally ill child, then throwing her out as an adult when it becomes inconvenient for them to deal with her. I can live with that as a plot line since it's certainly realistic, but what I'm having trouble with is that I felt that the middle part of this short novel set me up for a very different ending than the much darker one that I got. There is something to be said for setting reader expectations and I have to say that the ending was a horrible disappointment after what came before. Reader mileage, of course, varies and I'm sure there are nuances that are eluding me, just be aware of the head space you're in before reading it.