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What to Do About the Solomons
From a remarkable new voice in fiction, Bethany Ball, comes a transporting debut; a hilarious multigenerational family saga set in Israel, New York, and Los Angeles that explores the secrets and gossip-filled lives of a kibbutz community near Jerusalem
Meet Marc Solomon, an Israeli ex-Navy commando now living in L.A., who is falsely accused of money laundering through his asset management firm. As the Solomons' Santa Monica home is raided, Marc's American wife, Carolyn--concealing her own dark past--makes hopeless attempts to hold their family of five together. But news of the scandal makes its way from America to the rest of the Solomon clan on the kibbutz in the Jordan River Valley. There we encounter various members of the family and the community--from Marc's self-absorbed movie actress sister, Shira, and her forgotten son Joseph; to his rich and powerful construction magnate father, Yakov; to his former star-crossed love, Maya; and his brother-in-law Guy Gever, a local ranger turned -artist.- As the secrets and rumors of the kibbutz are revealed through various memories and tales, we witness the things that keep the Solomons together, and those that tear them apart.
Reminiscent of Nathan Englander's For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, and told with razor-sharp humor and elegant acuity, What to Do About the Solomons is an exhilarating first book from a bright new star in fiction.
Meet Marc Solomon, an Israeli ex-Navy commando now living in L.A., who is falsely accused of money laundering through his asset management firm. As the Solomons' Santa Monica home is raided, Marc's American wife, Carolyn--concealing her own dark past--makes hopeless attempts to hold their family of five together. But news of the scandal makes its way from America to the rest of the Solomon clan on the kibbutz in the Jordan River Valley. There we encounter various members of the family and the community--from Marc's self-absorbed movie actress sister, Shira, and her forgotten son Joseph; to his rich and powerful construction magnate father, Yakov; to his former star-crossed love, Maya; and his brother-in-law Guy Gever, a local ranger turned -artist.- As the secrets and rumors of the kibbutz are revealed through various memories and tales, we witness the things that keep the Solomons together, and those that tear them apart.
Reminiscent of Nathan Englander's For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, and told with razor-sharp humor and elegant acuity, What to Do About the Solomons is an exhilarating first book from a bright new star in fiction.
205 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 4, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
February 1, 2017
Half way through this story, I was ready to pull my hair out. I was soooo spent and exhausted, I wanted to SCREAM!!! - so I made a cup of green tea and took a breathing break!
My brain actually started to hurt. I felt like I was the sounding board for EVERYBODY'S problems.......*LOTS* of EVERYBODY'S in this novel!
Messy-craziness....IMPULSIVELY READABLE.....[Tea break needed about half way]....
but this is one heck of an ambitious family saga from Bethany Ball.
An Israeli mother leaves her eleven year old son alone in Israel, while she is in Los Angeles.
She shops on Melrose Street...smokes some joints...a little cocaine... a little booze... a little sex. That's just 'one' pathetic situation. Readers are in for a bumpy ride for many more jaw-dropping scenes!
Bethany Ball delves into the psychological history of grown children. Funny at times but frantically sad.
As a Jewish woman myself - who has lived on a Kibbutz- with a special heart for stories like this one -- I'm very glad I read this. Each family member is artfully crafted - all different - nobody was heroic .....( a little satire -realism -comedy - pathos) ... but I'm happy to leave their chaotic lives --and return to my own. However, I've been slightly altered - for the better!!!
Thank You Grove Atlantic, Netgalley, and Bethany Ball
My brain actually started to hurt. I felt like I was the sounding board for EVERYBODY'S problems.......*LOTS* of EVERYBODY'S in this novel!
Messy-craziness....IMPULSIVELY READABLE.....[Tea break needed about half way]....
but this is one heck of an ambitious family saga from Bethany Ball.
An Israeli mother leaves her eleven year old son alone in Israel, while she is in Los Angeles.
She shops on Melrose Street...smokes some joints...a little cocaine... a little booze... a little sex. That's just 'one' pathetic situation. Readers are in for a bumpy ride for many more jaw-dropping scenes!
Bethany Ball delves into the psychological history of grown children. Funny at times but frantically sad.
As a Jewish woman myself - who has lived on a Kibbutz- with a special heart for stories like this one -- I'm very glad I read this. Each family member is artfully crafted - all different - nobody was heroic .....( a little satire -realism -comedy - pathos) ... but I'm happy to leave their chaotic lives --and return to my own. However, I've been slightly altered - for the better!!!
Thank You Grove Atlantic, Netgalley, and Bethany Ball
April 19, 2017
I almost gave up on What to Do About the Solomons. At the beginning, it seemed confused and unfocused, with many characters and many timelines pulling me in disparate directions. But I’m glad I stuck with it. As the structure started to make sense and the characters came into focus, I found myself really falling in step with this one. What to Do About the Solomons isn’t really a story. It moves back and forth in time, focusing on a number of characters, jumping right into their subjective messy perspectives on life and how to keep their heads above water. Part of the story takes place in Israel on a Kibbutz, where Avrom and Vivienne lived with their five children. And part of the story takes place in the US and other parts of Israel, focusing on the grown up Solomon children and a handful of people connected to them. These are characters with complex connections and big emotions – they are not particularly likeable but I found myself caring for them and wanting to spend more time with them than this short novel allowed. Ball is a smart and brash writer – she takes a chance on an unconventional structure and complicated characters. But unlike other authors who push the envelope, her vision is not dark or cynical – it’s textured with touches of melancholy and humour. I also loved the setting, and the perspective on life in a kibbutz and modern Israel. All this to say that I really liked What to Do About the Solomons. It won’t work for everyone, but for me sticking with it really paid off. I’ll definitely be looking for Ball’s next novel. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
July 2, 2017
What to do about the Solomons is a 2017 Atlantic Press publication.
Sometimes there are just no words.
Well, okay, I have some words, but I don’t know how to properly articulate how I feel about this book. It was slow going in the beginning, because the names were unfamiliar and difficult for me to puzzle out. The writing is stark, with little or no frills, cutting right to the heart of the matter.
The prose is unlike anything I’ve encountered which slowed my reading down to a virtual crawl, as I tried to piece together just what was going on with these people. The story, if you want to call it that, perhaps a collection of connected vignettes might be a better description, or definition, but either way, it shifts back and forth between the past and present, between Israel and America, explaining the various heartbreaks, dramas and scandals, of the Solomon family.
The novel follows the saga of Yakov Solomon the family patriarch, his marriage, affairs, his offspring, and the various ups and downs they endure, their thoughts, feelings, mistakes, and the results of their various decisions, with a special focus on Marc Solomon, who lives in California, and is involved in an illegal financial situation.
For some reason, despite the jarring prose, I simply could not put this book down. I can’t even explain why. It’s sad, it’s funny, it’s addicting. Hollywood might label it a family dramedy. But, the thing that really impressed me, was how well the author drew each family member, within such a bare and jarring prose. I didn't particularly like any of them, or root for them, but was agog at some of the things they did.
However, I think perhaps some intimate points were lost on me. Living in a small Texas town I’m afraid I couldn't really get the feel or understand the nuances of living in a kibbutz, but I didn't have any trouble understanding the American parts- which is an all too familiar story.
But, overall, I was fascinated by this book and I understand why it garnered a little attention from libraries and other sources that send out book recommendations.
I’m not sure, even now, how to respond to it, but since it was a very unique experience for me, I’ll give it a nudge up, with 4 stars.
Sometimes there are just no words.
Well, okay, I have some words, but I don’t know how to properly articulate how I feel about this book. It was slow going in the beginning, because the names were unfamiliar and difficult for me to puzzle out. The writing is stark, with little or no frills, cutting right to the heart of the matter.
The prose is unlike anything I’ve encountered which slowed my reading down to a virtual crawl, as I tried to piece together just what was going on with these people. The story, if you want to call it that, perhaps a collection of connected vignettes might be a better description, or definition, but either way, it shifts back and forth between the past and present, between Israel and America, explaining the various heartbreaks, dramas and scandals, of the Solomon family.
The novel follows the saga of Yakov Solomon the family patriarch, his marriage, affairs, his offspring, and the various ups and downs they endure, their thoughts, feelings, mistakes, and the results of their various decisions, with a special focus on Marc Solomon, who lives in California, and is involved in an illegal financial situation.
For some reason, despite the jarring prose, I simply could not put this book down. I can’t even explain why. It’s sad, it’s funny, it’s addicting. Hollywood might label it a family dramedy. But, the thing that really impressed me, was how well the author drew each family member, within such a bare and jarring prose. I didn't particularly like any of them, or root for them, but was agog at some of the things they did.
However, I think perhaps some intimate points were lost on me. Living in a small Texas town I’m afraid I couldn't really get the feel or understand the nuances of living in a kibbutz, but I didn't have any trouble understanding the American parts- which is an all too familiar story.
But, overall, I was fascinated by this book and I understand why it garnered a little attention from libraries and other sources that send out book recommendations.
I’m not sure, even now, how to respond to it, but since it was a very unique experience for me, I’ll give it a nudge up, with 4 stars.
April 13, 2017
A more complete review is available on my blog:
This was a very interesting story. There is a the immigrant element, both to Israel and to the United States (and elsewhere for other characters that we don't hear too much about), the family drama and unfair accusations made. There were also a lot of characters in this book and a lot of jumping back and forth, both between different characters and times. It could be a little bit frustrating but I found myself enjoying the book, anyway.
The characters were fascinating. They were very complex and easy to relate to. Even though most of the characters were directly related to each other, all of them were very different and unique.
I enjoyed the different settings of the book, especially the setting of the kibbutz. It offered a window into a lifestyle that is very different from that which I have experienced here in the United States and I think very different from most people's experiences in the world. I also enjoyed that the book represented more of the ethnic groups that make up Israel and the Jewish people than just the Ashkenazim.
The writing was decent. It wasn't very fluid but it also wasn't overly choppy and difficult to read. I think some readers may have difficulty with the number of characters and the jumping back and forth but I enjoyed it despite these issues. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys family dramas and books from other cultures. In addition, this book is highly recommended for those who are interested in what life on a kibbutz is like. I enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to reading more by Ball.
Thank you for Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
This was a very interesting story. There is a the immigrant element, both to Israel and to the United States (and elsewhere for other characters that we don't hear too much about), the family drama and unfair accusations made. There were also a lot of characters in this book and a lot of jumping back and forth, both between different characters and times. It could be a little bit frustrating but I found myself enjoying the book, anyway.
The characters were fascinating. They were very complex and easy to relate to. Even though most of the characters were directly related to each other, all of them were very different and unique.
I enjoyed the different settings of the book, especially the setting of the kibbutz. It offered a window into a lifestyle that is very different from that which I have experienced here in the United States and I think very different from most people's experiences in the world. I also enjoyed that the book represented more of the ethnic groups that make up Israel and the Jewish people than just the Ashkenazim.
The writing was decent. It wasn't very fluid but it also wasn't overly choppy and difficult to read. I think some readers may have difficulty with the number of characters and the jumping back and forth but I enjoyed it despite these issues. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys family dramas and books from other cultures. In addition, this book is highly recommended for those who are interested in what life on a kibbutz is like. I enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to reading more by Ball.
Thank you for Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
February 1, 2017
This is a novel on the knife's edge of new fiction. Like a Maggie Nelson or Rachel Cusk novel, it pulls no punches: it's sharp, honest, poignant, fast-paced and unflinching as it surgically dissects the lives of its fascinating characters. I read it in nearly one sitting and couldn't stop thinking about it after. It also reminded me of Denis Johnson's "Jesus Son" in the way that it blends sordid details of dysfunction with beautiful language, keen observation, and a truly voice. There are sentences here that I want to read over and over. And powerfully rendered stories that I will never forget.
June 8, 2020
Way too confusing to be an enjoyable read.
A lot of different characters with dialogue and no quotation marks. No dashes, no indentation, it’s not a style, author, it’s just annoying!
I don’t care that other great authors may have done it - it’s lazy and it makes it more like work for the reader.
I just couldn’t be bothered to finish it.
A lot of different characters with dialogue and no quotation marks. No dashes, no indentation, it’s not a style, author, it’s just annoying!
I don’t care that other great authors may have done it - it’s lazy and it makes it more like work for the reader.
I just couldn’t be bothered to finish it.
March 11, 2017
This was a very strange read. It's about a family living in a kibbutz and how the kids grow up and go live their lives. There are a lot of secrets and rumors. The story is so intriguing it just keeps you engrossed and you just keep reading more.
The author gives you little hints about each child, well adults now, that peak your interest. When I first started reading it, I was thinking that I was not going to like it. However, very shortly into it, I just could not put it down. It's just hard to put into words exactly how the author attracts you but believe me, she does. A strange read that intrigues and pulls you in.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
The author gives you little hints about each child, well adults now, that peak your interest. When I first started reading it, I was thinking that I was not going to like it. However, very shortly into it, I just could not put it down. It's just hard to put into words exactly how the author attracts you but believe me, she does. A strange read that intrigues and pulls you in.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
March 16, 2017
TERRIBLE! I wish I could give negative stars! Little plot that meanders and her writing is unfocused. Someone compared her writing to Grace Paley and Isaac Bashevis Singer! Terrible insult to both authors!
April 17, 2017
When I read Bethany Ball's new novel, "What to Do About The Solomons", I thought about another writer of comedies-of-manners, Tova Reich. Reich is the author of "Mara", "My Holocaust", and "One Hundred Philistine Foreskins", and other novels filled with out-sized, mostly Jewish characters.
Now, Tova Reich and Bethany Ball write about the same milieu, Jews in Israel and America. Ball's characters - the extended Solomon family - are facing the problems of inheritance with the death of the family patriarch, Yakov Solomon. Yakov has accumulated a fortune doing construction work all over Israel. He has five legitimate children - spread from Singapore to Los Angeles to Israel - and there may be a few children from the other side of the blanket. Each of the children has their own "story", though daughters Keren and Shira and son Marc take up most of the story line. (Ball thoughtfully puts in a "Solomon Family Tree" in the beginning of the book). But the term "inheritance" can mean something other than just inheritance of money. It can connote inheritance of personality traits and the Solomon children have certainly inherited Yakov's.
Yakov's death comes at a time of both personal and business crisis in American-settled, youngest son, Marc. He and is financial company have been targeted by the Feds for possible malfeasance. His wife, Carolyn, has flipped out and his three sons are drifting. Sisters Shira and Keren are also "drifting"; Keren with a difficult husband, and Shira is into drugs and sex. Mother Vivienne, an Algerian Jew married to the Ashkenazi Yakov, has also had enough with her husband's bad behavior with almost every woman she knows.
Bethany Ball presents her many of her characters in pain and others in happiness. She skillfully draws each one and there are no caricatures among them. They have a sweetness to them that Tova Reich's characters lack. Both authors, though, give their readers interesting and well-developed books. By the way, Ball writes quite a bit in the present-tense. I really like that but many readers do not. You might want to consider whether the book will be right for you if you don't like present-tense writing.
Now, Tova Reich and Bethany Ball write about the same milieu, Jews in Israel and America. Ball's characters - the extended Solomon family - are facing the problems of inheritance with the death of the family patriarch, Yakov Solomon. Yakov has accumulated a fortune doing construction work all over Israel. He has five legitimate children - spread from Singapore to Los Angeles to Israel - and there may be a few children from the other side of the blanket. Each of the children has their own "story", though daughters Keren and Shira and son Marc take up most of the story line. (Ball thoughtfully puts in a "Solomon Family Tree" in the beginning of the book). But the term "inheritance" can mean something other than just inheritance of money. It can connote inheritance of personality traits and the Solomon children have certainly inherited Yakov's.
Yakov's death comes at a time of both personal and business crisis in American-settled, youngest son, Marc. He and is financial company have been targeted by the Feds for possible malfeasance. His wife, Carolyn, has flipped out and his three sons are drifting. Sisters Shira and Keren are also "drifting"; Keren with a difficult husband, and Shira is into drugs and sex. Mother Vivienne, an Algerian Jew married to the Ashkenazi Yakov, has also had enough with her husband's bad behavior with almost every woman she knows.
Bethany Ball presents her many of her characters in pain and others in happiness. She skillfully draws each one and there are no caricatures among them. They have a sweetness to them that Tova Reich's characters lack. Both authors, though, give their readers interesting and well-developed books. By the way, Ball writes quite a bit in the present-tense. I really like that but many readers do not. You might want to consider whether the book will be right for you if you don't like present-tense writing.
June 24, 2017
Initially I had trouble getting into this novel because of its form, but once I got going I enjoyed this debut novel. All of the quirky Solomons are fascinating and their storylines are revealed through tales and memories of family members. Secrets, lies, and rumors abound from the kibbutz to New York and Los Angeles. Money laundering, love, and scandals both tear the family apart and bring them together. An interesting take on multi-generational family with perils and joys.
April 5, 2017
I'm so in love with this book and it's beautiful, deliberate phrasing, the nuanced characters, the completely absorbing and surprising plotting. These characters were so real to me and people I felt like I know- universal despite their particularly geographic space.
March 31, 2017
All at once honest, dark, sexy and raw- life... as messy, heartbreaking and beautiful. (love, michael's wife- I'll be damned if i have enough time away from the kids to figure out how to log into my own account.)
October 14, 2017
"A riveting family drama," "A first novel that sizzles," ...."hilarious".........I'm not quite sure if I read the same book. I found this book to be extremely depressing, unfunny, (a far cry from "hilarious" unless I've forgotten the meaning of hilarious), and when completed, I answered the title question of What To Do With the Solomons - with " Who Cares???" While I respect greatly anyone who can write a book and get it published, which accounts for my 3 star rating, I truly find nothing about it to recommend.
April 4, 2017
If you're feeling intimidated by the first few pages, I hope this encourages you to read on: THERE IS SEX ON PAGE 11 (!!!), which is only ONE of the many reasons I am thoroughly enjoying this delicious, hilarious, honest, insightful, exotic, resonant book. Bethany Ball is a badass, and her writing here is reminding me a lot of Rachel Cusk. Now I'm going to go continue gobbling up this addictive book.
February 6, 2018
I read this book for a woman’s retreat. Honestly I would have stopped reading 1/2 way through otherwise. Reactions were very mixed. Most thought as I did that it was disjointed and disappointing. Character development suffered as the book jumped from one set of characters to another. It did provide an interesting window into the decline of the kibbutz but overall I wouldn’t recommend it.
June 12, 2017
Excellent family story with a good flow. You can connect well with the characters and even though there is no huge climax with your typical resolution, there is just something that draws you in and wont let you put the book down. It's almost like peeping into your neighbors windows and listening to their private conversations. I'm almost sad that it ended, yet I felt happy with the way things were wrapped up upon finishing. This was a quick read for me, and although I wouldn't walk around proclaiming to everyone that "you have to read this book" I would recommend it if someone walked up to me and asked specifically what I thought about this particular book. Ultimately I give it a 3.5 stars, but because I couldn't find anything wrong with the book (and Goodreads doesn't do half stars) I rounded up to 4 (instead of down to 3). I would definitely read this author again. If you are on the edge about whether or not to read this one and are looking at the reviews for some direction, I would tell you yes, go ahead and give this one a chance.
May 11, 2020
Would Crazy Rich Israelis be a better title? They are not as rich as the Asians and certainly not crazy rich, but they are much crazier. I think this book was supposed to be funny (and I see that some readers found it funny). You can tell it is supposed be funny because the first sentence introduces us to a character named Guy Gever. This is funny because Gever means “man” in Hebrew. GET IT? But you wouldn’t if you don’t speak Hebrew so what was the point? I didn’t find the book funny. Maybe it was the narrator who struggled with all the Hebrew (most of which I thought was superfluous). But she did have an appropriately sardonic tone and seemed to know what was supposed to be funny. Actually, I think the book would have been funny if it had been in Hebrew. It’s got a crazy cast of characters. They do a lot of drugs and have a lot of sex and say terrible things about their family members and friends and sometimes even to each other. And they do crazy things. But it’s just not funny as written. And it is certainly nothing else.
May 21, 2017
I just read this book in one weekend. There are a lot of characters, settings, plot twists and other details that are probably best explained by the book jacket copy. Suffice to say that I was enthralled with the world of the Solomons and the writing was so deeply felt that I simply could not put it down. I loved toggling between the two worlds of the US and Israel and was amazed by how Ball inhabited the interior thoughts of such a vast array of characters. This is a must read.
August 14, 2021
A delightful novel loaded with memorable characters, chronicling the quirky Israeli Solomon family over time and place. Due to the author’s great attention to characterization and her sympathy for her deeply flawed characters, each feels like the protagonist of the story. The novel is both serious and hilarious, sometimes ribald, and brimming with authentic details that bring its locations to life. Highly recommended.
June 3, 2017
What to do about the Solomons? Well—you could buy the book and be exasperated by these self-involved, financially successful modern-day kibbutzniks. Or, you could download the Audible version and want to throw your shoe at the device from which the narrater's haughty, judgemental, snide voice emanates. But here's the thing: good writing wins. You might be put off by the characters; you might want to scream at the narration, but the Solomons are so flawed and so deeply human that a week later, you can't get them out of your mind.
May 9, 2017
An edgy exploration of a complex, sprawling Israeli family. Not for lovers of quotation marks.
June 23, 2017
What a ride! Such interesting complex characters that just jump off the page!
October 7, 2017
Not sure as there’s really no “story line.” We go back and forth from LA to Israel and from family member to family member with no discernible timeframe. The characters are complex with all sorts of problems.
March 19, 2018
Wow!!! What a book!! The Solomons are really something. Quite the title for this book.
March 26, 2017
Vivienne and Yakov Solomon raised their five children in an Israeli kibbutz. Now that the kibbutz way of life is history, Bethany Ball gives us a look at how the utopian paradigm played with the lives of the children and their parents. This novel is mostly funny as I think it was meant to be but it also tugs at the heart strings. We get to look into the hearts and souls of people who were meant to be the ideal of life in Israel. The adult children have their disappointments but it is in the newest generation that we see what life in Israel is today and may well be in the future.
ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press (April 4th 2017).
ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press (April 4th 2017).
September 16, 2019
This one seems to have my name written on it. When a friend saw it was a multi-generation saga about Jews who get caught up in crime, she practically assigned it to me. (Thanks, Maya.)
That description doesn’t quite fit the story, though. It is multi-generational, it is Jews, and someone is accused of crime (but, as the dust jacket goes on to say, it’s a false accusation.) Instead, it’s about a tangled extended family, one where everyone seems fairly screwed up. But, as I said, it’s Jews.
I had some difficulty settling into the rhythm here and, while I may never have actually grown comfortable with it, I wound up admiring it for that original rhythm as much as anything. This is, from the start and more or less throughout, frenetic. The scenes are short, and the sentences rapid fire. Ball rarely stops for exposition, and she assumes a family structure that everyone should know. That’s hard to follow, but it does feel true-to-life. I doubt I could have made sense of this if I’d listened to it because I often had to stop my reading to flip back a couple pages or to consult the helpful family tree in the opening pages.
As it stands, though, we get four generations of an Israeli, sometimes U.S. family. The patriarch, Yakov Solomon, has managed to help his kibbutz grow into a massive business. He’s gone from child of the Israeli War of Independence to socialist, to compulsive womanizer and controlling older figure.
His various children live in his shadow. A son-in-law is torn between his dreams of being an artist and his sense of obligation to the kibbutz. His youngest son has built a financial empire in California but gets double-crossed by an old friend. And then [SPOILER:] he never learns that he’s been kept from his childhood sweetheart because she is secretly his half-sister. And another son is disappointed in his life (along with some of Yakov’s brothers.)
Put like that, this feels like soap opera, but that doesn’t quite describe the effect. Instead, Ball is trying – largely through her narrative rhythm – to give an impression of a great span of time compressed into a series of powerful moments. There are some ruts here; I think three plots involving middle-aged or older characters finding their way back to childhood loves is at least two too many. And there is some unnecessary drama. (Why fight over the family fortune if there is, really, enough for everyone?)
All of that leaves the end of this somewhat arbitrary feeling.
Still, there’s some rare ambition here. Ball is doing something substantially more difficult than any plot summary can suggest. She’s challenging narrative as we typically get it.
I don’t think this lives up the blurbs on its cover, but I do think Ball is an intriguing writer. I admire this is as an experiment and I found, the more I read of it, that I grew to enjoy the crazy even more for its tone than for what was happening.
That description doesn’t quite fit the story, though. It is multi-generational, it is Jews, and someone is accused of crime (but, as the dust jacket goes on to say, it’s a false accusation.) Instead, it’s about a tangled extended family, one where everyone seems fairly screwed up. But, as I said, it’s Jews.
I had some difficulty settling into the rhythm here and, while I may never have actually grown comfortable with it, I wound up admiring it for that original rhythm as much as anything. This is, from the start and more or less throughout, frenetic. The scenes are short, and the sentences rapid fire. Ball rarely stops for exposition, and she assumes a family structure that everyone should know. That’s hard to follow, but it does feel true-to-life. I doubt I could have made sense of this if I’d listened to it because I often had to stop my reading to flip back a couple pages or to consult the helpful family tree in the opening pages.
As it stands, though, we get four generations of an Israeli, sometimes U.S. family. The patriarch, Yakov Solomon, has managed to help his kibbutz grow into a massive business. He’s gone from child of the Israeli War of Independence to socialist, to compulsive womanizer and controlling older figure.
His various children live in his shadow. A son-in-law is torn between his dreams of being an artist and his sense of obligation to the kibbutz. His youngest son has built a financial empire in California but gets double-crossed by an old friend. And then [SPOILER:] he never learns that he’s been kept from his childhood sweetheart because she is secretly his half-sister. And another son is disappointed in his life (along with some of Yakov’s brothers.)
Put like that, this feels like soap opera, but that doesn’t quite describe the effect. Instead, Ball is trying – largely through her narrative rhythm – to give an impression of a great span of time compressed into a series of powerful moments. There are some ruts here; I think three plots involving middle-aged or older characters finding their way back to childhood loves is at least two too many. And there is some unnecessary drama. (Why fight over the family fortune if there is, really, enough for everyone?)
All of that leaves the end of this somewhat arbitrary feeling.
Still, there’s some rare ambition here. Ball is doing something substantially more difficult than any plot summary can suggest. She’s challenging narrative as we typically get it.
I don’t think this lives up the blurbs on its cover, but I do think Ball is an intriguing writer. I admire this is as an experiment and I found, the more I read of it, that I grew to enjoy the crazy even more for its tone than for what was happening.
July 16, 2018
I so enjoyed this novel. Immensely readable, fascinating, winding between and among the various Solomons. Family life, family ties, family troubles, family rivalries, winding from a kibbutz in Israel through Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, New York, and Los Angeles. Highly recommended.
February 26, 2017
Yakov Solomon emigrated to Israel after WWII and settled in a kibbutz in the Jordan River Valley. He met and married the beautiful Vivienne and raised a family. Eventually Yakov became a wealthy man with his construction company and his children grew up and began began to scatter. Marc, the former commando, had moved to Los Angeles and married a beautiful Gentile woman with many secrets. Ziv, the gay son is estranged from the family and living in Singapore. Shira, a self absorbed actress travels between Israel, lOs Angeles and New York. She also has little interest in her only child, Joseph. Keren is the daughter still living on the kibbutz and married to a man who barely makes a living. She relies on her father's generosity for the family existence.
Friends like Marc's first love, Maya and the Shymatsky brothers also make appearances and continue to complicate the lives of the Solomons.
In Los Angeles, Marc has been accused of financial misdeeds and sees his successful asset trading business all apart and his fortune confiscated. Then Yakov dies and most of the clan return to the kibbutz to mourn him and also share his fortune.
This is a well written book by a new author, Bethany Ball. She presents a multigenerational family of imperfect people. There are no heroes, just realistic characters.
Friends like Marc's first love, Maya and the Shymatsky brothers also make appearances and continue to complicate the lives of the Solomons.
In Los Angeles, Marc has been accused of financial misdeeds and sees his successful asset trading business all apart and his fortune confiscated. Then Yakov dies and most of the clan return to the kibbutz to mourn him and also share his fortune.
This is a well written book by a new author, Bethany Ball. She presents a multigenerational family of imperfect people. There are no heroes, just realistic characters.
January 29, 2017
Bethany Ball's debut novel is a multigenerational family saga about a family whose roots lie in a Kibbutz community in Israel. With graceful pros Ball transports us from the kibbutz to New York and
Los Angeles. The novel is full of humor and gossip about the Solomon family, which makes it a engaging read.
Marc Solomon, the family's golden-child, is a ex-Israeli commando, living in LA. When he is falsely accused of money laundering through his asset managing team, scandal abounds. The house is raided in one of the funniest scenes in the book told through the eyes of Marc's American wife, Carolyn. The death of his powerful father, Yakov, brings Marc and his family back to the Kibbutz. Here we meet his long-suffering mother, his movie-actress sister and her neglected son, along with the rest of the family, an ex-lover and the community. Tales unwind family secrets and we learn what exactly it is about the Solomons that makes them both an extraordinary and ordinary family.
Los Angeles. The novel is full of humor and gossip about the Solomon family, which makes it a engaging read.
Marc Solomon, the family's golden-child, is a ex-Israeli commando, living in LA. When he is falsely accused of money laundering through his asset managing team, scandal abounds. The house is raided in one of the funniest scenes in the book told through the eyes of Marc's American wife, Carolyn. The death of his powerful father, Yakov, brings Marc and his family back to the Kibbutz. Here we meet his long-suffering mother, his movie-actress sister and her neglected son, along with the rest of the family, an ex-lover and the community. Tales unwind family secrets and we learn what exactly it is about the Solomons that makes them both an extraordinary and ordinary family.
June 20, 2017
Well-written first novel by author, Bethany Ball. Characters are unique and well-developed; dialogue flows naturally; and relationships are surprising yet identifiable.
Story concerns an Israeli family whose patriarch is a big "macher" in the Kibbutz but whose children, as is often the case, have spread in many and diverse directions-- one a financial wizard in California and the eldest, a banished homosexual, happily living his life with a partner in Singapore to name but two.
While Ball juggles a lot of information and many characters smoothly, the book fails to be emotionally compelling in any lasting manner. A book which recently covered much of the same territory is Jonathan Foer's HERE I AM and I recommend it as a much deeper, funnier and more sociopolitically relevant piece.
Still, an enjoyable quick read and a writer with undeniable talent and worth noting.
Story concerns an Israeli family whose patriarch is a big "macher" in the Kibbutz but whose children, as is often the case, have spread in many and diverse directions-- one a financial wizard in California and the eldest, a banished homosexual, happily living his life with a partner in Singapore to name but two.
While Ball juggles a lot of information and many characters smoothly, the book fails to be emotionally compelling in any lasting manner. A book which recently covered much of the same territory is Jonathan Foer's HERE I AM and I recommend it as a much deeper, funnier and more sociopolitically relevant piece.
Still, an enjoyable quick read and a writer with undeniable talent and worth noting.
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