A Letter to Harvey Milk: Short Stories

by Lesléa Newman

This poignant and humorous collection of stories offers a fresh perspective on current issues such as homosexuality and anti-Semitism and lends a unique voice to those experiencing growing pains and self-discovery. Newman’s readers accompany her quirky Jewish characters through all types of experiences from an initial lesbian sexual encounter to being sequestered in a college apartment after paranoid Holocaust flashbacks. In these stories characters anxiously discover their lesbian identities while beginning to understand, and finally to embrace, their Jewish heritage. The title story, "A Letter to Harvey Milk," was the second place finalist in the Raymond Carver Short Story Competition.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Jewish, Judaism, Lesbian Fiction

173 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

About the author

Lesléa Newman (born 1955, Brooklyn, NY) is the author of over 50 books including Heather Has Two Mommies, A Letter To Harvey Milk, Writing From The Heart, In Every Laugh a Tear, The Femme Mystique, Still Life with Buddy, Fat Chance and Out of the Closet and Nothing to Wear.
She has received many literary awards including Poetry Fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Highlights for Children Fiction Writing Award, the James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement, and two Pushcart Prize Nominations.
Nine of her books have been Lambda Literary Award finalists.
Ms. Newman wrote Heather Has Two Mommies, the first children's book to portray lesbian families in a positive way, and has followed up this pioneering work with several more children's books on lesbian and gay families: Gloria Goes To Gay Pride, Belinda's Bouquet, Too Far Away to Touch, and Saturday Is Pattyday.
She is also the author of many books for adults that deal with lesbian identity, Jewish identity and the intersection and collision between the two. Other topics Ms. Newman explores include AIDS, eating disorders, butch/femme relationships and sexual abuse. Her award-winning short story, A Letter To Harvey Milk has been made into a film and adapted for the stage.
In addition to being an author, Ms. Newman is a popular guest lecturer, and has spoken on college campuses across the country including Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Oregon, Bryn Mawr College, Smith College and the University of Judaism. From 2005-2009, Lesléa was a faculty member of the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. Currently, she is the Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA.

Reviews

[rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

like any collection of short stories, I did not like all the stories, I did not think they were all great, however the ones I loved were stories I really loved. there's something so personal and vulnerable about Newman's writing that I find fascinating.

[bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

a few boring slogs in here but six out of the nine stories i really did love!

[Adakhc · Rating 4 out of 5]

1988; New York.

Thanks for lending this Wren, I really enjoyed this book although it took me forever to read. My favourite stories were 'A letter to harvey milk' (written from the point of view of the old man in the retirement home who had met h.m.); 'the best revenge' (dyke couple who fought a lot) and 'something shiny' (about the pride march and aids memorial quilt in 1985).

[tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

“[She] didn’t believe it could never happen again, could never happen here, as her friends would tell her. … and then, of course, there was Reagan’s…plans to lay a wreath on the graves of the Waffen SS, Hitler’s elite troops; the Jewish community’s outrage and grief; and Elie Wiesel’s plea for the president to change his mind and visit the graves of hurler’s victims instead. Sharon read the stories in the papers for weeks, trying hard to convince herself that the President of the United States would never align himself with Nazi Germany like that. Surely he would change his mind and she, along with millions of others, could rest easier that the world, in 1985, was a safe place for Jews.” (130-133)
published in 1988 the stories in this book are still relevant and relatable, familiar and intimidate. twisted my heart up at times. yiddish glossary in the back is also very cool !

[cooldude · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book overall. I didn't love a couple of the short stories (especially Flashback - it just felt ridiculous to me and unattached from the trauma of actual survivors) but I also cried several times while reading this because it tugged on my heartstrings. The shabbat story, the AIDs quilt -- this was so meaningful to me and I already have plans to go back and reread the stories that spoke to me. I'm really glad that i read this.

[Bina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book, it felt so deeply personal and affirming to read about life, love, coming of age, and womanhood from the point of view of Jewish lesbians. Leslea Newman captures with such beautiful and at times agonizing poignancy the infinitely multifaceted nature of love between non-men, including the growing pains of difficult periods of relationships and friendships, as well as the wonderful, hilarious, tender sweetness of it all. She also captures what it is like to grow up by oneself as a queer Jew and how it affects your relationship with your family, yourself, your faith, and the world, all while centering experiences and traditions that many american Jews will be so intimately familiar with. The ways that in so many of these stories, these traditions were shown to be celebrated with and through chosen family was especially inspiring and meaningful. I could write paragraphs retelling the different parts of stories that made me feel so seen and held that I couldn't help but cry for the characters, knowing full well that I was really crying for myself. It is such a gift to be able to have a glimpse into the lives of these characters, and in doing so having a new glimpse into my own life and new ways of naming my feelings. As the book reminds us, it is such a gift to be Jewish and to be a lesbian.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah, these stories were really good. My favorites were "The Gift" and the title story- the former because of how much I related to it, the latter because of how beautifully written it was. Other stories are more fluffy but still enjoyable, like "One Shabbos Evening." I wasn't a big fan of "Flashback," however, because I didn't really buy the transition between seeing neo-nazi paraphernalia and thinking that the Holocaust is happening again- that story could have used some investigation of that paranoia, I think.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this book for my gay/lesbian literature class this past semester. It's an old classic, but stands up. We were looking at questions of faith, and it was a great way to look at Jewish and lesbian identity -- Newman does a great job examining this issue. She is close to my age and writes about experiences that are familiar to me, so I felt a bit like a relic when teaching the book. It was nice to re-experience the early coming out days.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing candor. Timeless and real. Contemporary characters. Polished and poignant. A warm celebration of identity. Wraps up nicely as the stories feel part of the larger theme of the radical self. Has the Carver minimalism, but lets go into something deeper than capital-R realism. A criminally underrated writer and egregiously ignored story collection. Lovely Yinglish prose.

"A Letter to Harvey Milk"

"The Best Revenge"

"Flashback"

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Met this woman at the AWP writers conference and liked what she had to say about fiction/memoir - stuff I found personally relevant. later saw her selling/signing so bought this book. They are very good short stories, but even better if you are jewish, lesbian or both, as the author is. Lots of yiddish with a glossary in the back. great cultural education of a sort. good read.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

the collection is okay, but I really like the short story that is the title. I heard it on the radio when I was nine or ten and remembered it ever since until one day a couple years ago I found it in the bookstore.

[Jakey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories were good, particularily the title story, which made me get all teary. But some were rediculously bad. like the one about the woman who locks herself in her apartment, convinced that she is Anne Frank.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

chock full of jewish lesbian angst, family angst, generational angst, and "finding your place in the world" angst. and there are some really great characters. there was one story that involved a purple rhinestone earring that made me tear up a bit.

[Aviva · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazingly well-written short story collection. Very identifiable to anyone, Jewish or not, gay or not. The title story is probably the best short story I have ever read.

[Forjunk977 · Rating 5 out of 5]

damn skippy.... definitely a great jewish homo read

[Annemarie Donahue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read "A Letter to Harvey Milk" the title short story to this collection but it was fantastically sweet. Honestly, I cried.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my favorite short stories is in this collection--Flashback--but the others seem a little too stereotypically Yiddishkayt for me. She's a great writer, though.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction N5538 1988