Choose Somebody Else

by Yvonne Fein

An enthralling, entertaining and compelling collection of short stories that follow the great Yiddish storytelling traditions in tone and style: tackling life’s questions, big and banal, with an evocative, humorous and thought-provoking authority. In each one, Fein excels in drawing the reader into another reality, to experience, to become part of the story and the characters’ lives as they unfold. The stories are discrete but connected by their representations of various generations of the tormented. A mediaeval legend taken from the Talmud is gentle with gender ambiguity yet follows it to its unforeseen end. A tale of magical realism tells of a rabbi, a student who falls in love with him and a shadow-soul from a distant era. The three of them dance together in the present but the shadow-soul takes the rabbi back to a time of corruption and evil.

Genres: Fiction

259 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Yvonne Fein holds an MA in History (Monash University) and Diploma of Creative Writing (Prahran College). She has written three novels (April Fool, The Torn Messiah, Rachel Running Time) and a short-story collection (Choose Somebody Else). She has written for theatre and the screen. She conducted creative writing workshops for people with mental illness and advocates for those with mental and physical disability by performing stand-up to raise public awareness.

Reviews

[Marion]

Couldn’t finish reading. Not what i was expecting.