Transgressions

by James A. Jacobs

Brant, N.Y., 1952...Daniel Mendoza, son of a Jewish professional boxer on the verge of his first title shot, blames himself for the terrible events that befall his family. However, while sheltered on an Iroquois reservation, he is counseled through a series of rituals and tests both physical and spiritual that urges him toward manhood and a life-changing discovery.

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an unexpected surprise! A wonderful coming of age story, but with so much history of a difficult time in US history. Captures the graft in the boxing ‘industry’ with a burning magnifying glass. Introspection by the protagonist beautifully illustrates post WWII racial tensions in an unexpected way.

[Jennifer Haas]

Transgressions is the multicultural coming of age journey of Danny Mendosa who is born into a boxing family in upstate New York shortly after WWII. Danny is part Jewish, part Iroquois, and part white “not otherwise specified”. The story is grounded in ethnographically accurate depictions of his interaction with his multiple families and as well as the male subcultures of boxing, lacrosse and football. The author’s comprehensive knowledge of cultural anthropology and sociology is manifest in each chapter. Danny’s journey begins after his family is murdered by the mob and he has flee to the Iroquois reservation to hide out. The author allows Danny to observe many cross-cultural similarities among all these communities, especially Jewish and Iroquois. After learning about the Iroquois struggles resulting from contact with whites, Danny muses; “To me sovereignty meant having power over your own life. It seemed to me that the Iroquois, like the Mendoza family enterprise, simply did not recognize their true condition.” The demon which Danny must defeat is inter-generational shame based on a complex family secret. The writing is exceptionally clean. The dialogues are compelling, especially when they follow a character’s internal conversation. Transgressions is a substantial work of art by a gifted observer of human life, not as it is supposed to be, but how is actually is.

[William Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first novel by Jacobs A. Jacobs (and I hope not the last) is the bildungsroman of Daniel Mendoza, son of a Jewish boxer, and nurtured to manhood guided an Iroquois Faithkeeper and a Jewish Kabbalist. It is a wonderful, well-written story that brings the spirituality of religion to a positive real world application.