Queen Solomon

by Tamara Faith Berger

It's just another boring summer for our teenaged narrator — until Barbra arrives. An Ethiopian Jew, Barbra was brought to Israel at age five, a part of Operation Solomon, and now our narrator's well-intentioned father has brought her, as a teen, to their home for the summer. But Barbra isn't the docile and grateful orphan they expect, and soon our narrator, terrified of her and drawn to her in equal measure, finds himself immersed in compulsive psychosexual games with her, as she binge-drinks and lies to his family. Things go terribly wrong, and Barbra flees. But seven years later, as our narrator is getting his life back on track, with a new girlfriend and a master's degree in Holocaust Studies underway, Barbra shows up at our narrator's house once again, her "spiritual teacher" in tow, and our narrator finds his politics, and his sanity, back in question.


Queen Solomon is another masterful take on the politics of sex, race, and power from the author of the Believer Book Award–winning Maidenhead.

Genres: Fiction

Kindle Edition

Published September 11, 2018

About the author

Tamara Faith Berger has published three novels: Lie With Me (2001), The Way of the Whore (2004) and Maidenhead (2012). Her first two novels were recently re-published as Little Cat (2013). She has been published in Taddle Creek, Adult and Apology magazine. Her work has been translated into Spanish and German. Tamara won the Believer Book Award for Maidenhead. She lives in Toronto.

Reviews

[Felice Laverne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The description of this novella only vaguely resembles how it actually reads. What really seems to be happening here is a narration style similar to stream of consciousness, where this budding teenage narrator learns first-hand about sex the summer that Barbra, an Ethiopian Jewish girl of 18, comes to stay with his family for the summer.

There is a lot of crude language, which wouldn't have bothered me if it come from a more mature mind (the narrator, not the author) and had a meaningful purpose to the narrative. This wasn't a narrative vehicle I would have driven to deliver the message it intended, but I'm sure that that will be the appeal for some. However, for me, the dialogue seemed stilted and unnatural and the plot was smothered in descriptions. For such a short literary narrative, this book would have been better served with plot than with the often meaningless descriptions that take up, ultimately, pages and pages of space. If you're looking to jump inside the mind of a Jewish teenage boy (who uses words like tits and cock and "seriously?!" for over 100 pages, you've come to the right place. Other than that, I never really got into it and was grateful that Queen Solomon read so quickly. I wouldn't say that it was a bad book, just not one that's for me. Definitely more of a "niche" read. The cover art, though, is eye-catching and very striking; that I thought was well-done.**

I received an advance-read copy of this book from the publisher, Coach House Books, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

FOLLOW ME HERE:

Art + Deco Agency Book Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Art + Deco Publishing Agency

[Completely Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt gross reading this. The narrator is a horny teenage Jewish boy. He talks about having a girl that he never met before give him a blow job in a bathroom in detail. He tells us about losing his virginity at 15 with his 15 year old girlfriend again in detail and I have no desire to read about children having sex. Then the family takes in this 18 year old Ethiopian girl and he talks about things she asks him to do to her, things he does, and things he wants to do. I was just grossed out the entire time.

[Rel · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I loved this book. Flat out, hands down loved it. It is the most compulsively readable thing I've picked up in a while. I read an Advanced Readers Copy, so apologies that this isn't out yet, but I just wanted to get some of my thoughts down.

I can't remember for sure whether the book actually outright references that good old Oscar Wilde quip about how 'everything is about sex, except sex, which is about power', but it certainly stayed on my mind. If you like that quotation, I imagine this book might interest you.

I dislike the plot summary that goodreads has provided (the same as on the back of the book). I know people like to know plot summaries, but I see the plot in this case as more of a backdrop, elements that allow us to explore the nuances of the issues.

The two main characters are an 18 year old female Ethiopian Jew, the other a male 16 (I think) year old male Canadian Jew. Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to the way the parents are such clear and crisp characters, distinct 3-dimensional minds with separate ideas and agendas than those of either of the main two characters. They are archetypes that don't feel worn.

A main component of this book is the portrayal of the psycho-sexual dynamics between the two main characters, teenagers. I believe this book to be (at least in part) about the hot, explosive, propulsive power of sex, and where its intoxications can lead.

The Westworld refrain 'These violent delights have violent ends' comes to mind.

The author's exploration of the nature of power is one of the most fascinating things about the book. When attempting to make sense of the situation, or rationalize what's going on ("on the one hand X... and on the other hand Y..."), I quickly ran out of hands... and saw that I would need scores.

As a reader, I did not feel judged or implicated by the situation (though I can and do like books that make me feel that way). I felt more like I was surreptitiously eavesdropping, learning something vital and interesting (though I'm not sure what). I remain unsure.

And I'm not sure if the reader is supposed to know what it all meant.

There is a glee to be found in the exercise of watching this trainwreck-story unfold; it made my heart race. Throughout, though, you trust that the crash at the end won't disappoint, and it does not disappoint. And then there's also the issue of not knowing who to root for.

This book may also be about the nature of mental illness as well, though I need to give that some more thought. Mental illness doesn't seem to really be the point to me, but maybe it is entirely the point.

It's definitely a book about the complications of post-colonialism, but similarly I couldn't tell you quite what the author thinks about that matter either. She seems to be able to see and capture and relay all sides. Though also it's a bit "Pussy Grabs Back," perhaps.

I wouldn't say that Berger "equivocates" on the matters, but it seems to be less about hard answers and more about hard questions. She lays bare the complications, and explores the implications of those complications.

To quote The Believer, which provides a blurb for the back, "[Berger] handles race and class as deftly as she does the effects of internet pornography on our sex lives and our moral selves - subjects that might be turned into excuses for sermons, but which she renders in original and shocking ways."

There isn't much in this book about internet pornography, but I see what The Believer is getting at. Perhaps that's an old quotation about a previous work of hers.

As a whole, the book makes me think a bit of various things other things I love -- Teeth (movie), The House of Yes (movie), a bit of The Cement Garden (book). Other things too...

It was great! The title is great! The cover is great!

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tamara Faith Berger is one of my favorite contemporary novelists and Queen Solomon, her fifth novel, is her boldest and most confrontational yet. The title refers to the biblical figures Queen of Sheba and King Solomon in addition to “Operation Solomon,” a covert Israeli military operation in which Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel in 1991. Those dual references suggest the novel’s highly-charged (to put it mildly) religious, political, and sexual themes but nothing can prepare you for the sheer intensity of Berger’s writing.

Berger is unafraid of taking huge risks in how she twists and mutates language: this is not conventionally ‘beautiful’ or ‘lyrical’ prose. Rather, it is a raw form of de/re-constructed language that is visceral in its physical descriptions and unflinching in its delineation of the narrator’s innermost thoughts. In the latter capacity Berger’s prose achieves an almost unbearable psychological frisson: when her lines hit the hardest it’s like you can feel the earth shift beneath your feet.

A paradox arises when a writer is operating at this level of artistry: any false note sounds that much louder. Berger’s formal choices and phrasings (particularly in dialogue) can indeed be awkward at times. If these off-notes are a momentary distraction, however, they do little to diminish the overall impact of the novel.

Each of Berger’s previous four novels has taken considerable risks (to put it mildly) but she has never been as audacious as she is here. For one, she has never given us a voice like this: not only is it a male narrator (this is her first novel written entirely from a male viewpoint), he’s… well, you’ll have to read the book to find that out. But suffice to say Berger is exploring some of the most uncomfortable parts of both society and the human mind. And she does so in a deceptively complex nonlinear narrative that is her most unpredictable and shocking yet.

Very few writers are operating at this level right now. Queen Solomon is a fucking hair-raiser. To put it mildly.

[Michelle Iliescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about Jewish history or politics to appreciate this.

[Diane B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sexually explicit and disturbing. An interesting choice for the Heliconian lecture series.

The author ended up doing the lecture via video rather than in person, where she talked about writing porn for pennies a word and also shared her discovery of Holocaust ‘erotica’.

I can understand why the author chose to make the narrator male, but it doesn’t make the abuse any more tolerable. Abusers often suffer abuse in their own personal histories, such as Barbra; but what a twisted sister.

It really did make me a bit sick, but I kept reading, hoping for some kind of redemption. Not forthcoming.

Pushed boundaries. Played with some interesting themes (Jews and Arabs in Palestine, mental illness, molestation).

Daring and provocative but way too dark for me.

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I have read by Tamara Faith Berger, and the theme that really runs through her work is that sex is a form of power, a power to strengthen yourself, even if it means that it is also destroying you at the same time. This is the case of the narrator in her new novel, "Queen Solomon". His life changes when his family hosts a woman, Barbra, an Ethiopian Jew, whom he sees as a giant and the object of every desire that he's ever had. She quickly pulls him into an abusive relationship that does not end well. Seven years later he has a girlfriend and is a university student but everything that he does is shaped by this relationship that he had with Barbra. So when she shows up, with a man he does not approve of in the least, it turns his life back into chaos. Even though this novel have scenes of graphic sexual encounters, it seems tame compared to some of her other works. Berger seems to spend more of her time with philosophy, with Jewish history, culture, and the tangled webs from years of war, racism, and destruction. It is almost like the family around him, besides his father, might not know exactly what is going on between him and Barbra, but knows that it is not something that is healthy. His girlfriend spends a great deal of time questioning him about his motives in regards to the reasons why he only sleeps with black women and cannot be faithful, and if this is the way that he deals with the trauma of the things Barbra, his "abuser", put his through. As the story unfolds, the questions are answered not by the text but by the actions of the narrator and the pull that Barbra always will have on him. "Queen Solomon" is not going to be appreciated by everyone. Some will see it as too crass. Some will see it as too chaotic, but I see it as another solid work by Tamara Faith Berger. This actually fits well into the themes she explores often, and I feel like it's another piece to her very interesting, solid canon.

I received this as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Michelle Arredondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Operation Solomon....Barbra, a 5 year old Ethiopian Jew is brought to Israel. Turning teenager...she is sent to stay with a family for the summer. The narrator is the son of the father that has welcomed Barbra in. Barbra...what a character. She is not shy. She is not someone conflicted with traumas to the point that she is meek and afraid. Quite the opposite. She is fierce to the point of cruelty. She is rebellious and well experienced in sexuality and she uses that sexuality to gain power. The narrator...immediately becomes sucked into Barbra's sexual games. He becomes sucked into everything about her and thus gets led down a tumultuous snare of games and deception. At some point they go their separate ways and the narrator lands in University and another girlfriend..however that relationship is marred with the experiences and feelings he had for Barbra. Then Barbra reappears....

It's provocative, salacious, raw....scathing, maddening...I hated the characters and I think that in a sense the story would not be so good if I didn't. I yelled at the narrator as he pulled away and gravitated back into Barbra's grasp. It's crass and too much...offensive most times...but interesting. This story will leave you exhausted and I think that is the intention. Not for the faint of heart. It's meant for the reader that dares to explore...that wants to be right in a tale so bold and chaotic it leaves you stirred well past ending.

I've never read a Tamara Faith Berger book beyond this one...and it is my goal to change that.

Received my free copy of this book via LibraryThing giveaway. I received. I read. I reviewed this book honestly and voluntarily.

[Kimberley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Edelweiss+ for this Advanced eGalley of “Queen Solomon”.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say this book won’t appeal to many, and is likely to seem overly lewd without much discernible context.

Then again, perhaps I’m only describing myself.

Barbra is an Ethiopian Jew, brought to Israel via Operation Solomon, and now ensconced (thanks to a program sponsored by the rotary club) in the Canadian home of our hormonally driven narrator. His name is never mentioned, but he’s referred to frequently as “Jew-boy”.

Over the course of their time together, Barbra and the narrator overindulge in sexual escapades that wreak of abuse of power, role reversals, and purging of demons via S&M.

After reading many of these passages, I wasn’t surprised to find the author used to write porn for a living because, honestly, a lot of this was over the top—to what end, I haven’t the slightest.

Buried beneath the gratuitous sex play there is a message regarding the ways in which exploitation of a people can take place under the guise of “helping” said people. But, again, that’s easily lost in the madness that is our narrators explicit sexual fantasy’s.

In the end, I identified with no one because everyone seemed in need of some sort of psychological assistance.

[Laurence Lamonde-Mercier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a lot of crude language which wouldn't have bothered me from any other narrator. It felt like descriptions of the female body were forced and a bit offensive at times because viewed through the mind of a 16 year old. However, the theme of sex as power was well developed and the way it was put was thought provoking.

Overall the plot was interesting and quite disturbing but the unnatural, stilted dialogues coupled with the stream-of-consciousness type effect coming from the narrator made it difficult to appreciate any of the characters and to feel for them.

The French translation was quite interesting as well because there was a lot of Québec swear words which didn't read natural at all in the story of obvious English speakers. I have to admit though that it read super fast.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember reading Maidenhead after the furor, and thinking it was a revelation. Queen Solomon has one of the best covers I've ever seen, but the book felt repetitive and disjointed to me, cyclical (and maybe it was supposed to, and maybe I'm not picking up on some of the themes and the nuances that I should be picking up on). And there was all the build-up, to the pivotal moment of violence, to the two pivotal moments of violence, actually, and then those moments were both unclear. It felt like it needed to be longer, more fleshed out.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little difficult to read as it follows a sort of "stream of consciousness" type of narrative and you're never truly sure what/who you are supposed to believe.

I would say it is definitely for more mature readers as there are a lot of political and literary references I had to pause and look up as well as the sadist sexual content that frankly made me a little sick sometimes.

I feel like specific fans will enjoy this book. Unfortunately, it was a little too much for my taste.

[Anne-Marie Dupuis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*
LA REINE SALOMON (traduction de Daniel Grenier aux éditions Marchand de feuilles).
C’est un livre très intense et sexuellement explicite (exploration bdsm jouant avec les limites de l’abus sexuel), avec des thématiques intéressantes telles que le judaïsme post-deuxième guerre, le syndrome du sauveur, la transmission et la guérison des traumatismes et les troubles de santé mentale.
Je n’ai malheureusement pas accroché à la finale, j’ignore si c’est en raison de la traduction ou de la construction narrative en tant que telle, mais je ne crois pas avoir tout saisi, d’où la note de 3,5.
Sommes toutes un livre riche en réflexions que je recommanderais à un lecteur averti.

[Edward Champion · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I thought MAIDENHEAD was a masterpiece and because Berger demonstrated her distinct talent for fusing uncomfortable sexuality with an odd streak of sincerity. But with QUEEN SOLOMON, we have a deeply unpleasant misogynistic creep as a narrator: a man who isn't even remotely interesting and who lusts after a young woman from Israel. There is some interesting commentary on internecine Jewish fights, but ultimately this book is a huge and frequently thoughtless disappointment.

[Jean-Michel Berthiaume · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je sais pas trop j'étais où dans ma tête quand j'ai commencé à lire Queen Solomon mais le tout m'a vraiment projetté dans le même état mental que le Teorema de Pasolini. C'est pas une lecture facile et je ne crois pas que ce soit l'objectif mais ce type de récit, à propos d'une force destructrice qui vient chambouler l'existance de plusieurs personne de par sa simple présence est vraiment une bonne lecture quand t'es dû de faire un peu d'Ishtar dans ta vie.

[Devlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, though I find Tamara Faith Berger’s books hard to rank on the star system. Definitely a compulsive read though.

[Becky Skillin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mental illness, family disintegration, child abuse and porn. What’s not to love?

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird sex and psychological mind games? Sign me up!

[Duncan Stewart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretentious pseudo literary garbage.

[Antoinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A troubling and puzzling read. I am still unsure about what exactly happened in this book, but I'm looking forward to rereading it.

[Véronick Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plusieurs aspects de la maladie mentale sont explorés... je ne sais pas trop quoi en dire. Je ne recommanderai pas cette lecture, mais je ne regrette pas ma lecture.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stream of consciousness novel from the POV of a teenage boy. His life is overturned by the arrival of an Ethiopian Jewish woman. This book was an uncomfortable read, including graphic sexual descriptions involving minors (15-16). There's also a recurring mention of Kafka's The Metamorphosis which makes sense as the main character is found to be schizoaffective. Overall a thought-provoking read.

[Sierra Goldstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

depraved and challenging and an insane intersection of almost everything,
read it one gulp, felt sick, thank god for art

[Tory · Rating 2 out of 5]

I. DON'T. GET. ITTTTTTTT.

[J. d'Merricksson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Queen Solomon by Tamara Faith Berger is the story of Barbra, a Jewish Ethiopian brought to Israel at age five, part of Operation Solomon. When she is a teen, our narrator's father brings her to their home for the summer. However, Barbra is a rebellious teenager, a train off its tracks. She constantly lied to the family, and would binge drink, among other things. Like sadistic mental games with our narrator. Her actions lead to some terrible circumstances that take years for him to bounce back from. But, like a bad penny, Barbra shows back up in his life. Can he survive her return with his sanity intact or will Barbra destroy his life again?

With its themes of sex and power and its crude language, I really wasn't a fan of this book. The dialogue felt stilted, and the writing rather clunky. A good deal seemed to ramble on page after page, with little cohesion and plot. I despised Barbra, and felt nothing for the narrator. I like to feel invested in the characters lives and wellbeing and just didn't feel it here. Like cult classic film, this book is likely to attract a solid, but definitely niched, fan base and I'm clearly not a fan.

***Many thanks to the Netgalley and Coach House Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.