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The Tribe
When the Belzec concentration camp was liberated in 1945, no one could explain how a group of Jewish captives had not only survived but thrived, appearing better fed than their Nazi captors. Thirty-five years later in New York, the youths responsible for the murder of a rabbi’s son are found hideously slain, covered in a strange gray powder. What is the connection between these events? That is the mystery that Rachel Levy and Det. Roger Hawkins must unravel, a mystery that will hold readers spellbound as terrible truths emerge from the nightmare of the past.
This new edition of Bari Wood’s classic The Tribe (1981) features a new introduction by Grady Hendrix and the original paperback edition’s cover painting by Don Brautigam.
This new edition of Bari Wood’s classic The Tribe (1981) features a new introduction by Grady Hendrix and the original paperback edition’s cover painting by Don Brautigam.
302 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
February 27, 2017
A generous and empathetic novel about communities of outsiders trying to survive in New York City and the undead golems that want to crush their skulls and rip out their arms. I've written about this book at great length elsewhere but suffice it to say that Bari Wood knows what she's doing and she ain't messing around.
February 24, 2024
The Rabbi told it..."Save us"
THE TRIBE by Bari Wood, Grady Hendrix
No spoilers. 5 stars.There is a Jewish legend about creating a golem from mud...
A Rabbi must take two men with him: a Levite and a Kohen to dig the clay and mold it into the shape of a man...
When the job is finished, the Rabbi must mark its forehead with the sacred word...
Afterward...
It will glow red and rise up out of the mud and stand mute in the moonlight...it will have no mind of its own and will shamble when it walks...
It will have no feelings of its own and will appear more frightening than any enemy it was sent to destroy...
During WWII, the Rabbi in barracks 554 of death camp Belzec created such a golem and told it: Save us...
Bianco, an American soldier, pays a final visit to the German commandant in charge of barracks 554...
When Bianco liberated those prisoners, he found them well fed and comfortable, unlike the rest of the death camp full of starving men...
Why?...
The Germans in command were themselves starving while barracks 554 ate meat...
Bianco will do anything to know the reason. The commandant is visibly afraid by what he recalls. He is hung before finishing his story...
After the war ends...
The surviving Jews from Barracks 554 relocate to the Flatbush area of New York. They remain a close-knit tribe...
When one of their sons is murdered by five members of a street gang, they resurrect their golem...
For revenge...
I gave this 1980s novel 5 stars. That's not to say that there were no problems with the Kindle version. In the original hardback version (which I own), there are clearly marked divisions within chapters to make the reader aware of character, scene, or location changes. Those divisions are not in the Kindle version, making it look like random, unexpected changes in the story.
I gave Ms Wood 5 stars for her excellent novel, which is still a creepy story today and 3 stars to the publisher for not rightly dividing the novel.
THE TRIBE by Bari Wood, Grady Hendrix
No spoilers. 5 stars.There is a Jewish legend about creating a golem from mud...
A Rabbi must take two men with him: a Levite and a Kohen to dig the clay and mold it into the shape of a man...
When the job is finished, the Rabbi must mark its forehead with the sacred word...
Afterward...
It will glow red and rise up out of the mud and stand mute in the moonlight...it will have no mind of its own and will shamble when it walks...
It will have no feelings of its own and will appear more frightening than any enemy it was sent to destroy...
During WWII, the Rabbi in barracks 554 of death camp Belzec created such a golem and told it: Save us...
Bianco, an American soldier, pays a final visit to the German commandant in charge of barracks 554...
When Bianco liberated those prisoners, he found them well fed and comfortable, unlike the rest of the death camp full of starving men...
Why?...
The Germans in command were themselves starving while barracks 554 ate meat...
Bianco will do anything to know the reason. The commandant is visibly afraid by what he recalls. He is hung before finishing his story...
After the war ends...
The surviving Jews from Barracks 554 relocate to the Flatbush area of New York. They remain a close-knit tribe...
When one of their sons is murdered by five members of a street gang, they resurrect their golem...
For revenge...
I gave this 1980s novel 5 stars. That's not to say that there were no problems with the Kindle version. In the original hardback version (which I own), there are clearly marked divisions within chapters to make the reader aware of character, scene, or location changes. Those divisions are not in the Kindle version, making it look like random, unexpected changes in the story.
I gave Ms Wood 5 stars for her excellent novel, which is still a creepy story today and 3 stars to the publisher for not rightly dividing the novel.
December 17, 2023
I feel I might have found this a lot creepier had I not known beforehand what “the secret” — the central mystery that the entire novel hinges on — was. This secret (which I won’t reveal here) involves how a small group of Jewish Holocaust prisoners managed not only to survive the Polish camp’s horrific conditions, but thrive. And how it relates to their present day lives in Brooklyn circa 1980.
When the son of one of the survivors is viciously murdered by a youth gang in a hate crime, this secret comes into play again in their quest for revenge, and the reader is kept in the dark during the various police investigations. But if you the reader already know the solution to the puzzle — and it’s hard not to know if you’re a longtime horror fan or you’ve done any research at all into the book — it’s just not very suspenseful, imo. This is not the fault of the novel itself, but it makes it hard to judge on its own merits. So much of the story revolves around the mystery of just what the hell is going on.
However, it’s very well-written, with a handful of unsettling moments, and the dark and grimy, almost sinister atmosphere combined with the Jewish mysticism elements carried me through. My mind did start to wander during the middle sections, where the pace slows to a crawl, but again I might have remained more captivated had I gone into this totally blind. Either way, I’m intrigued enough by Bari Wood’s style that I have a couple more of her novels on tap. And this time I’ll be sure not to read too much about them beforehand!
3.5 Stars.
When the son of one of the survivors is viciously murdered by a youth gang in a hate crime, this secret comes into play again in their quest for revenge, and the reader is kept in the dark during the various police investigations. But if you the reader already know the solution to the puzzle — and it’s hard not to know if you’re a longtime horror fan or you’ve done any research at all into the book — it’s just not very suspenseful, imo. This is not the fault of the novel itself, but it makes it hard to judge on its own merits. So much of the story revolves around the mystery of just what the hell is going on.
However, it’s very well-written, with a handful of unsettling moments, and the dark and grimy, almost sinister atmosphere combined with the Jewish mysticism elements carried me through. My mind did start to wander during the middle sections, where the pace slows to a crawl, but again I might have remained more captivated had I gone into this totally blind. Either way, I’m intrigued enough by Bari Wood’s style that I have a couple more of her novels on tap. And this time I’ll be sure not to read too much about them beforehand!
3.5 Stars.
October 27, 2021
Strangley, this mass-market cheapie paperback is one of the best fictional efforts I've come across in helping one not-"understand"-but-"grasp" the Holocaust: a list that'd include, for me, Thomas Pynchon's
Gravity's Rainbow
, Simone de Beauvoir's
The Blood of Others
(set during the Occupation), Dan Simmons'
Carrion Comfort
, and, of course, Philip K. Dick's
The Man in the High Castle
.
It's pretty much a spoiler to tell you what it is about this novel that makes it a horror genre piece, so I'll save it, though anyone familiar with Judaic lore (no spoilers!) will probably catch on right away. Suffice it to say, though, what bears the conception out is how the Tribe of the title have preserved themselves years after the camps and find themselves in '80s New York with a noted reluctance to leave themselves vulnerable again.
Horror ensues.
Bari Wood is one of those who labor in the genre who brought previous clinical and academic experience to bear in a way that helps broaden her fictional scope; none of the characters seem thinly drawn — although whether they're trapped, by choice or default, in thinly drawn societal roles is another matter — and all the scares and narrative twists seem earned.
She was just interviewed in some horror mag. recently about the atypical path her career took: after some years of writing novels, with a high level of quality and mixed public reception, she gave up the practice, never to return, and not missing it for the world. This book is one reason why she's esteemed.
Check it out!
It's pretty much a spoiler to tell you what it is about this novel that makes it a horror genre piece, so I'll save it, though anyone familiar with Judaic lore (no spoilers!) will probably catch on right away. Suffice it to say, though, what bears the conception out is how the Tribe of the title have preserved themselves years after the camps and find themselves in '80s New York with a noted reluctance to leave themselves vulnerable again.
Horror ensues.
Bari Wood is one of those who labor in the genre who brought previous clinical and academic experience to bear in a way that helps broaden her fictional scope; none of the characters seem thinly drawn — although whether they're trapped, by choice or default, in thinly drawn societal roles is another matter — and all the scares and narrative twists seem earned.
She was just interviewed in some horror mag. recently about the atypical path her career took: after some years of writing novels, with a high level of quality and mixed public reception, she gave up the practice, never to return, and not missing it for the world. This book is one reason why she's esteemed.
Check it out!
April 17, 2022
Perhaps the best way to describe The Tribe is a work of religious horror that rode the tide of the 1970's boom with titles like The Omen and The Exorcist. Most of these religious horror novels concerned the Catholic church and demons or such, but Wood draws upon Jewish mysticism and Cabala, giving it a somewhat unique hook. I have read other horror novels that build upon Cabala, but this might be the first one published (it first came out in 1981).
The 'tribe' are a group of Jewish men from a small town in Poland that got sent to a concentration camp in WWII. When the camp was liberated (this is in the prologue), the Americans found one barracks with relatively healthy, well fed prisoners; they even had cases of food and meat stashed inside. What did this 'tribe' do to be so well feted by the Nazis? Wood holds her punches regarding that, but yes, Cabala plays a role.
The novel starts in NYC in the late 70s and the main protagonist is Rachel, the wife of the 'tribe's' rabbi's son Adam. They were married after Adam came from Israel with Ph.D. in philosophy and he took a job at a liberal arts college in Minnesota. Adam flew back to visit his dad and on the way to his apartment was mugged and killed. Jacob (the rabbi) and Rachel are crushed, but the rest of the tribe is furious. One of Jacob's friends is a black cop who keeps the 'tribe' in the loop regarding the investigation, but while they identified the gang that killed Adam, without a witness, the legal case looks bleak. Shortly thereafter, the five gang members are found brutally killed, literally torn apart, and strangely enough, the entire crime scene was covered in gray clay...
While this was billed as a horror novel, it was not really scary, but it did give serve as almost an ethnography into orthodox Jewish beliefs and traditions. Wood was either raised under such a tradition or she really did her homework here; either way, the various rituals and such of Jewish life seem to spring from the pages. What happened in the concentration camp comes out in bits and pieces as the story unfolds and obviously, it changed the Jewish prisoners, some more than others. What would you be willing to do to get revenge if members of your 'tribe' were killed? This is more a study of the human condition than a horror novel, but so be it. I can see this being a landmark book in its way, especially as Cabala was featured in many books that came after this one. 3.5 stars, rounding up for the ethnography!
The 'tribe' are a group of Jewish men from a small town in Poland that got sent to a concentration camp in WWII. When the camp was liberated (this is in the prologue), the Americans found one barracks with relatively healthy, well fed prisoners; they even had cases of food and meat stashed inside. What did this 'tribe' do to be so well feted by the Nazis? Wood holds her punches regarding that, but yes, Cabala plays a role.
The novel starts in NYC in the late 70s and the main protagonist is Rachel, the wife of the 'tribe's' rabbi's son Adam. They were married after Adam came from Israel with Ph.D. in philosophy and he took a job at a liberal arts college in Minnesota. Adam flew back to visit his dad and on the way to his apartment was mugged and killed. Jacob (the rabbi) and Rachel are crushed, but the rest of the tribe is furious. One of Jacob's friends is a black cop who keeps the 'tribe' in the loop regarding the investigation, but while they identified the gang that killed Adam, without a witness, the legal case looks bleak. Shortly thereafter, the five gang members are found brutally killed, literally torn apart, and strangely enough, the entire crime scene was covered in gray clay...
While this was billed as a horror novel, it was not really scary, but it did give serve as almost an ethnography into orthodox Jewish beliefs and traditions. Wood was either raised under such a tradition or she really did her homework here; either way, the various rituals and such of Jewish life seem to spring from the pages. What happened in the concentration camp comes out in bits and pieces as the story unfolds and obviously, it changed the Jewish prisoners, some more than others. What would you be willing to do to get revenge if members of your 'tribe' were killed? This is more a study of the human condition than a horror novel, but so be it. I can see this being a landmark book in its way, especially as Cabala was featured in many books that came after this one. 3.5 stars, rounding up for the ethnography!
September 4, 2021
Review to Follow
September 2, 2025
4.5/5, rounded up.
The Tribe is not a fast paced thrill-a-minute kind of horror novel, but more on the slow burn side of things, with ample table setting, character development, and deeply rooted scares. I could see some readers feeling frustrated with its deliberate pacing, and slowly but steadily unfolding narrative. Wood does a great job of making us empathize with her characters, even most of those we might consider the villains of the story, and examines what serious trauma can do to a person or persons over the long term. What sorts of things it might enable them to do to others in the name of self preservation, or perhaps more aptly, familial preservation. Cultural preservation. At what cost? What is gained and what is lost? Even though it was released in 1980, it might be more timely than expected. It takes awhile before anything scary happens in the traditional horror sense, but when the book gets there, the heavy lifting that Wood has done pays off, and we get some genuinely unsettling moments. It's a classic for a reason.
The Tribe is not a fast paced thrill-a-minute kind of horror novel, but more on the slow burn side of things, with ample table setting, character development, and deeply rooted scares. I could see some readers feeling frustrated with its deliberate pacing, and slowly but steadily unfolding narrative. Wood does a great job of making us empathize with her characters, even most of those we might consider the villains of the story, and examines what serious trauma can do to a person or persons over the long term. What sorts of things it might enable them to do to others in the name of self preservation, or perhaps more aptly, familial preservation. Cultural preservation. At what cost? What is gained and what is lost? Even though it was released in 1980, it might be more timely than expected. It takes awhile before anything scary happens in the traditional horror sense, but when the book gets there, the heavy lifting that Wood has done pays off, and we get some genuinely unsettling moments. It's a classic for a reason.
July 10, 2020
“I thought we were safe in Brooklyn, I thought we were safe here [...] my father thought we were safe in Dabrowa, and who could count how many grandfathers, uncles, cousins thought they and us . . . were safe in one place or the other.”
This is a horror novel, but much more than that. This is about Jewish culture, traditions and folklore, haunted Holocaust survivors, how cities change and racial conflict.
This book was republished by Centipede Press as part of their signature Unaffordable and Unavailable Series, and by Valancourt as part of their "Paperbacks from Hell" line. So I figured, it must be pretty good, and it is. I love finding gritty, urban-set horror novels from the 70s and 80s, and this one certainly fits in that category. (If you know of any others that fit this mold, let me know, they're not quite as common as you might think, and I'm always on the look out.)
Christ, look out there, Roger. The streets are filthy and the nice old houses . . . Lensky’s, Shirmer’s, the del Pinos’ . . . they’re rooming houses with little hot plates in the bedrooms and one toilet for every floor. And the people are different. Oh, I know, we’re supposed to love each other anyway. But they’re different in ways that task me. I hate them, they hate me. My son is eight, and full of life, but he won’t go out to play. He’s scared, Roger. It’s still light at seven, but he sits in the kitchen like an old man and stares out of the window. Five times this year they stole his lunch money. Five times!
Bari Wood fleshes out the scenery and mood quite well. There's crime, muggings, murders and blight. There's haunted memories of the Holocaust and general immigrant worries...
There was something wrong with the deed to the house and they were going to lose everything. She knew it was immigrant thinking, her grandmother’s thoughts in her head [...] But the fear stayed and made her feel savage.
There's no easy answers provided here, and it's great to read a horror novel with complex, multidimensional and sometimes morally ambiguous characters. Who is right or wrong becomes increasingly complex as the story moves along.
I enjoyed this, but whether you will depends on what you're hoping for. First of all, this isn't a typical horror novel. Also, its got a lot of character development (which I typically think is overdone to the detriment of atmosphere and mood) and it undeniably has some extended slow spots. Pacing slows down a lot after the first quarter or so, then around the mid-point there's a jaw-dropping "oh shit" moment which is rather shocking. I can't say this book is scary but it does generate some good suspense, avoids being overly predictable and poses some interesting questions. Not a perfect novel, but it deserves to be pulled out of its relative obscurity.
This is a horror novel, but much more than that. This is about Jewish culture, traditions and folklore, haunted Holocaust survivors, how cities change and racial conflict.
This book was republished by Centipede Press as part of their signature Unaffordable and Unavailable Series, and by Valancourt as part of their "Paperbacks from Hell" line. So I figured, it must be pretty good, and it is. I love finding gritty, urban-set horror novels from the 70s and 80s, and this one certainly fits in that category. (If you know of any others that fit this mold, let me know, they're not quite as common as you might think, and I'm always on the look out.)
Christ, look out there, Roger. The streets are filthy and the nice old houses . . . Lensky’s, Shirmer’s, the del Pinos’ . . . they’re rooming houses with little hot plates in the bedrooms and one toilet for every floor. And the people are different. Oh, I know, we’re supposed to love each other anyway. But they’re different in ways that task me. I hate them, they hate me. My son is eight, and full of life, but he won’t go out to play. He’s scared, Roger. It’s still light at seven, but he sits in the kitchen like an old man and stares out of the window. Five times this year they stole his lunch money. Five times!
Bari Wood fleshes out the scenery and mood quite well. There's crime, muggings, murders and blight. There's haunted memories of the Holocaust and general immigrant worries...
There was something wrong with the deed to the house and they were going to lose everything. She knew it was immigrant thinking, her grandmother’s thoughts in her head [...] But the fear stayed and made her feel savage.
There's no easy answers provided here, and it's great to read a horror novel with complex, multidimensional and sometimes morally ambiguous characters. Who is right or wrong becomes increasingly complex as the story moves along.
I enjoyed this, but whether you will depends on what you're hoping for. First of all, this isn't a typical horror novel. Also, its got a lot of character development (which I typically think is overdone to the detriment of atmosphere and mood) and it undeniably has some extended slow spots. Pacing slows down a lot after the first quarter or so, then around the mid-point there's a jaw-dropping "oh shit" moment which is rather shocking. I can't say this book is scary but it does generate some good suspense, avoids being overly predictable and poses some interesting questions. Not a perfect novel, but it deserves to be pulled out of its relative obscurity.
January 15, 2019
A well written thriller concerning the mysterious survivors of the Belzec death camp during World War II, and the deadly secret that protects them still 40 years later.
Interesting use of Jewish folklore in a contemporary setting, but reads more like a thriller, or horror lite.
3.5 stars
Interesting use of Jewish folklore in a contemporary setting, but reads more like a thriller, or horror lite.
3.5 stars
July 26, 2018
My mission for the summer of 2018 has been working through the stack of '70s/'80s paperback horror novels sitting on my bookshelf. It's been an interesting ride to say the least, and while most books aren't exactly "great" or even "good" per se, they've proved to be fascinating time capsules embodying deep-seated fears and anxieties of a completely different time/culture, and sometimes windows into the authors' fascinating and (sometimes) fucked-up souls (looking at you William W. Johnstone). They've all been interesting and entertaining in their own ways, but nothing I would call a diamond in the rough.
Enter The Tribe.
Bluntly: this is far and away the best horror novel I've read this summer. This is tight, suspenseful, character-driven horror portraying the bonds hate creates and how those bonds only breed further hatred. The vehicle for that exploration? A Golem.
Wood's handling of one of the coolest under-represented creatures in horror is perfect. The Golem is largely absent from the story, its presence only noted by the carnage it leaves in its wake and the terrified eyewitnesses who attest to its existence. The bulk of the novel deals with its characters as they struggle with alienation from communities they hope to belong to: Roger Hawkins, a black cop best friends with a rabbi but rejected by the rabbi's community for being an "outsider," and Rachel Levy, the rabbi's daughter-in-law who finds it difficult to embrace her Jewish faith when so much of it seems to look down on women. I don't know much about Wood's history (except she wrote the novel Dead Ringers is based on), but it all feels intensely personal and that authenticity kept my interest when the horror elements took a backseat.
The writing, suspense, and anticipation for the Golem showdown are amazing, but the novel's climax and denouement feel rushed. Wood builds up such strong characters and engaging relationships that it's disappointing when the novel ends without giving them a satisfying send-off.
Weak ending aside, I really can't recommend The Tribe enough to horror readers looking for something new. It may not be on-par with some of King or Koontz's novels released around the same time, but it's a refreshing, personal story with expertly-crafted suspense, looming dread, and real emotional weight. And it's got a goddamn Golem for Christ's sakes. Don't be a putz; go check this one out.
Enter The Tribe.
Bluntly: this is far and away the best horror novel I've read this summer. This is tight, suspenseful, character-driven horror portraying the bonds hate creates and how those bonds only breed further hatred. The vehicle for that exploration? A Golem.
Wood's handling of one of the coolest under-represented creatures in horror is perfect. The Golem is largely absent from the story, its presence only noted by the carnage it leaves in its wake and the terrified eyewitnesses who attest to its existence. The bulk of the novel deals with its characters as they struggle with alienation from communities they hope to belong to: Roger Hawkins, a black cop best friends with a rabbi but rejected by the rabbi's community for being an "outsider," and Rachel Levy, the rabbi's daughter-in-law who finds it difficult to embrace her Jewish faith when so much of it seems to look down on women. I don't know much about Wood's history (except she wrote the novel Dead Ringers is based on), but it all feels intensely personal and that authenticity kept my interest when the horror elements took a backseat.
The writing, suspense, and anticipation for the Golem showdown are amazing, but the novel's climax and denouement feel rushed. Wood builds up such strong characters and engaging relationships that it's disappointing when the novel ends without giving them a satisfying send-off.
Weak ending aside, I really can't recommend The Tribe enough to horror readers looking for something new. It may not be on-par with some of King or Koontz's novels released around the same time, but it's a refreshing, personal story with expertly-crafted suspense, looming dread, and real emotional weight. And it's got a goddamn Golem for Christ's sakes. Don't be a putz; go check this one out.
December 28, 2023
So I am halfway through Konvitz’s The Sentinel & I’m like why does this remind me of another book I read? Then it came to me, Bari Wood’s The Tribe. Then it also came to me that I read that this last summer (when I made the mistake of taking a hellacious summer Stats class) as an escape & never wrote a review for it cuz my brain was tired. 😪
Anyhoo, here it is.
🗿🗿🗿🗿/5
I like em old & dusty & this one is a quintessential vintage horror book. I’ve read a few Jewish horror stories and this one might just be my favorite one. Why? Because it’s horror in disguise. 🥸 I bought this, knowing it was horror but got so sucked into the stories and the characters that when the horror elements hit, they were blindsiding. Another story where it’s hard to say much about the meat of this pastrami on rye without giving too much away. Especially when you get to whoever or whatever is mangling these victims to death. All I can possibly say is…there was a tribe of holocaust survivors that survived because their captors were afraid of something they could conjure up. Now, much older, the few remaining survivors are still capable of summoning it & they do with disastrous outcomes. Again, great story and great characters that you will love and hate. You might even get a little verklempt. I know I sure did. 🥺 Also: it made me scream at a curtain. IYKYK. Definitely recommend!
November 12, 2020
Brilliant. Beautifully written with tremendous suspense that slowly built to the wonderful conclusion. Highly recommended.
April 14, 2020
"Kill the bastards is what I say. Keep what we've won, no matter the costs, I say, because I know what it means not to have a place to hide and I know everybody'll kill everybody if they have half a reason. Forgive me, but the blacks'd kill the Jews if they could, wouldn't they?"
I thought this book must have been inspired by the Bernhard Goetz trial but no, Bari Wood somehow managed to write her white-flight horror opus THE TRIBE over three years before those events. The book is a little clunky and needs some restructuring to get rid of a few characters and re-work some head-spinning passages. (Chapter 4 of "Part 3: Belzec" lurches between four scenes, each with different locations and characters, in about two pages ... why??)
But never mind those quibbles because THE TRIBE is one of those books that is much more than the sum of its parts. Wonderful leads, flashes of humor and romance, unthinkable loss, and a really intriguing mystery highlight this story of a bloody trail that extends from a Connecticut suburb, back across decades and continents, to the horror of a concentration camp.
Wood uses her story to contemplate what that white flight was really all about. All the characters wrestle with questions of identity and the power of names. The book says that drawing strength by defining yourself (or your tribe) in opposition to another is self-defeating, because it instills the very aspects you despise and hope to avoid. This book even defied my hatred of the dreaded love triangle because this time it actually fit the theme! It all builds up to a powerful conclusion as emotional as it is scary. Highly recommended.
PS - Do not even GLANCE at Hendrix's introduction before you read this book if you want to experience the book as the author and publishers clearly intended.
I thought this book must have been inspired by the Bernhard Goetz trial but no, Bari Wood somehow managed to write her white-flight horror opus THE TRIBE over three years before those events. The book is a little clunky and needs some restructuring to get rid of a few characters and re-work some head-spinning passages. (Chapter 4 of "Part 3: Belzec" lurches between four scenes, each with different locations and characters, in about two pages ... why??)
But never mind those quibbles because THE TRIBE is one of those books that is much more than the sum of its parts. Wonderful leads, flashes of humor and romance, unthinkable loss, and a really intriguing mystery highlight this story of a bloody trail that extends from a Connecticut suburb, back across decades and continents, to the horror of a concentration camp.
Wood uses her story to contemplate what that white flight was really all about. All the characters wrestle with questions of identity and the power of names. The book says that drawing strength by defining yourself (or your tribe) in opposition to another is self-defeating, because it instills the very aspects you despise and hope to avoid. This book even defied my hatred of the dreaded love triangle because this time it actually fit the theme! It all builds up to a powerful conclusion as emotional as it is scary. Highly recommended.
PS - Do not even GLANCE at Hendrix's introduction before you read this book if you want to experience the book as the author and publishers clearly intended.
December 31, 2008
When I started reading this book, I got the sneaky feeling that I had read it before. It's about Jewish survivors of a Nazi death camp, how they survived, and how they're up to their same tactics in present-day (1980) New York City and Long Island. I won't give away what that is about, thought it's probably well-known by now, since the book's been out over twenty years.
After I finished it, I realized I had read it before, maybe fifteen years ago, and I didn't remember much of it. So reading it this time was like the first time.
But enough of that. About the book. It's okay. Nothing superb. The book's jacket trumps it as "a darkly brilliant novel of horror." That's overblown, and besides, if it were really that good, it wouldn't need to be proclaimed on the cover.
But the book is well-written, with some fine imagery. There is not enough suspense or horror, though. Way too much back story for my taste, especially when much of it didn't have much to do with the story. But the book was interesting since it deals with something I don't know much about, Jewish mysticism. It also has a feminist undercurrent, with one of the protagonists quietly questioning and rebelling against many aspects of Judaism, as practiced by those close to her.
Bari Wood wrote a few other novels, in the late 1970s I think, and I may look those up at the library. Or not.
After I finished it, I realized I had read it before, maybe fifteen years ago, and I didn't remember much of it. So reading it this time was like the first time.
But enough of that. About the book. It's okay. Nothing superb. The book's jacket trumps it as "a darkly brilliant novel of horror." That's overblown, and besides, if it were really that good, it wouldn't need to be proclaimed on the cover.
But the book is well-written, with some fine imagery. There is not enough suspense or horror, though. Way too much back story for my taste, especially when much of it didn't have much to do with the story. But the book was interesting since it deals with something I don't know much about, Jewish mysticism. It also has a feminist undercurrent, with one of the protagonists quietly questioning and rebelling against many aspects of Judaism, as practiced by those close to her.
Bari Wood wrote a few other novels, in the late 1970s I think, and I may look those up at the library. Or not.
January 27, 2023
2.25 stars.
Beginning was strong. I kept thinking to myself “Wow, this is a 5 star banger… but I know it’s a Golem”.
As the pages turned, they got longer…and longer…
The next 100 pages felt like 300. The writing was all over the place. I have seen authors do this before, and I hate it. They start a book so strong, so crisp, so clear, and out of nowhere it becomes convoluted.
I understand it must be just me because I know so many people that love this book. But I can’t help the fact that I’m just not connecting with the story.
The story was so clear and beautiful in the beginning, and became repetitive, and drawn out by the middle. The perspectives were all over the place. I had such a hard time keeping the characters straight and what the hell was going on that it completely withdrew me from the imagery and story.
I think the idea of the story is cooler than the action of actually reading the story. For me, the book didn’t live up to the hype.
Beginning was strong. I kept thinking to myself “Wow, this is a 5 star banger… but I know it’s a Golem”.
As the pages turned, they got longer…and longer…
The next 100 pages felt like 300. The writing was all over the place. I have seen authors do this before, and I hate it. They start a book so strong, so crisp, so clear, and out of nowhere it becomes convoluted.
I understand it must be just me because I know so many people that love this book. But I can’t help the fact that I’m just not connecting with the story.
The story was so clear and beautiful in the beginning, and became repetitive, and drawn out by the middle. The perspectives were all over the place. I had such a hard time keeping the characters straight and what the hell was going on that it completely withdrew me from the imagery and story.
I think the idea of the story is cooler than the action of actually reading the story. For me, the book didn’t live up to the hype.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2019
The joy of reading these reissued horror novels by Valancourt is finding the gems that have been overlooked by history, like Samson's The Auctioneer or anything by Michael McDowell. The Tribe hasn't exactly been overlooked, but boy, does it deserve a reprint.
The story is about identity and belonging to a group, and what happens when someone interferes with that group. The two main characters -- a black police officer and a Jewish holocaust survivor who are good friends -- represent that clash, showing what happens when you're considered an outsider. While there are some grisly events that cement this novel firmly in the horror category, the theme puts it there just as effectively.
Wood's writing is easy to follow, and her characterization of the friendship between the two main characters carries the story, as do the themes of the book. The plot isn't perfect (there's a relationship that blossoms late in the story, without much pretense, and the ending is rather sudden), but the rest of the book is done so well it's easy to overlook the foibles.
It should be noted that this book was published in 1980, so parts of it are a little dated. That being said, it's a pretty progressive book in different ways, so it's still worth checking out, even if parts of it may make you chuckle for being a cliche in 2019.
The story is about identity and belonging to a group, and what happens when someone interferes with that group. The two main characters -- a black police officer and a Jewish holocaust survivor who are good friends -- represent that clash, showing what happens when you're considered an outsider. While there are some grisly events that cement this novel firmly in the horror category, the theme puts it there just as effectively.
Wood's writing is easy to follow, and her characterization of the friendship between the two main characters carries the story, as do the themes of the book. The plot isn't perfect (there's a relationship that blossoms late in the story, without much pretense, and the ending is rather sudden), but the rest of the book is done so well it's easy to overlook the foibles.
It should be noted that this book was published in 1980, so parts of it are a little dated. That being said, it's a pretty progressive book in different ways, so it's still worth checking out, even if parts of it may make you chuckle for being a cliche in 2019.
October 23, 2025
A german concentration camp. Barrack 544. 35 survivors. Thin but not starved. Jacob Levy was the last of the 35 Jewish men to leave the cell. The room was full of canned goods. Tons of food. And their was powdery stuff in the room. The van left with the survivors. A death camp. Why were these Jewish men saved and well fed. They were all from the same village and were imprisoned for 4 years. Jacob Levy decades later in NY. A rabbi. His son murdered by five gang members. Now the 5 murderers were dead. The bodies were thrown around. Tangled, a leg ripped off. There was clay everywhere. A witness saw a 9 foot man. More killings of Jewish people. More killings of the of killers. An old story of a rabbi making a huge man. A golem, no ears or eyes. Just pure destruction. A book that kicked off the paperbacks from hell book. Happy to have an old copy. Great eerie cover.
February 9, 2025
This was great!! Maybe not particularly scary, tho it was a little bit towards the end. So we did have some horror based on Jewish mysticism, but mostly it was about effects of hate on a person and group, and a really empathetic treatment of the lives of immigrant group members in NYC and NY. And lots of fun Yiddish words to look up too!
April 1, 2021
Got this one after reading Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from hell, and this was way better than what I expected. Very peculiar writing style and great character building. Enjoyed it a lot !
October 28, 2023
Horror novel with a Jewish mysticism theme. The first half is a little slow, but it really picks up in the second half. Something a bit different.
January 7, 2023
”It wouldn’t have mattered if Mike had carried a gun or a bomb. He was mishpochah and the Garners were not. The blacks could never be, and that was all the justice and reason there’d ever be to it. It wasn’t justice that mattered to Jacob nor to any of them, it was . . . affiliation.”
I initially picked this up because the inciting incident happens on my block in Brooklyn. A main character’s book store is located on the same corner as my comic book shop. Granted, the book takes place in 1980 so it was a VERY different Brooklyn, but in some ways EXACTLY the same. Additionally Bari Wood wrote 2 other novels that were adapted into movies, one being an all-time favorite of mine (Dead Ringers directed by David Cronenberg). I was expecting a semi-trashy horror novel with some interesting character study, but what I got was something surprisingly great. Wood writes with a clear love and interest of her characters, even the bad guys. There are surprisingly profound moments littered throughout the story. Most welcome is her treatment of incredibly touchy subjects ranging from race relations to the holocaust to ethnic tribalism.
If you’d told me a story based on a clay monster that murders people would have more of an emotional impact than a goofy horror impact, I wouldn’t believe you. Yet that is the case. This minor moment, buried deep in the book, describes two holocaust survivors simply going to a parked car…
”They came down the narrow, steep steps from Tepel’s cubbyhole to the floor of one of the smaller diamond exchanges. Three guards were stationed in front of the doors and windows, all with dogs. But the dogs didn’t growl and the guards waved as the two men crossed the floor…”
One can’t help but think these men were still reacting from trauma of Nazi guards, despite the event described taking place over 40 years later. It was a subtle, small moment that tells me Wood writes with more than cheap thrills in mind. Highly recommended.
I initially picked this up because the inciting incident happens on my block in Brooklyn. A main character’s book store is located on the same corner as my comic book shop. Granted, the book takes place in 1980 so it was a VERY different Brooklyn, but in some ways EXACTLY the same. Additionally Bari Wood wrote 2 other novels that were adapted into movies, one being an all-time favorite of mine (Dead Ringers directed by David Cronenberg). I was expecting a semi-trashy horror novel with some interesting character study, but what I got was something surprisingly great. Wood writes with a clear love and interest of her characters, even the bad guys. There are surprisingly profound moments littered throughout the story. Most welcome is her treatment of incredibly touchy subjects ranging from race relations to the holocaust to ethnic tribalism.
If you’d told me a story based on a clay monster that murders people would have more of an emotional impact than a goofy horror impact, I wouldn’t believe you. Yet that is the case. This minor moment, buried deep in the book, describes two holocaust survivors simply going to a parked car…
”They came down the narrow, steep steps from Tepel’s cubbyhole to the floor of one of the smaller diamond exchanges. Three guards were stationed in front of the doors and windows, all with dogs. But the dogs didn’t growl and the guards waved as the two men crossed the floor…”
One can’t help but think these men were still reacting from trauma of Nazi guards, despite the event described taking place over 40 years later. It was a subtle, small moment that tells me Wood writes with more than cheap thrills in mind. Highly recommended.
August 10, 2021
Bari Wood composed a fascinating record of a particular Jewish experience in America following the Holocaust. Her pen captures both the most uncomfortable aspects of upward social mobility in New York and the fears that true assimilation will never be possible for the Jewish people, who feel that, when the chips are down, they are perennially alone, left to their own Tribe.
Which isn't to say there's no horror contained within these pages. There's horror and magic and mystery and a few absolutely gruesome moments. But there's also a different kind of horror running underfoot - the horror of confronting cycles of trauma, the horror of realizing how quickly victims can become attackers, the horror of having no tribe to truly call one's own.
Despite some descriptive bloat in the middle chapters, The Tribe offers an empathic exploration of lingering trauma from the Holocaust and racial tensions in 80s New York. Also, it's thirsty AF
Which isn't to say there's no horror contained within these pages. There's horror and magic and mystery and a few absolutely gruesome moments. But there's also a different kind of horror running underfoot - the horror of confronting cycles of trauma, the horror of realizing how quickly victims can become attackers, the horror of having no tribe to truly call one's own.
Despite some descriptive bloat in the middle chapters, The Tribe offers an empathic exploration of lingering trauma from the Holocaust and racial tensions in 80s New York. Also, it's thirsty AF
February 15, 2020
An interesting mash-up of mystery/thriller with horror & religion. There's definitely a pulp-fiction-ish feel to it, but it also delves into some pretty meaty race & religion subject matter. It has some moments of pretty intense/grotesque violence, but overall, this felt more like a mystery/thriller than a horror novel. The final "showdown" seemed pretty short & rushed (compared to the overall length/style of the novel), but it was a fairly gripping read. Recommended for fans of light horror &/or thriller books.
August 6, 2021
This book started out with a lot of promise, but unfortunately I thought it slowed down overall. By the end it felt like a chore to read, even with the excitement of what I thought to be a pretty good ending.
The writing and storyline were both very good, but pacing was a little off and I had a hard time staying engaged. I'm happy I read this with HOWL Society, as the discussion almost always makes a book more enjoyable (and I learned a lot!)
The writing and storyline were both very good, but pacing was a little off and I had a hard time staying engaged. I'm happy I read this with HOWL Society, as the discussion almost always makes a book more enjoyable (and I learned a lot!)
August 13, 2019
The golem is certainly an unexplored monster in the horror pantheon. But Wood's book never builds up any real dread. It all seems almost incidental compared to the characterizations, social and racial crises and religious second-guessing. The writing is mature and well-above average. But all the horror gets left on the table.
June 18, 2024
The Tribe (1981) by Bari Wood "Mini Review"
Pros:
• The Tribe has surprisingly meaningful exploration of antisemitism, racism, misogyny, and xenophobia. The protagonists and the lesser characters expose how harmful each of these prejudices are and how they are found in unexpected places.
• Written by a female Jewish author and shines a light on Jewish culture.
• The underutilized and obscure monster of the novel is suitably ominous and deadly.
• This novel explores how Jewish Holocaust surviors would think and feel in 1980s America and shows that while Jewish communities' distrust of gentiles is understandable, it can also be incredibly isolating.
• The message that "revenge is often disproportionate and indiscriminate even if the reasons for wanting revenge are justifiable."
Cons:
• Some homophobia: Hawkins uses an ugly gay slur in his private thoughts twice in the book. Another character makes the false equivalence between being gay and being a sexual predator. On the positive side, you could remove those three sentences, and nothing else would change about the book.
• This is the definition of a nitpick, but a short epilogue would have been nice.
The Verdict:
The Tribe is an unfairly obscure novel that was snatched from the dustbins by Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks From Hell imprint. This a fantastic book that apparently the author Bari Wood was somewhat disappointed in, which absolutely boggles my mind. I'm going to hope in vain that this gets some type of film adaptation down the line.
4/5
Pros:
• The Tribe has surprisingly meaningful exploration of antisemitism, racism, misogyny, and xenophobia. The protagonists and the lesser characters expose how harmful each of these prejudices are and how they are found in unexpected places.
• Written by a female Jewish author and shines a light on Jewish culture.
• The underutilized and obscure monster of the novel is suitably ominous and deadly.
• This novel explores how Jewish Holocaust surviors would think and feel in 1980s America and shows that while Jewish communities' distrust of gentiles is understandable, it can also be incredibly isolating.
• The message that "revenge is often disproportionate and indiscriminate even if the reasons for wanting revenge are justifiable."
Cons:
• Some homophobia: Hawkins uses an ugly gay slur in his private thoughts twice in the book. Another character makes the false equivalence between being gay and being a sexual predator. On the positive side, you could remove those three sentences, and nothing else would change about the book.
• This is the definition of a nitpick, but a short epilogue would have been nice.
The Verdict:
The Tribe is an unfairly obscure novel that was snatched from the dustbins by Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks From Hell imprint. This a fantastic book that apparently the author Bari Wood was somewhat disappointed in, which absolutely boggles my mind. I'm going to hope in vain that this gets some type of film adaptation down the line.
4/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2021
Bari Wood's horror novel is less horrific than you might expect from the presentation, but she makes up for it by presenting a really fascinating look into the post-WW2 Jewish experience in America. The real standout aspects are the rich and compelling characters, who pop off the page and make you care deeply about their fates. Despite some minor flaws, this book is really excellent.
July 13, 2019
My favorite so far of the paperbacks from Hell series, though you should support small publishers and obsessiveness and buy them all. Wood's tale of Jewish horror (a pretty small genre, as Hendrix's intro points out, though you could without undue stretching add a good number of Isaac Bashevis Singer's stories in there as well) locates us in the stink and festering resentment of 1970s NYC neighborhood politics; it's as much social novel as it is horror story (you could read it as a magic-realist take on race, resentment, and gentrification), and I think it's the best-written of the five so far.
March 31, 2020
A superb supernatural tale of vengeance and what it breeds in the hearts of those who seek it, The Tribe is more than just a horror novel. It is a human novel. It is all of our stories, our hates, our fears, our morals, pulled from the dark banks of our hearts and molded like the very clay into a golem that thunders ponderously on, a monster that can and does live in each of us.
July 27, 2020
There’s a decent horror story in here somewhere, trying to get out.. it would suit the novella format much better.
Many of the interactions between characters in the weighty and padded out middle section of the book are long winded and tiresome.
It starts really well.
Many of the interactions between characters in the weighty and padded out middle section of the book are long winded and tiresome.
It starts really well.
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