A raucous 1920s love triangle that ranges across the continent from New York City to Sheridan, Wyoming, and back again, The Pearls deals with painting, cigarettes, love, Jewish-American identity, and the relationship of language to consciousness.
The erudite and energetic voice of Henry Corn propels the reader through this book. Set in the 1920s, The Pearls is a raucous but tender dip into another world that, really, probably isn't so different from our own. I appreciated Heinrich's courage to ask all the big questions but stop short of pretending to know all the answers.