Shlepping the Exile

by Michael Wex

This hilarious novel is an inside portrait of orthodox, post-Holocaust Judaism in a place that it never expected to be. It's the story of Yoine Levkes, boy hasid of the Canadian Prairies, his refugee parents...confronted with dying people, and ailing culture, the perils of near orphanhood, the allures of Sabina Mandelbroit...too religious to be normal and too normal not to realize this...Humor, satire, irony...and more. It's all here in Michael Wex's first and only novel - Shlepping the Exile which has also been publishing in German - but, of course, by a Swiss publisher!

Genres: Fiction, Jewish, Canada

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Michael Wex is a novelist, professor, translator (including the only Yiddish translation of The Threepenny Opera ), and performer (of stand-up and one person shows). He has been hailed as a Yiddish national treasure and is one of the leading lights in the current revival of Yiddish, lecturing widely on Yiddish and Jewish culture. He lives in Toronto.

Reviews

[Stuart]

This book has, to my mind, been misunderstood by its readers and I think I know why. It's all because of that damn musical Fiddler on the Roof. For 50 years, Fiddler on the Roof has worked to create an image of shtetl life in the Jewish Pale that has hardly any relationship to reality. Don't get me wrong. I find many of the songs in that musical charming. But those dancing, smiling, softies who would live in peace and harmony if it weren't for those damn Cossacks and the Tsar and who make only passing references to religion drive me absolutely crazy.

Shtetl life was tough. The shtetl was a hard-nosed place where most eked out a living and Jewish Orthodox religion reigned supreme. Sure people danced now and then, but the humor was often acerbic and people could be petty and awful. How do I know this? My parents were born in shtetls, most of their friends were born in shtetls, and I spent much of my childhood in a neighborhood that essentially transported shtetl life to America.

Michael Wex lived in a similar neighborhood growing up, except his was the Canadian version. In Shlepping the Exile, a young boy, a new Bar Mitzvah and too smart for his own good, tries to straddle the virtual shtetl in which he lives with secular Canada in the age of Elvis. The virtual shtetl in Schlepping the Exile is as well drawn as you will find in literature. It isn't at all filled with cuteness like Fiddler on the Roof. People are mean, nasty, cunning, lustful, nice, forgiving and funny. In other words, they are full human beings.

If you've read a bit of Yiddish literature from the 19th century, you'll understand the origins of this novel. If you haven't and haven't read 19th century Russian literature either, this book just might jar and seem unrealistic. But it definitely is realistic. Shlepping the Exile is a well written comic novel about religious-based Jewish life that has more than a bit of bite.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book tremendously clever, even sometimes stylistically edgy. It seems to be a roman a clef. For one thing, Michael Wex's author bio says that he's from a small town in Alberta, just like the main character here. Also, I recognized the section at the end of the book that Wex clearly cannibalized from the liner notes he wrote for the Klezmatics' album Possessed. (Which I loved when I read them.) This novel's protagonist, Yoine, had better be based on Wex, because otherwise he's too precocious to be real--too witty, too insightful, and too interested in sex for a 12-15 year old. He trolls the anti-Semitic teachers in his public school with cruel multilingual puns, even though he's the only Jewish kid in his town in side-curls and fringes. Only if he's based on a real person can I tolerate that much precocity. Fictional characters have to be more realistic than these people.

I think the real surprise for me was, after snickering and laughing through the cartoonish low-level violence and silly cultural juxtapositions and linguistic jokes, the real emotion the book evokes. I cried hard at some of the things Yoine remembers about his father when his father dies.

Will you like this? I don't know. There's a glossary at the back, but I'm not sure that it's enough. On the other hand, I just read The Dance Boots by Linda LeGarde Grover. That had a lot of words in Ojibwe, and I still related to it. In fact the two books could be squares in the same quilt.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC from Goodreads and was excited to read the book since I had read a couple of the authors other books. As the synopsis states, this is the story of a hassidic teen-aged Jewish boy, born to Polish Refugees, and living in rural Alberta, Canada. The story introduces us to a range of diverse characters, from the refugee Jews in the Community, to the Christians they interact with in the school and greater community. And it relates how Yoine, the main character, and others, deal with attraction, tragedy, jealousy and other human emotions.

Unlike most books that deal with these topics, this one is written as a comedy. Even the most tragic situations are presented in an absurd or funny way. And much of the dialogue is presented in Yiddish, with translation following.

I thought some of the story was very interesting, especially the flight to Japan, and the story of the meeting of Yoine's parents. However, the storytelling was a bit too manic for me, and the characters just too exaggerated to be believable. If you understand Yiddish and enjoy its lilt and descriptive quality, you will probably enjoy the book. If not, you may want to skip it.

[Lana. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I too received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.

It took a long time for me to get through this book -- stopping and starting again days at a time.

There were certainly interesting elements to this coming of age story (I had no concept of what Jewish life would be like in the Prairies in the mid-1950s). The larger than life characters and general teenage awkwardness were funny. The growing up as an outsider, pushing against expectations were relatable.

But, still had trouble getting into it. Others have mentioned having to flip to the glossary for the Yiddish translations was distracting. I didn't mind it, but was troubled by how much wasn't in the glossary.

[Janice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.

When I receive a free book, I feel obligated to read the entire book. However, I tried twice to read this one, getting to page 25 the first time and page 50 the second time and could not force myself to read any further. It was so distracting to be constantly looking up words in the glossary (and not all of the Yiddish words in the text were in the glossary) that I couldn't enjoy the story. Presumably, if I knew Yiddish, I might have had a different experience reading the book.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel badly giving just one star because I think it's more about my fit than the quality of the book. Although I'm Jewish, my knowledge of Yiddish is clearly too amateur to comprehend this story line. I think a book should be discernible for more than a small niche of people for it to be good though. If you grew up with your bubbe and zaidie squeezing your punum and (fill in the blank with a Yiddish phrase) you'll probably enjoy this more than me.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A humorous look at life! Superbly written from a youth's viewpoint! The author was able to propel me back in time and view the era and struggles that many immigrant families contended with! I felt as though I was reliving my youth and all of the silly things that appeared so huge! Thank you First Reads for the gift of another inspiring story to add to my library!

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanders too much. Boring. Couldn't finish.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and witty story. Just plain (pun intended) fun.

[Sheldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Completely irreverent,nice use of Yiddish- Not for shy.

Note- full disclosure- the book was given to free by the publisher -from Goodreads.com

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a great book! A hilarious and entertaining account of coming of age as a Jewish-Canadian immigrant in the prairies. It's quite a bizarre combination of yiddish and prairie Canada culture, and the writing style is irreverent and witty. There are so many stories of Jewish families in the US that I really appreciated this take on the subject in a Canadian context. This young kid faces all the bewildering trials of adolescence through the lens of a recent immigrant and brings the reader to laugh out loud with his rendition of his adventures.

Very enjoyable. I received this book as an advanced reading copy through Goodreads First Reads program. Thanks!

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

See my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...