| Prayers for the Living Contributor(s): Cheuse, Alan (Author), Mirvis, Tova (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 1941493009 ISBN-13: 9781941493007 Publisher: Fig Tree Books LLC OUR PRICE: $14.36 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Jewish - Fiction | Sagas |
| Dewey: 813.6 |
| Physical Information: 1.3" H x 6.1" W x 8.9" (1.20 lbs) 392 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Jewish - Topical - Family |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Prayers for the Living is a novel both grand in its vision and loving in its familiarity. Presented in a series of conversations between grandmother Minnie Bloch and her companions, Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio commentator on All Things Considered, unfolds a layered family portrait of three generations of the Bloch family, whose members are collapsing under everyday burdens and brutal betrayals. Her son Manny is a renowned, almost legendary rabbi. Respected by his congregants and surrounded by family, no one suspects that he yearns for a life of greater personal glory, but when an oracular bird delivers what Manny believes to be a message from his deceased father, he abandons his congregation in pursuit of a life in business and his entire life spirals out of control. As Manny's fortunes rise in the corporate realm, he falls deeper into an affair with a congregant, a Holocaust survivor, his wife sinks deeper into alcoholism and depression and his daughter, traumatized by a sexual scandal at college, makes Manny the target of a plot to shatter his newly-found empire. The devoted family matriarch, Minnie, observes and recounts the tragic downfall of her family, unable to save them from themselves. |