As part of my year of finally having time to read more, I’ve been trying to branch out and read more books out of my comfort zone. One of those areas for me would be novellas and short stories. For short stories, I’ve discovered that I enjoyed listening to them on audiobooks. For novellas, I’ve only read two this year: Parnassus On Wheels and Tzimmes.
Tzimmes is a short little novel by Arthur Marshall Fell that covers a few days in the life of Sam. Sam is a former board member of his synagogue* which is now facing a crisis. They can’t pick a new Rabbi! Even though Sam is no longer on the board, they still manage to pull him back in and embroil him in the debate. Being an adult is tough.
To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend this novella to everyone. I’m definitely going to pass it along to my dad to read, because I think he’ll get a kick out of it. There were also corny moments of this novella where I felt like I was back in my Jewish home listening to the adult kveching and being told to eat more food. However, I feel like for most people, this won’t be a very compelling plot line.
EDIT: My dad sent me his review once he finished reading it!
Do you serve on a board
of directors? I do. Several of them. The story told in this book is like no board decision process I’ve ever been involved in. Nonetheless, read the book. Because the story spells out how every board decision process should happen.
Do you serve on a board
of directors? I do. Several of them. The story told in this book is like no board decision process I’ve ever been involved in. Nonetheless, read the book. Because the story spells out how every board decision process should happen.
TLDR: if you want a quick read with some Jewish humor, A LOT of yiddish words (don’t worry, there’s a mini-dictionary in the back), and a funny plot twist, this is a fun book for you.
*Every time I try to spell this word, I immediately think of that episode of Wishbone where its the word they have to spell for the spelling bee and the character can’t spell it for the life of him. Anyone else remember that? Just me?
Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book to read and review, but as always, all opinions are my own.
