You gott have balls

[U3Agraham]

You gotta have balls

Lily Brett's book has an intriguing premise.

How does an Australian woman Ruth, running a business in New York deal with the maelstrom created in her life when her Jewish father comes to stay?

More particularly, how does she shed her protectiveness of him when she is a) introspective and unsure of herself,
b) a closet control freak,
c) is VERY aggressive towards his new love interest - a Polish lady with prominent breasts.

And Ruth's father, Edek, a survivor of Auschwitz, is 84, not in control of the English language and determined to set up a restaurant in New York with his new friend Zofia, she of the enormous breasts and a great line in cooking meat balls.

How can you enjoy a book when the main character - Ruth - is so unlikeable? Introspection is acceptable in a character - look at Isobel Dalhousie in Alexander McCall Smith's Scottish books - but this is obsessive and no amount of quick good one liners in the writing will make up for that.

Throw in a happy ending plot which demands a Disney musical score and you have the confusing situation where you want to love everyone in the book but can't quite figure out if they deserve it, or need a good kick in the pants.

Anyone else read this one?

[JimBlair]

My enjoyment of this book was added to because I shared the anxiety of one of the main characters, Ruth, over the danger of starting a new business.

As I read it I assumed that the new restaurant would fail, as so many do. However the author told her tale so cleverly that I accpeted her ending even though I knew that in real life, such an ending was unlikely.

Only a Jewish writer would get away with this????

[U3Agraham]

I take your point Jim, but it really enforces my feelings about Ruth. You, it seems went out and did it, despite the anxiety.

What does Ruth do? She contacts people who reinforce her feelings that the restaurant is a goose of an idea. And what does she do with this information? She keeps it warm inside her coat, cosseting the feeling that SHE KNOWS. And she keeps that to herself.

I think that is what irritates me about her.
'Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow'

She is the embodiment of Eliot's Hollow Men

I liked the kids though.

[Betty]

I think I made it through the log in etc. I disliked ruth and that coloured the whole book for me. I felt it was a fantasy - the heroes were too old - 87 etc - and the plot improbable. But the notion of sex at 87 was hopeful!

[U3Agraham]

Betty, there is hope and wistful ambition in all of us!

I do agree with you that Ruth gets in the way of enjoying a rollicking story. And you are right to see it as a fantasy, so I guess the usual rules of novel writing can be bypassed. Ruth is the pivotal character, however, and without a way of relating to her we are left marooned on her moralising beach with no way out.

Thank God her family - and friends - give us a leg up to fun.

[Perrywinkle47]

It seems like an interesting story to me, would read it soon.