Publisher's Synopsis
POR EL AUTOR DE &«EL MÉDICO»
Michael Kind, descendiente de judìos criado en un barrio marginal de Nueva York, se debate entre el antagónico legado recibido por su abuelo y su educador, y el proporcionado por su padre. El abuelo le transmitió su conciencia de pertenencia a la comunidad judìa, mientras que su educador se encargó de la formación religiosa. Como contrapunto a esa formación anclada en los orìgenes de su pueblo, Michael aprendió de la mano de su padre a valorar a la libertad y a atreverse a cuestionar las normas.
Las dos caras de esa formación se reflejarán en la vida de Michael adulto, quien decidirá convertirse en un rabino tolerante y abierto, dispuesto a enfrentarse a todos aquellos obstáculos religiosos y sociales que se opongan a su relación con una mujer que no pertenece a la comunidad judìa.
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
He was a young American rabbi. She was his beautiful Christian wife. Together they tried to forge a life . . .
"This big, ambitious novel comes as close to matters of faith and life as any book that has appeared. . . . Excellent."-New York Post
"A human and enlightening portrait of a rabbi as a man, called upon constantly to be something more than a man: of a rabbi as a husband and father with the weakness and problems of other men . . . A rewarding reading experience."-Los Angeles Times
Michael Kind is raised in the Jewish cauldron of 1920s New York, familiar with the stresses and materialism of metropolitan life. Turning to the ancient set of ethics of his Orthodox grandfather- with a modern twist-he becomes a Reform rabbi. As insecure and sexually-needy as any other young male, he serves as a circuit-rider rabbi in the Ozarks, and then as a temple rabbi in the racially ugly South, in a San Francisco suburb, in a Pennsylvania college town, and finally, in a New England community west of Boston. Along the way, he falls deeply in love and marries the daughter of a Congregational minister; she converts to Judaism, and they have two complex, interesting children.
This is their story, a sweeping drama of love and identity, of compassion and cruelty, a searing tale of one man and one woman who must learn to cope with the complications of an unorthodox life in a world that will not accept them, in a world where rabbis and non-Jews do not fall in love-let alone marry . . .
Noah Gordon's picture of a brilliant and talented religious counselor-who at times is as bereft and uncertain as any of his congregants-is a deeply moving and very satisfying novel.
