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Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Oh What a Circus
The story of Kaddish Poznan, a Jew living in Argentina during the Peron years, Mr. Englander's first novel follows his wonderful debut, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Uncertainty, dictatorship, and persecution are to be expected in such a setting, but the author chooses to focus further on the themes of class rivalry and government-sponsored kidnapping that none dare question or even acknowledge.
The Poznan family is, in typical Englander fashion, a complex of unshared obligation, interdependent rebellion, and guilty familial affection. Unlike previous Englander characters, the Poznans are not particularly observant. Another new theme for the author is the relentlessly useless bureaucracy of Peronista Argentina.
The Ministry of Special Cases is less focused than the short fiction that preceded it, but that's to be expected. It's not as easy of a read as his previous work, nor is it as thoughtful. But these comparisons diminish the achievement of this debut novel, since they're more of a comment on For the Relief of Unbearable Urges than on this book. Mr. Englander has produced a worthwhile and thoughtful addition to the body of literature that includes the Jewish narrative.
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