Paula Marantz Cohen

I loved pretty much everything about this book: the historical setting, the thrilling developments, the literary characters, the social observations... it perfectly conveyed the times while also describing a gripping story. History buffs might be put off, because it is very difficult to separate fact from fiction, which to me, is the mark of Marantz Cohen's deftness at creating an imagined world out of a real one. There was only one scene where there seemed to be really too much literati show more assembled from the times to be truly believable, but generally the real and imagined cohabit brilliantly.
I found the psychological and philosophical discussions just as entertaining: touched on but not ponderously, as well as the gentle sibling rivalry, most particularly the depiction of Henry James as a maladroit bon vivant. A delightful find! show less

In her debut novel, Jane Austen in Boca, Paula Marantz Cohen transplanted Mr. Darcy and the Bennett household to Florida with a group of Jewish widows standing in for the Austen gals. Now, in her sophomore novel, Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan, Cohen brings William Shakespeare and the Dark Lady of his sonnets to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where another Jewish widow thinks she’s the reincarnation of the mysterious woman for whom sonnets 127 to 152 were supposedly written.

The novel centers show more around Carla Goodman who, as the story opens, is desperately trying to hold her family together. Her husband Mark, a gastroenterologist, is depressed about a slump in business, worrying that colonoscopies just aren’t as sexy or lucrative as, say, heart surgeries. “It’s one thing to look up butts and get rich,â€? he complains. “It’s another to do it for nickels and dimes.â€?

Carla’s ten-year-old son is a holy terror at school—he’s constantly coming home with notes from the principal like “Dear Mrs. Goodman, your son’s poking of the girls with pencils is unacceptable.â€?

Her twelve-year-old daughter Stephanie is tempestuously moody and stressed-out about her upcoming bat mitzvah for which she must have the perfect dress, shoes and catered food.

And then there’s Carla’s seventy-two-year-old mother, the titular Jessie, who’s been acting a bit strange lately, despite the fact that she was normally “one of those rare specimens: an even-tempered, uncomplaining Jewish woman, who performed household chores with cheerfulness and efficiency.â€? Now Jessie goes around serving meals of venison and mead, offers to mend Mark’s doublet and starts acting like a woman in love. The fact that she’s smitten with a fellow named Will who’s been dead four hundred years doesn’t seem to faze her in the slightest.

Jessie is convinced she’s the one to whom Shakespeare wrote his most famous sonnets. In her mind, she’s “the fairest and most precious jewel,â€? the daughter of a Jewish merchant who lived in Venice in the early 1600s. As if she didn’t already have enough to juggle in her Jewish household, Carla must now contend with Jessie’s apparent dementia. This eventually drives her to the office of Dr. Leonard Samuels, famed psychiatrist and author of the best-selling How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love My Mother-in-Law. Samuels dispenses advice like Pez candies: get your son in therapy, let your daughter choose her own bat mitzvah dress and encourage your husband to self-promote his business (which Mark does and soon he’s writing a weekly newspaper column on spastic colons).

Only her mother’s Shakespeare fantasy remains and, as the clock winds down toward the novel’s centerpiece—Stephanie’s bat mitzvah—Jessie chases her dream all the way back to Venice where her Dark Lady life began.

Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan eventually erupts into a cavalcade of jittery nerves, romance and kosher food. At times, Cohen’s novel resembles a Preston Sturges screwball comedy (minus the film director’s trademark acidic satire) mixed with the chaos of a Jewish household a la “Fiddler on the Roof.â€? Call it “Fiddler on the Goofâ€? since Cohen rarely shies away from a good nudge-in-the-ribs joke.

Through it all, Cohen paints a loving portrait of Cherry Hill and the Philly area. The suburban mall paradise proves to be the perfect setting for much ado about the Gap. Just as Shakespeare went around deflating Elizabethan mores with pricks of his quill pen, so Cohen takes the air out of Cherry Hill’s tires:

Although most of the area’s residents make a comfortable living, they see buying at full price as a kind of moral backsliding, like sleeping past noon or eating a whole container of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. It happens, but one feels bad about it afterward.

Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan has all the crazy fun of a Shakespearean romp in the woods, complete with mistaken identities and slightly over-the-top characters. In fact, if he were living in Cherry Hill these days, the Bard would probably be beaming at what Cohen has done with his Dark Lady. show less

The backstory: Paula Marantz Cohen is one of my best-kept secret authors. I first discovered her in the winter of 2003. I graduated from college in December 2002, moved "home" to Kansas City, and found myself with lots of time to read in a very icy winter. On the new release shelves at the library, I picked up Jane Austen in Boca on a whim. I loved it and promptly read all of her other novels too. (Read my review of Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan.)

The basics: Suzanne Davis is a 34-year-old New show more York who works as a technical writer for an air conditioning union. She wants to have a baby, and as her birthday approaches, she decides she needs to get a life...and turns to those in her Upper West Side apartment building.

My thoughts: Suzanne Davis Gets a Life captured me from the first page. Suzanne's narration is satirical, hilarious, and wise. She addresses the reader directly as she tells her story, and I could hardly read fast enough to enjoy her world and perspective. Her observations about the stay-at-home moms on the playground at her apartment building are witty and wise: "It is a characteristic of the stay-at-home mothers in this socio-economic group that they mix language from their former lives in high-powered jobs with subject matter of a profoundly trivial nature."

A lot happens in this slim novel, and I won't spoil its plot. If you're a fan of modern satire, books, and social commentary, then make time for Suzanne Davis Gets a Life.

Favorite passage: "Stories like that don't have one point," I noted graciously. This happens to be one of the few practical insights I gained from my overpriced and otherwise useless English degree. "

The verdict: Suzanne Davis Gets a Life is smart, poignant, funny and confident. Suzanne's voice is honest, quirky and endearing, even as her actions are often wince-inducing. Despite grappling with serious ideas and events, neither Cohen nor Davis let the tone get too serious. This balance between the light and the heavy make this novel an entertaining read, but also a deep one. show less

A modern, self-referencing riff on [b:Persuasion|2156|Persuasion|Jane Austen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385172413s/2156.jpg|2534720] with Anne (Ehrlich instead of Elliot) as a high school guidance counselor who regrets letting her snobby family persuade her to throw over her true love because he had no money and (in their opinions) no prospects.

Some reviewers have lamented the fact that the romance is not always the main focus, but I quite enjoyed all the other plot activity. Anne's show more dealings with confused teens and their success-obsessed parents were hilarious. Her completely despicable father and sister were horrifying in the mercifully few scenes in which they appeared. The romance was sweet, but (considering I'm not much of a romance reader) not overwhelming.

A highly entertaining, fun read. show less