Beautiful story, beautiful illustrations. Devoured in just a day. ( )

. A Bintel Brief: Love and Longing in Old New York is a whimsical homage to the popular advice column in The Forward, the Yiddish language newspaper begun in 1906. Join author and artist Liana Finck on a journey through Lower East Side New York, as she explores the rich cultural history of Jewish immigrants at the turn of the century, struggling with such timeless issues as assimilation, family politics, and premarital sex.
Liana Finck’s expressive illustrations combine Art Spiegelman’s deft emotionality, Roz Chast’s hilarious neuroses, and the magical spirit of Marc Chagall. The Miami Herald called it “A rich, hilarious and authentic fable”. It is a bit of art, literature, and history.
Read along with them this month, use their Discussion Questions to enliven your experience, and engage with fellow JWA readers. Use this link:
https://jwa.org/blog/bookclub/discussionquestions/a-bintel-brief

This was a fun read and in interesting tale for a graphic novel. The Bintel Brief was a letter-to-the-editor column from 1906 in the Yiddish newspaper, the Forward. Then editor, Abraham Cahan appears to Liana Finck's protagonist (written in the I voice) when her grandmother sends her an old notebook full of 'A Bintel Brief' clippings.

The Dybbuk sticks around, gets a hair cut and tells stories of days gone by. But mostly Cahan reads the letters and the two converse about the contents. There is a celebration of Jewish culture and a slice of immigrant culture. These tales and the editorial answers capture the struggle between old world values and the American 'promised land.' ( )

Graphic novel portraying some original letters from bintel brief. found many of the problems heartbreaking ( )

This is the perfect companion piece to the original A Bintel Brief (Yiddish - A Bunch of Letters), a collection of advice letters from the Jewish Daily Forward (Forvets) from the early 1900s through WWII. Most of the submissions were heartbreaking sagas of poverty and misery, and yet the regal salutations from most were "Dear Esteemed Editor". Abraham Cahan, an editor worthy of all that praise and more, originated the advice column to fill in the back page of the newspaper. I believe that Ann Landers and Dear Abby, Jewish women, were inspired by Cahan's responses. He was a freethinker, not religious, but had a healthy respect for old and new country culture.

Liana Finck has done a fine graphic novel illustrating some of the letters and envisioning herself being visited by the body and spirit of Abraham Cahan. She is a fine artist, interpreter and storyteller herself! My only quarrel is with the tiny lettering in the Cahan appearances - very hard for a person needing reading glasses to decipher.

Do yourself a favor, willya, and read the original AND this very unique take on an American treasure. ( )