City of Laughter
by Temim Fruchter
On This Page
Description
"A rich and riveting debut marrying centuries-old folklore to twenty-first-century queer literary fiction, City of Laughter spans four generations of Jewish women bound by blood, half-hidden secrets, and the fantastical visitation of a shapeshifting stranger over the course of 100 years. Ropshitz, Poland, was once known as the City of Laughter. As this story opens, an eighteenth century badchan, a holy jester whose job is to bring laughter to the celebrants at a Jewish wedding, receives a show more visitation froma mysterious stranger, triggering a sequence of events that will reverberate across the coming century. In the present day, Shiva Margolin, recovering from the heartbreak of her first queer love and grieving the death of her father, struggles to connect with her guarded mother, who spends most of her spare time at the local funeral home. A student of Jewish folklore, Shiva seizes an opportunity to visit Poland, hoping her family's mysteries will make more sense if she walks in the footsteps of her great-grandmother Mira, about whom no one speaks. What she finds in Poland will make her question not only her past and her future, but also her present, a life shaped by ancestral forces that originated long before she was born. Electric and sharply intimate, City of Laughter tangles beautifully with queerness and spirituality, zigzagging between our universe and a tapestry of real and invented Jewish folklore, asking how far we can travel from the stories that have raised us without leaving them behind"-- show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
City Of Laughter is an absolutely gorgeous book. The writing is exquisite, beautiful, evocative. The story of Shiva and her family, multiple generations filled with secrets and a hint of magic, made my heart sing. This is a beautiful book. I borrowed it from my public library and loved it so much, I purchased a copy from my local indie bookstore, a treasure to be cherished and read and re-read. I read a lot. This is one of the best books I've ever read.
Thank you to Goodreads, the publisher and the author for this ARC.
It's hard for me to review this book for some reason but it was well written, interesting and different than what I'm used to reading. I think it was the way it was written that it took me longer than usual to read it. I had to absorb every word carefully and then sometimes re-read a sentence or a paragraph.
It's hard for me to review this book for some reason but it was well written, interesting and different than what I'm used to reading. I think it was the way it was written that it took me longer than usual to read it. I had to absorb every word carefully and then sometimes re-read a sentence or a paragraph.
this book has EVERYTHING. we love FEMINISM, we love INTERGENERATIONAL STORIES, we love QUEER JEWISH LITFIC, we love POLAND, we love FOLKLORE, we love MAGICAL REALISM, we love ACADEMIA, we love QUEER AWAKENINGS, we love CITY OF LAUGHTER
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Sexuality & Gender
160 works; 3 members
Author Information
3+ Works 79 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Notable Lists
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 76
- Popularity
- 416,770
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.83)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 1
