This stunningly intimate collection of stories is an exquisite portrait of a Jewish community — the secular and religious families who inhabit it and the tensions that exist there — that illuminates the unexpected ways we remain connected during times of change.
When Uncle Isaac moves back from L.A. to help his sister, Elaine Levine, care for her suddenly motherless grandchildren, he finds himself embroiled in even more drama than he would like in their suburban neighbourhood. Meanwhile, a nanny miles from her own family in the Philippines, cares for a young boy who doesn’t fit in at school. A woman in mid-life contends with the task of cleaning out the house in which she grew up, while her teenage son struggles with why his dad moved out. And down the street, a mother and her two daughters prepare for a wedding and transitions they didn’t see coming.
Spanning fifteen years in the lives of a multi-generational family and their neighbours, this remarkable collection is an intimate portrait of a suburban Jewish community by a writer with a keen eye for detail, a gentle sense of humour, and an immense literary talent.
This stunningly intimate collection of stories is an exquisite portrait of a Jewish community — the secular and religious families who inhabit it and the tensions that exist there — that illuminates the unexpected ways we remain connected during times of change.
When Uncle Isaac moves back from L.A. to help his sister, Elaine Levine, care for her suddenly motherless grandchildren, he finds himself embroiled in even more drama than he would like in their suburban neighbourhood. Meanwhile, a nanny miles from her own family in the Philippines, cares for a young boy who doesn’t fit in at school. A woman in mid-life contends with the task of cleaning out the house in which she grew up, while her teenage son struggles with why his dad moved out. And down the street, a mother and her two daughters prepare for a wedding and transitions they didn’t see coming.
Spanning fifteen years in the lives of a multi-generational family and their neighbours, this remarkable collection is an intimate portrait of a suburban Jewish community by a writer with a keen eye for detail, a gentle sense of humour, and an immense literary talent.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — May 5, 2020 |
| Specifications | 192 pages | 5.25 in x 8 in |
| Keywords | marvelous mrs maisel; Scarborough Catherine Hernandez; A Tale of Love and Darkness; Seinfeld; Forest Dark; seder masochism; mothers day; |
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| Written By |
SIDURA LUDWIG is the author of the widely successful novel Holding My Breath. Her short fiction has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. She works as a communications specialist and creative writing teacher, and her creative nonfiction has appeared in several newspapers and on CBC Radio. She is currently working on her M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults through the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, she now lives in Thornhill, Ontario, with her husband and three children. |
| Written By |
|
SIDURA LUDWIG is the author of the widely successful novel Holding My Breath. Her short fiction has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. She works as a communications specialist and creative writing teacher, and her creative nonfiction has appeared in several newspapers and on CBC Radio. She is currently working on her M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults through the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, she now lives in Thornhill, Ontario, with her husband and three children. |
Short-listed, Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature: Fiction
“This volume can claim kinship with Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, Alice Munro’s Who Do You Think You Are?, and Margaret Laurence’s A Bird in the House, works in which interconnected stories provide a vessel for examining the human comedy in its often-troubling complexity … Ludwig doesn’t sentimentalize … and she has an eye for the absurdities of human behaviour in even the most poignant of circumstances. But there’s compassion in her intimate examination of these lives.” —Vancouver Sun
“All readers can enjoy Ludwig’s writing. She shows great empathy for her characters, even when they behave badly.” —Library Journal
“I fell more and more in love with the people in these linked stories as I read. Each story reveals a striking new facet of experience, a shift in perspective, an unexpected complication. Layers of assumption lift away as you turn the pages. Written with warmth, clarity, and compassion, You Are Not What We Expected is surprising, engrossing, and heartbreaking.” —Sarah Selecky, author of Radiant Shimmering Light
“Every single character is deeply rendered, every experience detailed beautifully, every story crafted with lucidity and poise. With tenderness, humour, sharp intelligence, and a vibrant grasp of family and community, Ludwig peels back the tensions of the Jewish experience. The Levine family and Ludwig’s incandescent writing will stay with readers for a very long time.” —Jennifer Manuel, author of The Heaviness of Things That Float
“A gorgeous, highly visceral, deeply felt collection of linked stories about how families work — and don’t work — together. The Levine family is unforgettable.” —Jami Attenberg, author of All This Could Be Yours