The Gray Lover

the long version

In her newest work, Carl Friedman collects three long stories, each one stylistically distinct, each elaborating on elements of Jewish history and tradition. The title story, "The Gray Lover," is a timeless tale set in a village in Eastern Europe. It recounts the strange fate of a man well past a hundred years old, survivor of pogroms and a world war, whose similarly ancient wife has just died. He finds solace in dreaming encounters with his wife and in the company of an unusual soulmate: a frisky, young donkey - which leads to a startling end. In "Holy Fire," a story as contemporary as today's headlines, Hans Levie, an ordinary Jewish boy from a small Dutch city, is transformed into a violent fundamentalist in Israel. His devoted parents watch helplessly while his growing fanaticism turns into criminal action. The narrator interweaves this story with a contrasting one in her own life: her decision to leave home and become a journalist caused her rigid Orthodox father to disown her. In the powerful final story, "Bette," a daughter is torn between the love for her dying mother and her urge for a life that reaches beyond her parents' lives which were dominated by the Holocaust. As the cancer spreads and death approaches, the narrator relives her father's earlier death (and his war experience), with a brother plans a special night for Bette out among the stars, and then discovers the true strength of her family bond.