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Book Reviews Title The
Puttermesser Papers Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story Ruth Puttermesser
lives in New York. Her learning is monumental; her
love life is minimal. And he most idle fantasies
have a disconcerting tendency to come true. She
yearns for a daughter and promptly creates one,
unassisted, in the form of the first recorded
female golem. She also manages to get herself
elected mayor. Puttermesser contemplates the
afterlife and is hurtled into it headlong, only to
discover that paradise found is also paradise
lost. We
Say I loved Cynthia
Ozick’s short story The Shawl, so it was with
much anticipation that I picked up her novel, The
Puttermesser Papers. Ozick is a consummate story
teller whose unique story lines and characters have
opened her readers' eyes to whole new worlds. In
Ozick’s novel, Ruth Puttermesser is an
intellectual who seems to spend her life searching.
Unlike other women concerned with what Puttermesser
would consider the mundane, Ruth is concerned with
intellectual pursuits and it can be said that she
lacks friends due to her intimidating intelligence.
Ruth is a woman obsessed with knowledge over more
materialistic and social pursuits. Ozick’s
command of the written word is impressive to say
the least, and it is here that I found the only
problem with this novel. While the story
is fascinating and Puttermesser is unlike any
character I have ever encountered, at times the
novel overwhelmed me. Like the countless others who
have met Ruth, I felt inadequate to share her
story. Ozick’s writing is so complex I often
felt that I was viewing Puttermesser’s life
through a dream. I could only catch glimpses of
what it was that Ozick wanted me to see. Perhaps it
was Ozick’s intention to create a novel of
such quality that it must be read more than once to
understand all of the nuances. Regardless of her
intent, I found reading The Puttermesser Papers a
challenge. Ozick’s
novel is filled with a female golem, an ideal New
York City and an unusual love affair. I must admit,
the novel held my attention, but I felt I was
missing so much. It is the type of novel that you
know is fantastic, but somehow, without discussion
and interpretation, you feel left out of the loop.
In many ways I felt I had to work hard to
understand what was going on, and at times I
realized I was completely lost in the flow of the
words. Ozick is so skillful at weaving passages
that just flow. Overall I would recommend reading
The Puttermesser Papers only if you are looking for
a challenging read. Perhaps it is my own feelings
of inadequacy, not unlike Ruth Puttermesser’s
feeling of inadequacy when faced with intelligent
men, that is the most honest reaction to such a
novel. Review by: Yumi
Nagasaki-Taylor |
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