October 8, 2023
THE GOLEM OF BROOKLYN
by Adam Mansbach
Published by One World (September 26, 2023), Paperback – $18
Paperback edition
Kindle Edition
Reviewed by William Glover
FREELANCE WRITER
What if, using tradition, faith, magic, and stolen art clay, you could create a superhero to vanquish your oppressors? A sentient giant, who could crush those who hate and torment you? What would happen then?
The Golem of Brooklyn is Adam Mansbach’s answer, called into existence by Len Braunstein, a disaffected, dope smoking art teacher, who refers to himself as “culturally, Jewish” and knows little of the vast and complicated history of the Jewish people. Nonetheless, by way of the internet, Len studies the ingredients and incantations necessary to animate the legendary protector and avenger. Len’s summer hobby rises from the garden shed and lumbers into Len’s apartment and asks, in Yiddish, the first of many questions: “Avu iz mayn shmok?”
Len speaks no Yiddish, so he leaves the Golem in the care of Waleed, Len’s friend and drug dealer. Len goes to find Miriam Apfelbaum—Miri—a 20-year-old lesbian outcast from the ultra-observant Sassov sect of Hasidim. Miri happens to man the counter of the Yemeni grocery store near Len’s apartment. Miri grudgingly agrees to translate the Golem’s questions, including the first question which addressed Len’s shortcomings as a sculptor. Meanwhile, the Golem has consumed all of the liquid LSD in Waleed‘s backpack and become transfixed by Curb Your Enthusiasm, binge playing on Len’s television. Miri’s knowledge of Hebrew and the Golem’s burgeoning mastery of English (thanks to Larry David) allow a discussion of the Golem’s anatomy and, importantly, the Golem’s question “Why the Golem here?”
What follows is at once a history lesson, the tale of an epic road trip, and about a dozen discursive stories that explain Jewish suffering and resistance from Moses forward, the history of the Golem, Miri’s coming out and oddly an oversexed dolphin. The last two stories are not related.
Mansbach carefully spins these stories, careening from one to another, but never losing the forward momentum of the Golem’s mission, and Len and Miri’s role in it.
The Golem, Mansbach explains, is a giant humanoid built of mud or clay, always by a learned and holy man, and always in a time of crisis. When the golem is created, the Hebrew word for truth is inscribed on its forehead. When the golem has accomplished his task, the word truth is erased, and the word death appears. In between, the Golem protects, terrorizes, and destroys as required for the benefit of Jews in crisis. Since Len is neither holy nor learned and had no idea what he was doing when he created the Golem, he had no specific crisis in mind. Inevitably the Golem is shown a video of the torch lit “Jews will not replace us” march on Charlottesville. The news reports an upcoming similar gathering at a small town in Kentucky—crisis identified. Off go Len, Miri and the Golem in a stolen SUV to—well—interrupt the performative antisemitic plans of the “Save our Future’s History” rally planned by the Venerable Order of the Knights of Southern Rectitude.
Rectitude, indeed. Lin and Miri begin to wonder exactly what the Golem will do when they reach the rally—and what, exactly, is their responsibility for the creation Len has called into being. A dead congressman, a smashed police car, a Bigfoot costume, and a very confused populace, all portend the ultimate collision of angry Golem and hateful goyim. There is history, and there are lessons both to be learned. Mansbach is both teacher and philosopher in this vibrant, thoughtful, timely, and important book. Maybe his creation will make a difference. What if?
William Glover is an independent writer living in Fredericksburg.
BUDDY GREEN
Self-published by James W Haley Junior (January 15, 2023), Paperback – $10
Paperback edition
Kindle Edition
Reviewed by: Drew Gallagher
FREELANCE WRITER
I was contacted by James Haley the author of Buddy Green, a book he self-published this past January. He’d always enjoyed my book reviews and video book reviews, and I supposed that played to my ego. But that is not why I agreed to review this book. It’s because the book is solid. And because Haley is an accomplished writer who also was a Judge in Stafford County for nearly 15 years and then served on the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Because I live in Spotsylvania County and Judge Haley is now retired, I think I can review Buddy Green candidly without having to worry that I’ll have the Commonwealth Attorney shadowing my every move. (I will, however, grab a few extra bags when I walk my dog in the neighborhood because Fenway can never just poop once!)
Buddy Green is an ambitious novel where Haley foreshadows the hero’s end, as well as his novel’s end, in the opening pages. As Anton Chekhov noted, when you detail the process of mining lead in Act I, that lead has to go off in the next Act.
The events of Buddy’s life and his procession to the battlefields of World War I France are interesting even if we know this is not going to end well for our hero. Haley delves into great detail on a number of topics (See: Mining of Lead in Germanic lands) and provides historic snapshots of life in Culpeper, Virginia, in the early 20th Century. Buddy’s life growing up on a farm in Culpeper and the mention of local landmarks will be of special interest to local readers.
Haley’s grasp of language and vocabulary are remarkable, but there are a few problems within the narrative that often plague early novels. The author has a tendency to go into laundry lists of items to create a sense of place, and his ending is sudden as if written to make a deadline or, more likely, he was done banging out his manuscript and just wanted to celebrate the novel’s end. This reader wanted more of the war and more of Buddy in that theatre, but there is one passage in Buddy Green that warrants special attention and augurs potential for future novels.
Haley takes us into a Culpeper courtroom in 1911 for a judge to hear a civil dispute over a customer not paying his fare for transport, and the transportation company withholding his luggage as payment. The court proceedings and Haley’s presentation of same are fascinating. Writing a book on Culpeper court matters in 1911 was not something I had considered as especially interesting, but Buddy Green changed my mind on that front and showed that a veteran of the bench can animate the banal.
Buddy Green is written for a distant relative of Judge Haley’s. It is a fitting tribute to a man who Haley never knew and a man who, like many of his generation, died far too young in a world much different than our own.
Drew Gallagher is a freelance writer living in Spotsylvania County.
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