{"id":36253,"date":"2021-02-12T03:55:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T11:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=36253"},"modified":"2021-02-11T09:58:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T17:58:46","slug":"novel-journeys-shared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2021\/02\/12\/novel-journeys-shared\/","title":{"rendered":"Novel journeys shared"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilana Masad participates in the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival on Feb. 23. (photo from the JBF)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Women are at the forefront of two new books. Specifically, how we perceive their (our) roles. Especially, with regard to motherhood.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Myriam Steinberg participates in the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival on Feb. 24. (photo from the JBF)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ilana Masad\u2019s debut novel, All My Mother\u2019s Lovers<\/em>, is told from the perspectives of a daughter and her mother, and highlights how much we cannot know about the people close to us, while Myriam Steinberg\u2019s graphic novel, Catalogue Baby: A Memoir of Infertility<\/em>, is a no holds barred sharing of her challenge to become a mom. Both Masad and Steinberg are participating in this year\u2019s Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival, which takes place online Feb. 20-25.<\/p>\n

While the premise is a stretch to my worldview, All My Mother\u2019s Lovers<\/em> is an extremely relatable read on many levels. Twenty-something Maggie\u2019s mother, Iris, dies in a car crash and Maggie must return home for the funeral and shiva. But, along with her will, Iris has left behind six letters \u2013 all addressed to men Maggie hasn\u2019t heard of \u2013 and Maggie quickly flees the communal mourning to deliver these missives.<\/p>\n

Leaving behind her grief-addled father, who has been the emotional-support parent for her, and her younger brother, with whom she has an older-sister-bossy relationship, Maggie attempts to track down the unknown men. The space from her family and from her current partner, with whom there might actually be a substantial, meaningful relationship brewing, allows Maggie to deal with her long-held insecurities and na\u00efve perceptions of what it means to be married, what it means to be a parent; basically, what it means to be a loving and reliable person. We get to know Iris through the letters and, though Maggie doesn\u2019t get to benefit from these personal musings, she does learn more about her mom, which allows her to connect more deeply with her father, as well as to others in her life.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Masad\u2019s writing is crisp, intelligent, wry and sensitive. The novel starts with a bang \u2013 Maggie answering her brother\u2019s call (telling her about their mother\u2019s death) while having sex with her girlfriend. The pace emphasizes Maggie\u2019s confusion as she tries to understand her mother, and herself. Iris\u2019s letters offer slower moments of reflection, but also were a way for Iris to try and better understand her own missteps and successes.<\/p>\n

Steinberg\u2019s Catalogue Baby<\/em> also took me into a world I\u2019ve never personally experienced, though I do know people who have so wanted to have a child but either could not conceive or had great difficulty conceiving. Steinberg\u2019s refreshing openness on a topic that is often spoken about in whispers, if at all, is most welcome. And her voice is amplified by the colour-bursting, energetic and imaginative illustrations by Christache Ross, which take readers right close up into the physical and emotional upheaval and turmoil that Steinberg has lived.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Catalogue Baby<\/em> takes readers from Year One (starting January 2014), and Steinberg\u2019s admission that her dedication to work, organizing the In the House Festival for 11 years, only occasionally gave her the time to put her \u201cloneliness and unrequited motherhood\u201d front of mind. Almost 40 years old at this point, she \u201cdidn\u2019t have time to waste with someone who didn\u2019t eventually want a family.\u201d But, people being who we are, Steinberg nonetheless tries to make an unsatisfying relationship work, all while her biological clock (which follows her throughout the novel\u2019s journey) ticked away. From when she finally decides to go it alone to when she gives birth to twins in late 2018, she goes through much. The list includes 123 blood draws, 31 ultrasounds, multiple fertility treatments, five pregnancies, thousands of supplements, about $100,000, help from dozens of family and friends, etc., etc. \u2013 and \u201c25 litres of tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

To hear more about and from Steinberg, Masad and many other fabulous writers, check out this year\u2019s Jewish Book Festival: jccgv.com\/jewish-book-festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ilana Masad participates in the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival on Feb. 23. (photo from the JBF) Women are at the forefront of two new books. Specifically, how we perceive their (our) roles. Especially, with regard to motherhood. Ilana Masad\u2019s debut novel, All My Mother\u2019s Lovers, is told from the perspectives of a daughter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[20262,6133,20261,7234,9857,8615,4526,20263,812,3021],"class_list":["post-36253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-autobiography","tag-fiction","tag-ilana-masad","tag-infertility","tag-jcc-jewish-book-festival","tag-lgbtq-2","tag-memoir","tag-motherhood","tag-myriam-steinberg","tag-women"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}