{"id":36543,"date":"2021-03-19T01:31:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T08:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=36543"},"modified":"2021-03-18T14:05:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T21:05:28","slug":"life-changing-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2021\/03\/19\/life-changing-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Life-changing impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sandy Shefrin Rabin\u2019s debut novel is a far-reaching account of Jewish life in a small town in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Targeted to young adult readers, Prairie Sonata<\/em> may focus on 11-year-old Mira\u2019s friendship with her school (and violin) teacher, a Holocaust survivor, but it touches upon countless issues, from dealing with trauma, to preserving a language and a culture (Yiddish), to understanding different musical forms, to interfaith dating, to society\u2019s views of mental illness, to learning about the impacts of physical disease (polio).<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Set in the fictional town of Ambrosia, Man., an adult Mira reflects back on the impact that one of her teachers \u2013 Ari Bergman, called Chaver B by his students \u2013 had on her.<\/p>\n

Chaver B is introduced to his Peretz School Yiddish class by the principal, who only shares, \u201cChaver Bergman has been living in Europe and just came over to Canada two weeks ago.\u201d But Mira sees his vulnerability right away, the \u201cmelancholy about him,\u201d and senses \u201cthat this was a man who needed kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Invited to Friday night dinner by Mira\u2019s mother, Chaver B spots Mira\u2019s violin and offers to teach her. He becomes a friend to the whole family \u2013 Mira\u2019s parents and younger brother \u2013 but especially to Mira.<\/p>\n

The novel is structured in three parts, like a sonata. As Chaver B explains to Mira, a sonata is comprised of an exposition, in which its themes are declared; a development, where the themes are explored and expanded; and a recapitulation, where the themes are repeated, leading to a resolution. In some cases, a coda is added, \u201cto provide a sense of closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Prairie Sonata<\/em> is an intriguing novel, and even older readers will enjoy it, especially those who attended a Peretz School or who grew up in the era of the book. At times, when a character is explaining something, it sounds a bit like a Wikipedia entry, but the writing is strong overall and readers will relate to and empathize with the characters. In addition to all of the questions Mira raises throughout, there is a discussion and study guide at the end, with 17 thoughtful exercises for a school group or book club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sandy Shefrin Rabin\u2019s debut novel is a far-reaching account of Jewish life in a small town in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Targeted to young adult readers, Prairie Sonata may focus on 11-year-old Mira\u2019s friendship with her school (and violin) teacher, a Holocaust survivor, but it touches upon countless issues, from dealing with trauma, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[20412,6133,6797,20411,20410,20413,186],"class_list":["post-36543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-coming-of-age","tag-fiction","tag-manitoba","tag-peretz-school","tag-prairie-sonata","tag-sandy-shefrin-rabin","tag-yiddish"],"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\/36543","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=36543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}