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Isra-Isle
This novel is inspired by a true historical event. Before Theodore Herzl there was Mordecai Manuel Noah, an American journalist, diplomat, playwright, and visionary. In September 1825 he bought Grand Island, downriver from Niagara Falls, from the local Native Americans as a place of refuge for the Jewish people and called it “Ararat.” But no Jews came. What if they had followed Noah’s call? In Nava Semel’s alternate history Jews from throughout the world flee persecution and come to Ararat. Isra Isle becomes the smallest state in the US. Israel does not exist, and there was no Holocaust. In exploring this what-if scenario, Semel stimulates new thinking about memory, Jewish/Israeli identity, attitudes toward minorities, women in top political positions, and the place of cultural heritage.
The novel is divided into three parts. Part 1, a detective story, opens in September 2001 when Liam Emanuel, an Israeli descendant of Noah, learns about and inherits this island. He leaves Israel intending to reclaim this “Promised Land” in America. Shortly after he arrives in America Liam disappears. Simon T. Lenox, a Native American police investigator, tries to recover Israel’s “missing son.” Part 2 flashes back to the time and events surrounding Mordecai Noah’s purchase of the island from the local Native Americans. Part 3 poses an alternate history: the rise of a successful modern Jewish city-state, Isra Isle, on the northern New York and Canadian border—a metropolis that looks remarkably like New York City both before and after 9/11—in which the Jewish female governor campaigns to become president of the United States.
Nava Semel has published novels, short stories, poetry, plays, children's books, and a number of TV scripts. Her books have been translated and published in many countries. Her book, Becoming Gershona, received the 1990 National Jewish Book Award in the US.
The novel is divided into three parts. Part 1, a detective story, opens in September 2001 when Liam Emanuel, an Israeli descendant of Noah, learns about and inherits this island. He leaves Israel intending to reclaim this “Promised Land” in America. Shortly after he arrives in America Liam disappears. Simon T. Lenox, a Native American police investigator, tries to recover Israel’s “missing son.” Part 2 flashes back to the time and events surrounding Mordecai Noah’s purchase of the island from the local Native Americans. Part 3 poses an alternate history: the rise of a successful modern Jewish city-state, Isra Isle, on the northern New York and Canadian border—a metropolis that looks remarkably like New York City both before and after 9/11—in which the Jewish female governor campaigns to become president of the United States.
Nava Semel has published novels, short stories, poetry, plays, children's books, and a number of TV scripts. Her books have been translated and published in many countries. Her book, Becoming Gershona, received the 1990 National Jewish Book Award in the US.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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October 3, 2018
The shadow of the future lies over the past...
Simon T. Lenox writes in his notebook, as I write in mine—this book review, like most of the ones I write, started out on paper. Simon's methods were of course, like mine, already anachronistic even then, in that far-off year when a man could go to work, with his cellphone in his pocket, on the 84th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center at the south end of Manhattan.
"Grand Island," the first half of Isra-Isle, follows Simon T. Lenox as he follows the tracks of an Israeli man who stepped off a plane in New York and subsequently vanished. Simon has his own issues—with his bladder, with his ex-wives, with alcohol—but none of those deter him from tracking down his man.
Small and fierce, Nava Semel's novel Isra-Isle made me think of hawks—which isn't that surprising, since I just finished reading Madeline Miller's Circe—but the books don't really have much else in common, other than my having read them in proximity. Nor is Semel's novel much like The Yiddish Policemen's Union, really, despite some surface similarities. NYPD investigator Simon T. Lenox is certainly the same kind of hard-drinking, thoroughly driven cop as Michael Chabon's Meyer Landsman, and both novels do feature the creation of an alternative Jewish homeland somewhere in North America—but Isra-Isle and The Yiddish Policemen's Union are otherwise very different sideways visions. For one thing, Chabon throws us right into the middle of Meyer Landsman's alternative history, while Semel's tripartite work saves that departure for its final act.
In fact, if I were forced to pick a particular touchstone for comparison, I might well go with another book altogether:
The eponymous final part of Isra-Isle takes us to Ararat as it would have existed, had Noah succeeded in drawing Jewish settlers to his utopia. It's an odd alternity, where the word "ghetto" has somehow disappeared from common use but Pink Floyd still recorded "The Dark Side of the Moon," and where Buffalo, New York, is a sleepy little town, eclipsed by the towering powerhouse that Isra-Isle has become. Arena rock and triumphal architecture aside, though, the tone of "Isra-Isle" is wistful and tender, a mood only intensified by the way this universe's Simon addresses his lover Jake back in New York, while pursuing a history-making Presidential candidate...
Taken together, the sections of Semel's novel illuminate and enrich each other, reflecting and refracting each other's light like, oh, the prism on your favorite album cover, becoming more than the sum of each individual part.
Translator Jessica Cohen deserves a mention as well—I thought her work was seamless, and helped recreate in English what seemed to me to be the essential playfulness of Semel's original prose.
I have to thank Julia for bringing Isra-Isle to my attention—I had not run across it otherwise. In some alternative timeline very close to this one, I have no idea what I missed...
Simon T. Lenox writes in his notebook, as I write in mine—this book review, like most of the ones I write, started out on paper. Simon's methods were of course, like mine, already anachronistic even then, in that far-off year when a man could go to work, with his cellphone in his pocket, on the 84th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center at the south end of Manhattan.
"Grand Island," the first half of Isra-Isle, follows Simon T. Lenox as he follows the tracks of an Israeli man who stepped off a plane in New York and subsequently vanished. Simon has his own issues—with his bladder, with his ex-wives, with alcohol—but none of those deter him from tracking down his man.
Small and fierce, Nava Semel's novel Isra-Isle made me think of hawks—which isn't that surprising, since I just finished reading Madeline Miller's Circe—but the books don't really have much else in common, other than my having read them in proximity. Nor is Semel's novel much like The Yiddish Policemen's Union, really, despite some surface similarities. NYPD investigator Simon T. Lenox is certainly the same kind of hard-drinking, thoroughly driven cop as Michael Chabon's Meyer Landsman, and both novels do feature the creation of an alternative Jewish homeland somewhere in North America—but Isra-Isle and The Yiddish Policemen's Union are otherwise very different sideways visions. For one thing, Chabon throws us right into the middle of Meyer Landsman's alternative history, while Semel's tripartite work saves that departure for its final act.
In fact, if I were forced to pick a particular touchstone for comparison, I might well go with another book altogether:
It burned my fingers but I did not speak the pain.In "Ararat," Isra-Isle's second and briefest section, we travel back in time to La Grande Île, an island on the Niagara River—the largest island on that river, in fact—which in 1825 has just been purchased by Mordecai Manuel Noah, a prosperous and pompous Jew from New York, for $100. This event actually happened—but in our history, Noah's grand plan to establish a new Jewish homeland called Ararat "never got further than a ceremonial laying of a cornerstone." But what if Noah's open invitation to the world's Jews had been accepted?
—p.125
The eponymous final part of Isra-Isle takes us to Ararat as it would have existed, had Noah succeeded in drawing Jewish settlers to his utopia. It's an odd alternity, where the word "ghetto" has somehow disappeared from common use but Pink Floyd still recorded "The Dark Side of the Moon," and where Buffalo, New York, is a sleepy little town, eclipsed by the towering powerhouse that Isra-Isle has become. Arena rock and triumphal architecture aside, though, the tone of "Isra-Isle" is wistful and tender, a mood only intensified by the way this universe's Simon addresses his lover Jake back in New York, while pursuing a history-making Presidential candidate...
Taken together, the sections of Semel's novel illuminate and enrich each other, reflecting and refracting each other's light like, oh, the prism on your favorite album cover, becoming more than the sum of each individual part.
Translator Jessica Cohen deserves a mention as well—I thought her work was seamless, and helped recreate in English what seemed to me to be the essential playfulness of Semel's original prose.
I have to thank Julia for bringing Isra-Isle to my attention—I had not run across it otherwise. In some alternative timeline very close to this one, I have no idea what I missed...
October 2, 2017
I read this book as part of a personal Jewish Alternate History Reading project. I think I'd like to start this review by sifting through what I think Semel was trying to accomplish here. According to her jacket copy and various reviews, she was probing the idea of identity, persecution and prejudice in a world without Israel. I may be in the minority opinion (along with Kirkus Books, with whom I have an up and down relationship :P) but I don't think she succeeded.
The narrative is divided into three parts. The whole time I was picturing Doc Brown by his blackboard in "Back to the Future Part 2" explaining about how the past timeline skeeeeeewed into this alternate reality. :P No, the DeLorean doesn't make an appearance in the novel, but Semel uses the same set up as the movie--we start in real September 2001, we move into real September 1825, and then jump into alternative September 2001.
In our September 2001, we follow Detective Simon Lenox in a close third person noir narration, while he attempts to find a disappeared Israeli in New York. Along the way we're privy to his cynical thoughts about his own life, and his cynical-to-antisemitic thoughts about Jews and Israelis. He takes up with a Jewish colleague, which I chalked up to Plot Reasons. (Themes repeat.) Anywho, he ultimately catches up with his guy on Grand Island, New York. Turns out said guy, Liam Emanuel, is the descendant of the real life Mordecai Manuel Noah, who bought Grand Island in 1825 as a haven for world Jewry.
The second, and strongest, part is a lyrical accounting told by the daughter of a Native American chief who takes Noah to the island (where we skeeeeew from real history, it seems. :P He never actually set foot there, if wikipedia is to be believed. She also ends up having children with Noah.) I really love how our unnamed narrator/former Grand Island inhabitant interpreted Noah's stories of Jewish history and heritage into a Lakota cultural re-telling. She was the servant to a white family, the Lenoxes, and so got to deal with their prejudices against her people, against African slaves as personified through their "boy" Simon, and then with the Jews when Noah came to them. I love how she sifted through this marginalization and Otherness.
Then, the alternative history deals with the "what if" Grand Island became Isra-Isle, America's safe haven for the Jews. I think this was the weakest part, so cynically I perhaps understand why Semel obfuscated it with a confusing second person narrative choice. Because logically, very little of this made sense. She had this throw-away line about how Isra-Isle's existence served as a refuge in the 1930s and therefore no Holocaust--wait, what? You're missing a fair few steps in there. Also: what about other post-1835 Jewish persecutions, like the Russian pogroms? Two major waves of Jewish immigration to America happened during and after the latter 19th century. Then the Iranian Revolution encouraged the immigration of Persian Jews. What happened to them? And what happened to the Jews, like Noah's Sephardic kin, who already lived in America? So many ripple effects, and I'm just focusing on the Tribe here!
But most obviously, having a Jewish refuge state would probably go against the First Amendment--no establishment of religion. I mean, my own state, Maryland, was founded to be a refuge for Catholics, but that was before Independence, but by the time they were brought into the United States, it was more diverse. Now I'm really curious as to how THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION will handle the "Jewish refuge in America" issue and if I'll find it more believable.
I do like how Semel incorporated Lakota and Jewish customs in Isra-Isle. At first I found it off-putting, but surely real Jewish practice and culture has been affected by the places where we've lived in the people with whom we've interacted. Though I'm still a little iffy about how thoroughly the bar mitzvah ceremony was threaded into Lakota ceremonies. Is this how Israelis like Semel see American Jewish practice, as basically one step removed from American Christian practice? Am I over-thinking things? :P
So, a plus--this novel gave me a lot to think about. I also enjoyed the puzzle-solving aspect of threading similar names and themes throughout the three storylines, but that does not a compelling narrative make. Certainly not a cohesive one. Most prominently, perhaps I'm curious about why she included 9/11 in both timelines--maybe as a reminder that you can't subvert all disaster. Though she kind of contradicts an earlier point that her character makes about a peaceful Middle East.
The characters are the real turn off for me, alas. None of them were compelling or three dimensional--the whole style over substance argument. It worked for me in the second installment. Not so much in the other two. But props to the writing and Jessica Cohen's translation. Each part felt unique.
The narrative is divided into three parts. The whole time I was picturing Doc Brown by his blackboard in "Back to the Future Part 2" explaining about how the past timeline skeeeeeewed into this alternate reality. :P No, the DeLorean doesn't make an appearance in the novel, but Semel uses the same set up as the movie--we start in real September 2001, we move into real September 1825, and then jump into alternative September 2001.
In our September 2001, we follow Detective Simon Lenox in a close third person noir narration, while he attempts to find a disappeared Israeli in New York. Along the way we're privy to his cynical thoughts about his own life, and his cynical-to-antisemitic thoughts about Jews and Israelis. He takes up with a Jewish colleague, which I chalked up to Plot Reasons. (Themes repeat.) Anywho, he ultimately catches up with his guy on Grand Island, New York. Turns out said guy, Liam Emanuel, is the descendant of the real life Mordecai Manuel Noah, who bought Grand Island in 1825 as a haven for world Jewry.
The second, and strongest, part is a lyrical accounting told by the daughter of a Native American chief who takes Noah to the island (where we skeeeeew from real history, it seems. :P He never actually set foot there, if wikipedia is to be believed. She also ends up having children with Noah.) I really love how our unnamed narrator/former Grand Island inhabitant interpreted Noah's stories of Jewish history and heritage into a Lakota cultural re-telling. She was the servant to a white family, the Lenoxes, and so got to deal with their prejudices against her people, against African slaves as personified through their "boy" Simon, and then with the Jews when Noah came to them. I love how she sifted through this marginalization and Otherness.
Then, the alternative history deals with the "what if" Grand Island became Isra-Isle, America's safe haven for the Jews. I think this was the weakest part, so cynically I perhaps understand why Semel obfuscated it with a confusing second person narrative choice. Because logically, very little of this made sense. She had this throw-away line about how Isra-Isle's existence served as a refuge in the 1930s and therefore no Holocaust--wait, what? You're missing a fair few steps in there. Also: what about other post-1835 Jewish persecutions, like the Russian pogroms? Two major waves of Jewish immigration to America happened during and after the latter 19th century. Then the Iranian Revolution encouraged the immigration of Persian Jews. What happened to them? And what happened to the Jews, like Noah's Sephardic kin, who already lived in America? So many ripple effects, and I'm just focusing on the Tribe here!
But most obviously, having a Jewish refuge state would probably go against the First Amendment--no establishment of religion. I mean, my own state, Maryland, was founded to be a refuge for Catholics, but that was before Independence, but by the time they were brought into the United States, it was more diverse. Now I'm really curious as to how THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION will handle the "Jewish refuge in America" issue and if I'll find it more believable.
I do like how Semel incorporated Lakota and Jewish customs in Isra-Isle. At first I found it off-putting, but surely real Jewish practice and culture has been affected by the places where we've lived in the people with whom we've interacted. Though I'm still a little iffy about how thoroughly the bar mitzvah ceremony was threaded into Lakota ceremonies. Is this how Israelis like Semel see American Jewish practice, as basically one step removed from American Christian practice? Am I over-thinking things? :P
So, a plus--this novel gave me a lot to think about. I also enjoyed the puzzle-solving aspect of threading similar names and themes throughout the three storylines, but that does not a compelling narrative make. Certainly not a cohesive one. Most prominently, perhaps I'm curious about why she included 9/11 in both timelines--maybe as a reminder that you can't subvert all disaster. Though she kind of contradicts an earlier point that her character makes about a peaceful Middle East.
The characters are the real turn off for me, alas. None of them were compelling or three dimensional--the whole style over substance argument. It worked for me in the second installment. Not so much in the other two. But props to the writing and Jessica Cohen's translation. Each part felt unique.
July 4, 2017
Like so many others, I found part one hard to get through yet rewarding when I did. Part 2 was magnificent and then part 3 was lacking. Great concept and some wonderful truths.
September 14, 2018
This should be on lists like, if you like The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, you’ll like this. Which I did, so I do. This is told with three different stories that show a historical story I didn’t know—until I finished reading the book, and read the book jacket. In 1825 Mordecai Manuel Noah bought Grand Isle, downriver from the Niagara Falls to be a homeland for Jews and called it Ararat.
In the first third, is told from the point of view of Simon T. Lenox, a Native NYPD policeman trying to figure out what happened to a minor Israeli politician, Liam Emmanuel, in early September, 2001. He found the deed from his great grandfather to Grand Isle. In the second story we go back to 1825, meet the original Mordecai Manuel Noah, a showman, and he meets Tiebele, the last Native woman to live on Grand Island. She works for the wealthy Lenoxes. Simon is their slave. She will have a daughter named Winona. In another September 2001, Simon, a photojournalist, takes a trip “home” with presidential candidate Emmanuela Winona Noah to Isra Isle. His boyfriend Jake is from there.
“Visons. His grandmother claimed they were flashes of the past or the future, encoded messages sent from the spirits.” (23) “’The day will come when you will tell your children that you witnessed this witnessed this occasion, the dedication of the Jews’ island of refuge.’
What have they suffered that they require refuge? Were they shot at with musket rifles? Were their teepees and wigwams and longhouses burned? Were they forced to drink firewater and have their visions trampled? (129) “So what isn’t Isra Isle? An independent sovereignty. A religious enclave. A penal colony. An autonomous state. A quarantine area. I’m sure I missed something.” Bought at B & N, I think. Read for Read Harder Challenge #19 genre fiction in translation.
In the first third, is told from the point of view of Simon T. Lenox, a Native NYPD policeman trying to figure out what happened to a minor Israeli politician, Liam Emmanuel, in early September, 2001. He found the deed from his great grandfather to Grand Isle. In the second story we go back to 1825, meet the original Mordecai Manuel Noah, a showman, and he meets Tiebele, the last Native woman to live on Grand Island. She works for the wealthy Lenoxes. Simon is their slave. She will have a daughter named Winona. In another September 2001, Simon, a photojournalist, takes a trip “home” with presidential candidate Emmanuela Winona Noah to Isra Isle. His boyfriend Jake is from there.
“Visons. His grandmother claimed they were flashes of the past or the future, encoded messages sent from the spirits.” (23) “’The day will come when you will tell your children that you witnessed this witnessed this occasion, the dedication of the Jews’ island of refuge.’
What have they suffered that they require refuge? Were they shot at with musket rifles? Were their teepees and wigwams and longhouses burned? Were they forced to drink firewater and have their visions trampled? (129) “So what isn’t Isra Isle? An independent sovereignty. A religious enclave. A penal colony. An autonomous state. A quarantine area. I’m sure I missed something.” Bought at B & N, I think. Read for Read Harder Challenge #19 genre fiction in translation.
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June 3, 2017I'm a concept person. So it was my love of the concept that kept me reading through Part 1. This dealt with a missing person's case and a detective who eventually grows beyond stereotype, but it takes quite some time. I ordinarily wouldn't have been so patient with him, yet the end of Part 1 was moving.
Since Part 3 is the one that deals with the "what if" that is the heart of the book's concept, you would think that it would be the one that is the best developed. Alas, it isn't. The true heart of the novel that approaches its themes best in terms of character, plot and intensity is Part 2. It's also beautifully written from a stylistic viewpoint. Kudos to the translator for this section of the book. This is the historical portion of the novel which flashes back to the real events on which its based--the purchase of Grand Isle by Mordechai Manuel Noah. After reading the Wikipedia article about his life, I would really have loved an entire novel about him.
Part 3 is skeletal and perfunctory. The characterization is virtually non-existent. If Nava Semel had put even half as much effort into imagining her alternate history as she put into bringing the historical context to life, this would have been a good novel. Since she didn't, I found it disappointing.
Since Part 3 is the one that deals with the "what if" that is the heart of the book's concept, you would think that it would be the one that is the best developed. Alas, it isn't. The true heart of the novel that approaches its themes best in terms of character, plot and intensity is Part 2. It's also beautifully written from a stylistic viewpoint. Kudos to the translator for this section of the book. This is the historical portion of the novel which flashes back to the real events on which its based--the purchase of Grand Isle by Mordechai Manuel Noah. After reading the Wikipedia article about his life, I would really have loved an entire novel about him.
Part 3 is skeletal and perfunctory. The characterization is virtually non-existent. If Nava Semel had put even half as much effort into imagining her alternate history as she put into bringing the historical context to life, this would have been a good novel. Since she didn't, I found it disappointing.
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December 14, 2016"Nava Semel's alternative history offers as haunting and thoroughly entertaining a story about the ancient and modern quest for home and belonging as one could hope for." Review by Ranen Omer-Sherman for the Jewish Book Council.
January 7, 2018
הספר מורכב משלושה חלקים. החלק הראשון מתרחש בשנת 2001 ומתואר מנקודת מבטו של בלש ממוצא אינדיאני המנהל חיפוש אחר ישראלי שנעדר בארה"ב. החלק השני מסופר מנקודת מבטה של שפחה אינדיאנית, היורשת החוקית של אי קטן, גרנד איילנד, הממוקם ליד מפלי הניאגרה אשר נרכש ע"י המחזאי מרדכי עמנואל נח ב-1825 על-מנת שישמש מקלט ליהודי העולם. החלק השלישי מסופר מנקודת מבטו של צלם פפאראצי היוצא למשימה שמטרתה השגת תמונה "צהובה" של מושלת האי הנ"ל שאכן, ב-2001 אלטרנטיבית, יוּשב ע"י יהודים ושמתמודדת על נשיאות ארה"ב.
אני אוהב סיפורי מציאות אלטרנטיבית ומאוד שמחתי לגלות שיש גם אחד כזה שקשור אלי באופן אישי יותר מסיפורים אחרים. אירוע הציר של הספר, רכישת האי הקטן על-מנת שישמש מקלט ליהודי העולם, זה שבעקבות תוצאותיו מתקבלת שנת 2001 אותה הכרנו ושנת 2001 חלופית, לבדו נשמע לי כמו מציאות חלופית. הופתעתי מאוד ושמחתי לגלות שהאירוע הזה אכן קרה. לכן, למרות קוטביות הביקורות החלטתי לקרוא את הספר.
הצטערתי שהחוויה שלי היתה במידה מסוימת דומה לזו של אחרים ובאמת לקח לי זמן עד שנשאבתי מעט לסיפור שבחלק הראשון. הסיפור השתפר לאורך הזמן אבל גם אז לא נסחפתי אליו במיוחד.
החלק השני היה historical fiction והיה מעניין יותר כי נחשפתי בו קצת לתרבויות של שבטים אינדיאנים ולעניין כיבוש אמריקה בידי האירופאים, שני נושאים שעניינו אותי גם לפני כן. ניכר שנאוה סמל השקיעה במחקר שלה בנושא ולא סתם שלפה מהשרוול. לא שלא נתקלתי בהשוואה הזו בעבר, אבל זה גם מעורר מחשבה על ההקבלה בין תקומת מדינת ישראל לבין אותו כיבוש של העולם החדש.
החלק השלישי, המתאר את המציאות החלופית, היה מעניין גם הוא. היה זה בעיקר בגלל ההצצה שהז'אנר מספק למה שיכול היה לקרות בעולם ופחות בגלל העלילה הפרטית של המספר. מצאה חן בעיני ההבחנה שאם מדינת ישראל לא היתה קמה, יתכן כי גם העברית לא היתה מתחדשת. שעשע אותי גם האזכור של המחזאי הווינאי ששמו נשכח ושהיה מעוניין בהקמת מקלט נוסף ליהודים במזרח התיכון. העלילה של המספר גם היתה מעניינת לפרקים אבל כנראה שהאמון שלי בשימור מסורות קצת הקשה עלי להאמין לחלק מהמנהגים שאימצו יהודי אותה אישראל מומצאת, בין אם אלו מנהגים חצי אינדיאנים או אם הם קשורים למקום בו הם חיו.
בכל שלושת החלקים היו מהלכי עלילה מסוימים שנראו לי לא אמינים במיוחד ויכול להיות שהסופרת היתה צריכה אולי להרחיב קצת יותר על מה שהוביל לאירועים האלה כדי שהם יראו יותר סבירים בעיני ולא התנהגות חריגה של הדמויות. בכל מקרה, נראה לי שהעלילה לא היתה מניע מרכזי לכתיבת הספר הזה אם כי אמצעי בלבד להתעסקות במה יכול היה לקרות לו היהודים היו נענים לקריאתו של מרדכי עמנואל נח והשאלות שזה מעורר לגבי ציונות, הקשר של יהודים לארץ ישראל, הזכות של עם לאדמה ועוד אחת מסוימת, ההתנגשות בין אינטרסים של קבוצות אנשים שונות כדי לממש זכויות שכאלה וכד'. אולי זו גם אחת הסיבות שקריאת הספר היתה קצת קשה בעיני, כי בעוד שהשאלות שהספר מעלה הן מעניינות, העלילה שאמורה לשאת אותן לא לגמרי סוחפת. בנוסף, הספר רצוף בפרטים חוזרים שנראה לי שהיו אמורים לסמל משהו. למשל, כתמי קטשופ על תמונות, דמות עיוורת צבעים או ג'יפ צ'רוקי ירוק אלו מוטיבים שחזרו בין הסיפורים השונים. הבעיה היא שלא תמיד הייתי בטוח שהבנתי מה הם אמורים לסמל או אם אלה סתם אמורים להיות רפרנסים חביבים בין חלקי הספר. היו בספר גם כל מיני מילים וביטויים שלא התחברתי אליהם, כמו "חזיונות לא קרואים" או "מה שקדם למה שקדם" שהפריעו לי לשטף הקריאה. חוץ מזה, וזה משהו שלא כ"כ זרם טוב אבל אם הבנתי את הרעיון מאחורי זה אז זה די חביב, היו כל מיני מילים וביטויים (למשל, "שָמקוֹם") שנראה כאילו הם סוג של תרגום מאנגלית לעברית אפילו שהספר נכתב בעברית. יכול להיות שזה אמור היה להיות תוצאה של היות הדמויות אמריקאיות ברובן ולכן הטקסט כאילו תורגם מאנגלית.
בסה"כ אני מרוצה שקראתי את הספר ונראה לי שהוא כן סיפק את מה שחשבתי שאקבל ממנו. לא צפיתי את העיסוק בנושאים רציניים הנוגעים לימינו ולמקומנו במזה"ת, אע"פ שזה מוטיב חשוב בספרי מציאות חלופית טובים, אבל שמחתי שהנושאים האלה עלו.
אני אוהב סיפורי מציאות אלטרנטיבית ומאוד שמחתי לגלות שיש גם אחד כזה שקשור אלי באופן אישי יותר מסיפורים אחרים. אירוע הציר של הספר, רכישת האי הקטן על-מנת שישמש מקלט ליהודי העולם, זה שבעקבות תוצאותיו מתקבלת שנת 2001 אותה הכרנו ושנת 2001 חלופית, לבדו נשמע לי כמו מציאות חלופית. הופתעתי מאוד ושמחתי לגלות שהאירוע הזה אכן קרה. לכן, למרות קוטביות הביקורות החלטתי לקרוא את הספר.
הצטערתי שהחוויה שלי היתה במידה מסוימת דומה לזו של אחרים ובאמת לקח לי זמן עד שנשאבתי מעט לסיפור שבחלק הראשון. הסיפור השתפר לאורך הזמן אבל גם אז לא נסחפתי אליו במיוחד.
החלק השני היה historical fiction והיה מעניין יותר כי נחשפתי בו קצת לתרבויות של שבטים אינדיאנים ולעניין כיבוש אמריקה בידי האירופאים, שני נושאים שעניינו אותי גם לפני כן. ניכר שנאוה סמל השקיעה במחקר שלה בנושא ולא סתם שלפה מהשרוול. לא שלא נתקלתי בהשוואה הזו בעבר, אבל זה גם מעורר מחשבה על ההקבלה בין תקומת מדינת ישראל לבין אותו כיבוש של העולם החדש.
החלק השלישי, המתאר את המציאות החלופית, היה מעניין גם הוא. היה זה בעיקר בגלל ההצצה שהז'אנר מספק למה שיכול היה לקרות בעולם ופחות בגלל העלילה הפרטית של המספר. מצאה חן בעיני ההבחנה שאם מדינת ישראל לא היתה קמה, יתכן כי גם העברית לא היתה מתחדשת. שעשע אותי גם האזכור של המחזאי הווינאי ששמו נשכח ושהיה מעוניין בהקמת מקלט נוסף ליהודים במזרח התיכון. העלילה של המספר גם היתה מעניינת לפרקים אבל כנראה שהאמון שלי בשימור מסורות קצת הקשה עלי להאמין לחלק מהמנהגים שאימצו יהודי אותה אישראל מומצאת, בין אם אלו מנהגים חצי אינדיאנים או אם הם קשורים למקום בו הם חיו.
בכל שלושת החלקים היו מהלכי עלילה מסוימים שנראו לי לא אמינים במיוחד ויכול להיות שהסופרת היתה צריכה אולי להרחיב קצת יותר על מה שהוביל לאירועים האלה כדי שהם יראו יותר סבירים בעיני ולא התנהגות חריגה של הדמויות. בכל מקרה, נראה לי שהעלילה לא היתה מניע מרכזי לכתיבת הספר הזה אם כי אמצעי בלבד להתעסקות במה יכול היה לקרות לו היהודים היו נענים לקריאתו של מרדכי עמנואל נח והשאלות שזה מעורר לגבי ציונות, הקשר של יהודים לארץ ישראל, הזכות של עם לאדמה ועוד אחת מסוימת, ההתנגשות בין אינטרסים של קבוצות אנשים שונות כדי לממש זכויות שכאלה וכד'. אולי זו גם אחת הסיבות שקריאת הספר היתה קצת קשה בעיני, כי בעוד שהשאלות שהספר מעלה הן מעניינות, העלילה שאמורה לשאת אותן לא לגמרי סוחפת. בנוסף, הספר רצוף בפרטים חוזרים שנראה לי שהיו אמורים לסמל משהו. למשל, כתמי קטשופ על תמונות, דמות עיוורת צבעים או ג'יפ צ'רוקי ירוק אלו מוטיבים שחזרו בין הסיפורים השונים. הבעיה היא שלא תמיד הייתי בטוח שהבנתי מה הם אמורים לסמל או אם אלה סתם אמורים להיות רפרנסים חביבים בין חלקי הספר. היו בספר גם כל מיני מילים וביטויים שלא התחברתי אליהם, כמו "חזיונות לא קרואים" או "מה שקדם למה שקדם" שהפריעו לי לשטף הקריאה. חוץ מזה, וזה משהו שלא כ"כ זרם טוב אבל אם הבנתי את הרעיון מאחורי זה אז זה די חביב, היו כל מיני מילים וביטויים (למשל, "שָמקוֹם") שנראה כאילו הם סוג של תרגום מאנגלית לעברית אפילו שהספר נכתב בעברית. יכול להיות שזה אמור היה להיות תוצאה של היות הדמויות אמריקאיות ברובן ולכן הטקסט כאילו תורגם מאנגלית.
בסה"כ אני מרוצה שקראתי את הספר ונראה לי שהוא כן סיפק את מה שחשבתי שאקבל ממנו. לא צפיתי את העיסוק בנושאים רציניים הנוגעים לימינו ולמקומנו במזה"ת, אע"פ שזה מוטיב חשוב בספרי מציאות חלופית טובים, אבל שמחתי שהנושאים האלה עלו.
April 23, 2018
Isra Isle is not terrible, but it isn't what I expected - or wanted - it to be either. Which obviously isn't a sin, but of course doesn't make me give something five stars, either. Based on the jacket copy, you would expect (or I would, anyway) an alternate universe novel about a world where Isra Isle had been a Jewish state, founded in 1825. I mean, the copy literally says that: "this novel poses an alternate history where Jews fleeing persecution did come to Ararat. Over time Isra Isle has evolved into a great-city state, a suburb of Buffalo, becoming the smallest state within the United States. Had history been altered, Israel would not exist and there would have been no Holocaust."
Now, just to be be clear: only one third of the book is about the world described above. The first third takes place in our world, in September 2001. The second third takes place in an imagined version of our world, in 1825. And the final third actually takes place in alternate world of Isra Isle, also in September 2001. (And minor spoiler: hey, if the fact that two thirds of the book take place in Sept 2001 seems to ring a bell with you...) On top of which, let's say it's a more "literary" novel than most alternate world writings: that is to say, it's first person, told in a very lyrical way, that I found somewhat muddled. Now, I get the intention the muddle is sort of the points: an unreliable narrator thing; but it was SO lyrical that it was a bit hard to process sometimes, and my enjoyment suffered.
One final note: the jacket copy also posits that in this alternate world, the Holocaust didn't happen. I'm the grandchild of Jewish survivors of Dachau, and take Holocaust history very seriously, and in the book, they clearly mention that though Jews did not die in the alternate world's WWII, millions of Roma/Gypsies, political prisoners, and developmentally disabled people were still murdered by the Nazis. Even if no Jew died at all, millions of people still perished, and it's the Holocaust. So don't say in that world it didn't happen.
Now, just to be be clear: only one third of the book is about the world described above. The first third takes place in our world, in September 2001. The second third takes place in an imagined version of our world, in 1825. And the final third actually takes place in alternate world of Isra Isle, also in September 2001. (And minor spoiler: hey, if the fact that two thirds of the book take place in Sept 2001 seems to ring a bell with you...) On top of which, let's say it's a more "literary" novel than most alternate world writings: that is to say, it's first person, told in a very lyrical way, that I found somewhat muddled. Now, I get the intention the muddle is sort of the points: an unreliable narrator thing; but it was SO lyrical that it was a bit hard to process sometimes, and my enjoyment suffered.
One final note: the jacket copy also posits that in this alternate world, the Holocaust didn't happen. I'm the grandchild of Jewish survivors of Dachau, and take Holocaust history very seriously, and in the book, they clearly mention that though Jews did not die in the alternate world's WWII, millions of Roma/Gypsies, political prisoners, and developmentally disabled people were still murdered by the Nazis. Even if no Jew died at all, millions of people still perished, and it's the Holocaust. So don't say in that world it didn't happen.
November 6, 2025
When I read a book that I enjoy, I then go looking for other books written by the same author with anticipation and expectation. I enjoyed Fanny and Gabrial so much that I was thrilled to find this other title available in one of my digital libraries.
But then the disappointment is so much greater when the book doesn't reach the same heights. I would classify this book as historical fantasy. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is told from a detective Simon T. Lenox who has been assigned to find a missing Israeli Liam Emanuel. Lenox successfully finds Emanuel who went looking for his inheritance upon the death of his father, Grand Island, an island near Niagara Falls. The second section goes back to 1825 when this 'inheritance' was purchased by Emanuel's forefather with the hopes of establishing a Jewish homeland on this island. It is told from the point of view of an Indian servant who takes Mordecai Manuel Noah to see the land that he has purchased. The third section takes us to an imaginary Isra-Isle established as a Jewish state in the United States in the year 2001. The chapter projects how history might have altered its course if this state had actually come into existence.
Semel tries to hold the novel together by dispersing connecting characters in each of the chapters. There is the running American Indian voice telling the story of this fantasy Jewish endeavor. The first chapter reads much like a Faulkner stream of consciousness. The second chapter keeps referring to Indigenous folklore with attempts to tie it together with Jewish history. The third chapter is told from a male Black Indigenous photographer writing to his gay Jewish lover.
I found very little to recommend in this book. Neither the story line nor the writing style held my attention.
But then the disappointment is so much greater when the book doesn't reach the same heights. I would classify this book as historical fantasy. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is told from a detective Simon T. Lenox who has been assigned to find a missing Israeli Liam Emanuel. Lenox successfully finds Emanuel who went looking for his inheritance upon the death of his father, Grand Island, an island near Niagara Falls. The second section goes back to 1825 when this 'inheritance' was purchased by Emanuel's forefather with the hopes of establishing a Jewish homeland on this island. It is told from the point of view of an Indian servant who takes Mordecai Manuel Noah to see the land that he has purchased. The third section takes us to an imaginary Isra-Isle established as a Jewish state in the United States in the year 2001. The chapter projects how history might have altered its course if this state had actually come into existence.
Semel tries to hold the novel together by dispersing connecting characters in each of the chapters. There is the running American Indian voice telling the story of this fantasy Jewish endeavor. The first chapter reads much like a Faulkner stream of consciousness. The second chapter keeps referring to Indigenous folklore with attempts to tie it together with Jewish history. The third chapter is told from a male Black Indigenous photographer writing to his gay Jewish lover.
I found very little to recommend in this book. Neither the story line nor the writing style held my attention.
November 24, 2024
3.5 stars (I might still change my mind and make it 4) — a very interesting alternative history of the United States which in reality may or may not have worked, and which may or may not have stopped (or at least eased?) the suffering of many people. I wish the author had made the second part longer though.
October 21, 2017
A fantastically interesting premise - what if the Jews had actually settled on Grand Island in the Niagara River? A disappointing rendering of the premise. The characters are neither compelling nor good narrators. I had hoped for better.
Read
December 25, 2021I wanted to love this book but I couldn’t get absorbed in the story. I didn’t care about any of the characters.
August 21, 2017
One of my all time favorite books is "The Yiddish Policeman's Union". I adored this book. The idea, the humor, the writing, the characters. With this in mind, the idea of another take on the Wondering Jew" ("where are we now and when will they tell us to leave) was a delight to discover. No it wasn't. And perhaps it was the translation. In trying to squeeze so many roads into a destination, Semel didn't go anywhere. And the story of Liam Emmanuel had a false start and I simply did not have the patience to continue. It is indeed based on fact - and Michael Chabon probably could have run with it as part of a series on places they tried to put us. I would give it another go in a better translation. Because I have no Hebrew - I can't read the original. I suspect though, it may have lost in the translation - if I find it again in another translation, I will absolutly try it again. I love the idea.
June 15, 2017
This book was so amazing that I am still thinking what to say. Alternative history: it was never my thing, but of course it is a thing, and in this case, a really good thing. Could it be my new thing? As is becoming clear, I am too excited to write clearly.
2nd reading: Yup. Liked it enough to include in EGL 265 this term; some students could handle it while others got lost (week 10). So interesting formally that I will include it again next term in EGL 101 -- three movements from 9/11 thrill-mystery to 1825 historical fiction to 20?? alt fantasy. Lots to work with.
3rd reading: Intro to Fic context -- completely different from a Jewish studies context. Weak writers merely focused on first book. Last week of classes is so difficult.
2nd reading: Yup. Liked it enough to include in EGL 265 this term; some students could handle it while others got lost (week 10). So interesting formally that I will include it again next term in EGL 101 -- three movements from 9/11 thrill-mystery to 1825 historical fiction to 20?? alt fantasy. Lots to work with.
3rd reading: Intro to Fic context -- completely different from a Jewish studies context. Weak writers merely focused on first book. Last week of classes is so difficult.
October 13, 2016
A unique novel that takes an actual historical fact and builds an intriguing what-if scenario around it, combining Jewish and Native American cultures. A bit confusing at times, with its stream-of-consciousness style, but fascinating, entertaining, and thought-provoking.
August 23, 2017
3.5 stars - feeling really conflicted about whether to round down or up, so I'll be generous. As with a lot of people, the first part took a while but grew on me, the second was gorgeous, and the third (the actual "alternate history" that I'd heard so much about, not so much.
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