The Bridesman
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From one of the most important voices in contemporary Hebrew literature, the gripping story of a reunion between two family members that brings back a long-forgotten past and reveals secrets that will change their lives forever.
Micha, an Israeli expat in Los Angeles working as a ghostwriter, receives an unexpected invitation. Adella, married to his beloved uncle, has bought him a ticket to Israel and booked a boutique hotel, so that he can return home and meet with her.
Years before, Micha was the bridesman at Adella’s wedding. He remembers her as a rebellious young woman, and orphan and an outsider, who was mocked by his close-knit family of Persian Jews. Micha is stunned by the Adella of today–poised, confident, with nothing of the uneasy woman he remembers from the past. When finally Adella reveals the true story of her life, powerful memories resurface in Micha, although nothing can prepare him for the surprise she has in store for him…
The Bridesman presents a beguiling cast of characters, whose stories are interwoven into a gripping and moving tale about family, place, and the unceasing power of the past to reshape our lives and identity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Los Angeles–based ghostwriter revisits his past in Israel in the elegant if uneventful latest from Liebrecht (Apples from the Desert). As a nine-year-old boy, Micha is the only member of his family to befriend Adella, 18, the arranged bride for his Uncle Moshe. The kindly Moshe is handsome but a bit of a nebbish, and the owlish, bespectacled young woman was far from the family's first choice. To Micha's surprise, Adella selects him to be her bridesman. He accepts, and his mother is outraged when she learns Adella tried on her wedding dress in front of him. Two years later, Micha moves to Los Angeles with his mother to join his father. In the second part, set 24 years after Micha left Israel, Adella invites Micha back. The reason isn't clear, but he assumes it's because she knows he's a writer and wants him to help tell her life story. Micha's bubble is burst, though, after Adella recounts her experiences since he left the country as well as her version of the time they spent together. With subtlety and grace, Liebrecht depicts how his characters fashion the narratives of their lives out of experiences they don't understand. This wisp of a story somehow leaves readers with plenty to chew on.
