The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield
A novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield is an often laugh-out-loud comedy of conflicting manners, values, and customs, set against the backdrop of a Russian immigrant family’s struggle to assimilate, their newfound love of capitalism, and their insistent push for their children's tangible success. Emma Kaulfield escaped the Soviet Union in the 1980s when she was 10--hers was one of the last Jewish families to be let out. Now a gorgeous young woman, going to grad school at NYU, chaffing at the cultural restraints of her heritage, Emma is engaged to someone just like her--a handsome young Russian Jew--but then a steamy encounter with a stranger in a restaurant bathroom turns into a torrid love affair. She wrestles with what she knows she should do (career vs. art); who she should love (one of her own vs. the exotic temptation), to remain loyal to her family, her people--after all they have suffered--or cut ties and defy those who love her. The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield builds in power and suspense, easily becoming an all-night binge read, impossible to put down. Fishbeyn’s debut novel is sexy, hilarious, heartbreaking, and breathtaking.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's difficult to determine whether Fishbeyn's doorstop debut is intended to be a diverting contemporary romance or a melodramatic polemic against anti-Semitism. The first-person narrative of Russian Jewish migr Emma reveals a self-indulgent navel-gazer who is both grandiloquent and romantic. The romantic part withers a bit when her interfering grandmother sets her up with the ostensibly perfect match: Alexei Bagdanovich, who's a Russian Jew, a Princeton man, and determined to remain chaste until marriage. That's not exactly ideal for this newly minted American feminist who shed her birth name, Lena Kabelmacher, quicker than you could say "Emma Kaulfield." Liberated as she professes to be, behind Emma's American face lurk Lena's roots. As she indulges in a no-strings affair with dashing gentile Eddie Beltrafio, the voices of her ancestors nibble away at her so-called liberated resolve. Occasional laugh-out-loud moments provide respite from the avalanche of angsty, guilt-heavy, conscience-cleansing prose.