Book Review: People of the Book: A Decade of Jewish Science Fiction & Fantasy edited by Rachel Swirsky & Sean Wallace
One of the perils of reading a lot of anthologies is that you see a fair amount of overlap in stories, particularly in themed anthologies. (I include “Best of the Year” in that as there tend to be multiple Best Ofs each year.) This anthology tries to mitigate it a bit by limiting itself to newer works by Jewish writers, between 2000 and 2010, instead of relying on the classics. Thus we have twenty relatively fresh stories to savor.
“Burning Beard: The Dreams and Visions of Joseph ben Jacob, Lord Viceroy of Egypt” by Rachel Pollack opens the volume with a retelling of the tale from Genesis. Joseph has the gift of prophecy and interpreting dreams, but this is not always or even usually a boon to him. He sees visions of his successor Moses, and what it portends for the people of Joseph.
“The History Within Us” by Matthew Kressel concerns one of the last humans in the galaxy, if not the last one, preparing to be sucked into a black hole. This is part of a project to seed the new universe to come with some of the information and history gained in the old one. (Which is collapsing early because humans weaponize everything.) Betsy carries the memories of her family all the way back to the Twentieth Century, but is she their caretaker, or their prisoner?
This collection is heavier on fantasy than science fiction, and the latter tends to “alternate history.”
Some stories I really liked: “The Tsar’s Dragons” by Jane Yolen, in which the seeds of the Russian Revolution are looked at with the metaphor of dragons for political power. “Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel” by Peter S. Beagle, about a painter and the angel who becomes his model, somewhat unwillingly (and is one of the most optimistic stories in the book despite the suffering included.)
“The Problem with Susan” by Neil Gaiman features a dying literature professor whose life has parallels to Susan Pevensie from C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books. Or she may actually be Susan or the inspiration for the character; that’s left deliberately vague. It has an intensely dissatisfying ending, which I understand is deliberate. This is the only story in the volume with no direct mention of Jews or Judaism–I have to wonder if it was included just to have a Gaiman story?
Ones I didn’t like so much: “Fidelity: A Primer” by Michael Blumlein is about a father’s decision not to have one of his twin sons circumcised. It might be magical realism, if you squint at it sideways, but seems mostly pointless. The Michael Chabon story about golems weaves his actual life story in with what are presumably fanciful inventions, and runs far too long for the subject for my tastes.
Content notes: Unsurprisingly, some of the stories mention/are set in the Holocaust, with all that entails. One story has torture as a central plot point.
Overall, a solid anthology with some top-notch talent and a couple of clunkers. Well worth picking up if you enjoy literature with Jewish themes.
