by Allegra Goodman
Allegra Goodman wrote her first book when she was 7 years old, earning a profile in her hometown Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Now 31, she has been winning favorable notices ever since—and for good reason. While other writers her age seem stuck on tales of dating and nightclubs, Goodman has taken on—in her much praised 1996 collection, The Family Markowitz, and now in her first novel—such broader themes as religion, family and a woman's place in society. In Kaaterskill Falls, she re-creates a summer retreat in New York's Catskill Mountains in the late '70s. The story centers on Elizabeth Schulman, a young Orthodox Jewish mother who chafes against the confines of her deeply religious community even as she acknowledges the warmth and security it offers her. It is a carefully observed and haunting novel. Like the late Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, Goodman wrings ineffable strands of passion from the quietest of hopes and disappointments. (Dial, $23.95)
Bottom Line: Refreshing debut novel from a writer wise beyond her years
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