My Goodreads and Amazon review of Kantika by Elizabeth Graver (Rating 4) – A Serenade to Sephardic Immigrants. The story of Rebecca in Kantika (“sing” in Ladino) by Elizabeth Graver, is an usual take on the American Jewish experience, that of a Sephardic Jew from Turkey (via Spain) rather than an Ashkenazi Jew from Eastern Europe. The book honors the author’s own immigrant ancestors. In the Torah (Old Testament), Rebecca is a beautiful young woman who has the courage to leave her homeland and venture into unknown territory to marry the equally unknown, but troubled, Isaac. She becomes the “decider,” the leaders of her generation, guaranteeing her people’s future. So too does this early twentieth century Rebecca, a young widow with two boys, David and Alberto, cross an ocean to marry Sam, a widower with a daughter, Luna, whose disabilities — the result of cerebral palsy — are more severe than Rebecca has been led to believe. Arriving in a chaotic household, and determined to succeed, Rebecca takes charge. Her painstaking (painful) yet undeterred efforts to teach her severely physically handicapped, but mentally sharp, stepdaughter Luna are moving. Strong-willed but well matched combatants, both emerge victorious. Luna achieves independence and personhood while Rebecca achieves grudging respect and acceptance as her mother. The early part of the book is occasionally bogged down by the author’s exposition on Sephardic Jewish culture. Later in the book, as Graver introduces other narrative voices and points of view, important information is missing. For example, after much is made of how and when her two boys can join her, the narrative advances three years without readers learning how they got to America and what their reunion with their mother was like. As a writer of historical fiction myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I know the importance of including that information selectively and organically in the narrative. At times, Graver includes either too much or too little. The passages from Luna’s point of view are absorbing, those from David less so. I missed hearing Rebecca’s voice which, when it finally returns, sounds diminished. Graver’s choice to pass the narrative to the next generation mirrors the immigrant experience, but the book loses its force. Those reservations aside, Kantika is a rich and engaging story of multiple and often conflicting identities. The biblical Rebecca and Kantika’s Rebecca each arrive in a new land and earn the mantle of matriarch. Graver persuades us that we are indebted to their creative vision and their no-nonsense strength.
An homage to Graver’s immigrant ancestors
Why writers read: “Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” – Malorie Blackman
