A recent book from a Northern California author. See information below.
Dr. Yaffa Weisman, Director The Frances-Henry Library Adjunct Associate Professor Modern Jewish Studies HUC-JIR, Los Angeles www.huc.edu/libraries/la 213-765-2170 Oakland, CaliforniaThe Measure of His Grief has barely hit the shelves, and it's already stirring up controversy. That's because male circumcisiona topic that most often generates either sophomoric jokes or shrill rhetoricis at the center of this thought-provoking contemporary literary novel by local author Lisa Braver Moss. The novel, released by Notim Press on November 1st, weaves medical and religious information into the compelling story of Dr. Sandy Waldman, a Jewish physician in Berkeley who finds himself waging a campaign against the one Jewish tradition that's still observed even in the most iconoclastic of towns and among the most assimilated of Jews: circumcision. The son of Holocaust survivors, Sandy cannot turn his back on his heritage; he must find a way to reconcile his anti-circumcision stand with his Jewish identity. But the more Sandy learns, the more startled he is by what he finds: the tissue lost to circumcision is highly erogenous; circumcisions as practiced today are far more radical than they were in Biblical times; and around the world, tens of thousands of men are currently engaged in the astonishing, but underreported, enterprise of foreskin "restoration." Told from alternating viewpoints, the book interlaces Sandy's journey with that of his wife, Ruth, an innovative nutritionist and cookbook author who will lose patience as Sandy lives and breathes the circumcision issue, and of their college-aged daughter, Amy, who must grapple with a bid for contact from her incarcerated birth father just as she's trying to sort out her future. Sandy immerses himself in Jewish study, but fails to grasp the extent to which he's jeopardizing both marriage and career with his anti-circumcision activism. Could foreskin "restoration" be Sandy's ticket to redemptionhis way to win back Ruth, regain his equilibrium, come to terms with his heritage? The first novel ever to tackle the male circumcision controversy, The Measure of His Grief is also the author's first work of fiction. It will appeal not only to Jewish readers, but to anyone looking for an entertaining readand thoughtful inquiry into how tradition intersects with modern sensibilities. THE MEASURE OF HIS GRIEF a novel Lisa Braver Moss $14.95 Paperback ISBN 978-1453720257 5.25 x 8 352 pages NOTIM PRESS Publication Date: November 1, 2010 http://www.lisabravermoss.com Lisa Braver Moss is the author of Celebrating Family: Our Lifelong Bonds with Parents and Siblings. Her work has appeared in Tikkun, Parents, and the S.F. Chronicle. Her collection of short essays, "I'm Not Impressed," appears in the Piedmont Post and on lisabravermoss.wordpress.com. A Berkeley native, she still lives in the area. The Measure of His Grief is her first novel. www.lisabravermoss.com NOTIM PRESS 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 30, Oakland, California 94612 (510) 931-6284 # # # # # here: The Measure of His Grief --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
