Dissident Gardens

May 20, 2013
While collective memory might offer some hazy grasp of McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklists, all but forgotten is the real American Communist Party and its Depression-era heyday. In this epic and complex new novel, Lethem considers what happened to the ACP, as well as some other questions, about maternal isolation and filial resentment. The book begins with the case of Rose Zimmer, in Queens, New York, who was officially ousted from the party in 1955 for sleeping with a black cop. Rose’s daughter, Miriam, is a teenager at the time, and she soon discovers the pull of Greenwich Village bohemians. Rose’s and Miriam’s stories are interwoven, as the narrative moves back and forth in time, uncovering Rose’s doomed relationships, as well as Miriam’s fiery determination to escape her mother’s rage. Miriam’s son, Sergius, also comes into the story—as a child and an adult, juxtaposing three generations—along with Cicero Lookins, the son of Rose’s black cop boyfriend, an unexpected member of the family by proxy and the most interesting character of the book by far. Cicero formed an unexpected relationship with the bitter, Jewish woman as a kid, and, in turn, became a beneficiary of her intellect. All together, the cast makes for a heady, swirly mix of fascinating, lonely people. Lethem’s writing, as always, packs a witty punch. The epoch each character inhabits is artfully etched and the book is as illuminating of 20th-century American history as it is of the human burden of overcoming alienation. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME Entertainment.

A dysfunctional family embodies a dysfunctional epoch, as the novelist continues his ambitious journey through decades, generations and the boroughs of New York. Having scaled the literary peaks of Motherless Brooklyn (1999) and the Chronic City (2009) of Manhattan, one of America's premier novelists sets his sights on Queens, though the title of the opening section, "Boroughphobia," suggests that this is a place to escape--or at least for a daughter to escape from her mother. The mother is Jewish, strong-willed, contrarian Rose Zimmer, a Communist booted from the cell because of her relationship with a black policeman. ("Everyone thought it was an affair between Jew and black but it wasn't. It was between cop and Commie.") Her husband had returned to Germany as a suspected spy, leaving Rose to raise Miriam, a red-diaper baby transformed by the '60s, a "Bolshevik of the five senses" who became irresistibly sexy, "not for her bodily self but for her appetite: she devoured the ripe fruit of the world." The setup of this novel is so frequently funny that it reads like homage to classic Philip Roth, yet the book, like the end of the 20th century, takes a darker turn, as hippie naivete leads to more dangerous activism, illusions shatter, and old age takes its toll. Following "the unashamed homosexual bacchanal that had become possible in the historical margin between Stonewall and disease," funerals would supplant parties as social gatherings. The novel's social realism finds '60s folk fixtures such as Dave Van Ronk and the Rev. Gary Davis mixing with Miriam and her eventual husband, Tommy Grogan, a musician who moves from a traditional Irish family trio to protest songs, a career eclipsed (like so many others) by the rise of Bob Dylan. But it also features Archie Bunker (if only in Rose's mind) and a devastating record review by P.K. Tooth (from Chronic City, in tribute here to the late Paul Nelson). In "a city gone berserk," pretty much every character struggles with identity, destiny and family. Not Lethem's tightest novel, but a depth of conviction underlies its narrative sprawl. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2013
Lethem extends his stylistically diverse, loosely aligned, deeply inquiring saga of New York City (Motherless Brooklyn, 1999; The Fortress of Solitude, 2003; Chronic City, 2009) with a richly saturated, multigenerational novel about a fractured family of dissidents headquartered in Queens. It's 1955, and witty, voluble, passionate Rose Zimmeran Eastern European Jew, worshipper of Abraham Lincoln, and street-patrolling leftisthas outraged her communist comrades by having an affair with Douglas Lookins, an African American policeman. She, in turn, is wrathful when she catches Miriam, her smart and gutsy15-year-old daughter, in bed with a college student. Lethem circles among his tempestuous narrators and darts back and forth in time, landing on historical hot spots as he traces the paths of radical Rose; Douglas' brainy, skeptical son, Cicero, who becomes an audacious college professor; intrepid Miriam, who marries a folksinger desperately searching for authenticity, and their woebegone son, Sergius, who is led astray by a sexy Occupier. Lethem is breathtaking in this torrent of potent voices, searing ironies, pop-culture allusions, and tragicomic complexities. He shreds the folk scene, eviscerates quiz shows, pays bizarre tribute to Archie Bunker, and offers unusual perspectives on societal debacles and tragic injustices. A righteous, stupendously involving novel about the personal toll of failed political movements and the perplexing obstacles to doing good. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Best-selling Lethem will tour the country with this provocative novel in sync with numerous media appearances and lots of press coverage, all supported by print and online advertising.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2013

Lethem is the quintessential Brooklynite, so it's intriguing to learn that the setting of his latest title is mainly Sunnyside Gardens, a planned community in New York's borough of Queens. The time is the 1950s and 1960s, the characters include three generations of American leftists, and the theme is the disillusionment that can come with fervent belief. Intensely anticipated--even the cover has received coverage.

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Starred review from July 1, 2013

Rose Zimmer, an unreconstructed communist who torments her neighbors in Sunnyside Gardens, NY, and daughter Miriam, a strong-willed political activist who shares her mother's misplaced ideology but rejects her influence, instead forging her own way in the subculture of Greenwich Village, are the central characters in this stunning new novel by Brooklyn-based Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn). Miriam marries Irish folksinger Tommy Gogan, and their confounded son, Sergius, becomes a third-generation radical. Rose is married to Albert, a German Jew, but has an affair with a black policeman, an act that threatens her Communist Party connection. Among the novel's other unforgettable characters are Lenny Angrush, Rose's good-for-nothing nephew, and Cicero Lookins, the brainy son of her lover. Spanning several major events--from 1930s McCarthyism through the recent Occupy Wall Street movement--and featuring an imaginative nonlinear time sequence so that the novel's particulars arrive at unexpected moments, this work is a moving, hilarious satire of American ideology and utopian dreams, but, most of all, it's about love. VERDICT Sure to be a hit among fans of satirical novels, especially of a political nature; Lethem enthusiasts may find this to be his best yet. Very highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 3/25/13.]--Lisa Block, Atlanta

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.