The Shiksa Syndrome

June 16, 2008
In the winning latest from chick lit–ster Graff (Looking for Mr. Goodfrog
), Manhattan publicist Aimee Albert, who is Jewish and whose first love, Sam, died during 9/11, has just split with her goy boyfriend Peter McKnight. Desperate for a Jewish husband and children reared in the faith, Aimee, relying on an imagined Jewish male penchant for non-Jewish women (shiksas), loses mega poundage on a “Depression Diet,” straightens and dyes her dark hair red, pops in green contacts and becomes a Shiksa Barbie. Gentile co-worker Krista Dowd drags the new Aimee to a Jewish mixer, where Krista hooks up with Matt Goldman, a Jewish CPA, and Aimee meets GQ-cute Josh Hirsch, who runs LoveLoaves, a lucrative family business, and who only dates shiksas. For her part, Aimee soon discovers how lies can escalate into self-destruction and self-enlightenment. Graff's prose crackles with winning wit, making her potentially annoying conceit go down like a chocolate-covered macaroon.

August 15, 2008
Graff ("You Have To Kiss a Lot of Frogs") introduces us to 39-year-old publicist Aimee Albert, whose goyish boyfriend, Peter, breaks up with her when she asks if he could give up Christmas and raise kids in the Jewish tradition. Not wanting to hold her back, Peter lovingly ends things, and a depressed and disillusioned Aimee takes on her brother's offer for a makeover, inadvertently transforming herself into a shiksa. Her long, wavy, brown hair is cut, straightened, and dyed red, and her brown eyes are covered with green-tinted contacts. This new image is exactly what Josh Hirsch is drawn to at a kosher wine tasting, and he anxiously thinks Aimee is not Jewish. Realizing his mistake, Aimee does not correct him and proceeds to embrace all the stereotypes that seemingly make someone not Jewish. In this quest to reinvent herself, she destroys everything that makes her who she really is. Readers will enjoy Aimee's chance to rediscover herself and to recognize what she truly values. Recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 6/1/08.]Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2008
So does it really take a shiksa to get a Jewish man? Jewish Aimee Albert inadvertently finds out for herself. After she breaks up with her non-Jewish boyfriend, her family arranges for a makeover. Gone is the curly dark hair and glasses; in comessleek, straight red hair andgreen contacts. When Aimee meets her non-Jewish friend Krista at a kosher wine tasting for Jewish singles, she meets handsome Josh Hirsch. Josh is under the impression that Aimee is not Jewish, so Aimee encourages this misconception, pretending to be a Protestant from Scranton instead of a native Jewish New Yorker. The lie begins to consume her as she removes every Jewish element from her apartment and her life. She knowsthis is wrong, but she is approaching 40 and must have a Jewish husband. But is itworth abandoning her Jewish roots to attain him? Graffs latest is by turns funny and poignant as she explores religious identityand modern relationships and findsthat sometimes Mr. Wrong may be more right than Mr. Right.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)