The Lost Family

Starred review from April 1, 2018
The devastation wrought by the Holocaust haunts a chef and his second family.Blum's (The Stormchasers, 2010, etc.) third novel is all about the occasionally dire consequences of seemingly innocuous choices. It has three sections, told successively from the third-person vantage point of New York chef Peter, his supermodel wife, June, and their teenage daughter, Elsbeth. Peter, a German-Jewish émigré and a survivor of Auschwitz, deeply regrets not having heeded warnings to get his parents, wife, and twin daughters out of Germany before it was too late. In the United States, he throws himself into running his restaurant, Masha's, named after his wife, who disappeared, along with their daughters, during a Nazi roundup. Although Masha's gains a modicum of acclaim (kudos from Craig Claiborne and regular patronage by Walter Cronkite), it ultimately falls victim to a clash between Peter and his wealthy cousin, Sol, his primary investor and only living relative. June, 19 years Peter's junior, marries him on impulse and gives up her career, although her fame was approaching that of Twiggy. She grows frustrated trying to pierce Peter's adamantine reserve and rebels with "women's lib" consciousness-raising sessions and an affair with a Vietnam vet. She's on the verge of leaving the marriage when Peter suffers a heart attack and must give up work. Elsbeth deals with weight issues, bulimia, her constant comparison of her looks with her mother's, her father's sudden decline, and her infatuation with a roué photographer in the Mapplethorpe mold. One of the principal pleasures here is the accurate period window dressing of mid-1960s New York City, '70s New Jersey, and the '80s Manhattan punk world. The writing, evocative yet unassuming, conveys the interiority of the characters, even the minor ones, elevating them beyond the stereotypical. The emphasis here is on not on Nazi atrocities, which are only hinted at, but on surviving the banality of domineering relatives, bad marital choices, suburban mores, and body-image woes.An unsentimental, richly detailed study of loss and its legacy.

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Starred review from June 18, 2018
Blum (Those Who Save Us) examines the second family of a Holocaust survivor—his restless, ex-supermodel wife and their troubled teenage daughter—in this crisp vision of how seemingly random choices test love, loyalty, and survival. Peter is haunted by his failure to save his wife and twin daughters from death in Nazi Germany. Years later, in 1965, he rises to success as a celebrated chef in New York City with the help of illegal funds from cousin Sol. June gives up her career as a model to marry Peter and later raise their only child, Elsbeth, but then begins to doubt her suburban life—and the emotionally distant Peter—amid the women’s liberation movement in 1975. Elsbeth, though pampered and privileged, throws herself into the drug-fueled, punk-populated New York City art world in 1985 to find the recognition and love she craves, risking her life through starvation to be the muse of photographer Julian. Blum avoids the sap of happy endings and easy resolutions in this perfect encapsulation of the changing times and turbulence of mid- and late-20th-century America. Her story of a family struggling to tell the truth to one another—and to themselves—is bolstered by memorable characters, to whom readers will become attached.

Starred review from April 15, 2018
Nazis came for them on a Saturday?the day Peter Raskin lost his wife, two little girls, and his freedom. Peter's nightmare of being rounded up haunts him even 40 years later. He can't talk about Auschwitz or his family, although he owns a successful Manhattan restaurant, Masha's, named after his lost wife, and he cooks obsessively, with a gleam in his eye. Eventually, he meets the lovely June Bouquet; they marry and have a child, Elsbeth, and life looks good. But the shadow of Peter's wartime experiences affects his new family in subtle ways, eroding the bond between them. In the three sections of this gripping novel, Blum, author of Those Who Save Us (2004), displays her keen eye for character with an intense focus on Peter, June, and Elsbeth over decades of silence, transferred emotions, and interactions with others. Blum dramatizes the lingering effects of the war through the intertwining stories of families past and present, personalizing the themes of survivor guilt and shame but also injecting surprising glimpses of humor and hope. Each unforgettable character in this deeply moving novel brings new meaning to the familiar phrase never forget. Elie Wiesel's A Mad Desire to Dance (2009) and Michael Chabon's Moonglow (2016) also share similar themes, depth of character, and a sense of hope in the face of tragic loss.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from April 1, 2018

The Holocaust haunts Peter Rashkin. He owns a popular restaurant in 1965 New York; however, he hides the tattoo on his arm and the scars on his body and will not speak about his first wife, Masha, and twin daughters who were Hitler's victims while he survived. But when he meets a young model named June, Peter lowers his guard and begins a courtship. Yet over the next 20 years, his secret guilt destroys the new life he tries to make with June and their daughter, Elsbeth. Blum (Those Who Save Us) again skillfully explores the endless nightmares and pain of Holocaust survivors. Her sensitive depiction of Peter and his new family demonstrates how love doesn't always conquer all. She also shows how being kept in the dark about family secrets may lead to poor decisions on the part of those who want to know what happened but are unable to discover the truth. VERDICT This exquisitely crafted and compassionate novel offers a lesson in honesty, regardless of how difficult the truth may be. It will offer plenty of discussion for book groups. [See Prepub Alert, 12/1/17.]--Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2018

In 1960s Manhattan, everyone loves Masha's, but owner/chef Peter is a Holocaust survivor who resists personal involvement until in walks beautiful June Bouquet.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.