My Mother's Son

Starred review from February 15, 2018

Everyone lies when they're telling family stories, particularly when they're speaking to children. This is what Joel, the narrator of this fascinating debut by a pseudonymous author discovers as he matures. In the memories of his childhood in post-World War II Boston, Joel recalls friends and relatives who are not quite what they appeared to be. His Jewish, Italian, and Irish neighbors are all interested in making a living, much of it illegally by cooking the books, betting on sure winners at the track, or fixing elections. They use Joel and his brother to deliver messages to the appropriate individuals. Later, as Joel grows up and becomes a popular radio storyteller, he learns the truth about his family and friends, who they really were, and what they actually did to survive. VERDICT In recalling the polio epidemic of the 1950s, the Korean War, Holocaust memories, the relocation of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee, and the election of John F. Kennedy, Hirshberg offers us a glimpse of the past through the eyes of a young boy moving into his teens. This amazing mosaic of fact and fiction will hold readers in its grip from the first to last page.--Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2018
Two Jewish boys grow up in 1950s Boston.Joel and his older brother, Steven, are the grandsons of a Jewish fixer they call Papa, and the boys quickly become involved in the not-quite-legal activities that comprise the family business. Papa takes bets on horses, elections, and the fate of the Boston Braves, soon to be the ex-Boston Braves. Joel and Steven may not understand all that goes on around them, but that doesn't stop them from trying. There's also the mystery of their Uncle Jake, who escaped Germany just after Kristallnacht, and their Auntie Rose, who falls into a period of grief every November, like clockwork. Auntie Rose's old diary entries pepper the narrative, but the boys can't seem to make her story, or Uncle Jake's, add up. This is Hirshberg's first novel, and it's an ambitious one. Philip Roth's influence is plain in the attempt to capture mid-20th-century Jewish life in the city (though Hirshberg has Boston where Roth had Newark) as well as the legacy of the Holocaust and the trials and tribulations of various characters whose lives become irretrievably intertwined. Unfortunately, Hirshberg doesn't have Roth's ease for storytelling, and his novel doesn't hang together. The three main threads of the plot--Uncle Jake and Auntie Rose's mystery; the fate of the Braves; and the election of a congressman destined to become the first Catholic president of the United States--never come together. Worse, the writing is stuffed with clichés, minor characters are hard to keep straight, and the novel's whole frame--Joel, set to retire from his career as a radioman, looks back on his childhood--seems entirely unnecessary. Hirshberg would do well to drop Roth's influence and see where his own imagination takes him.An ambitious attempt that ultimately fails to tell a moving, never mind coherent, story.

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July 1, 2018

On the eve of his retirement from his radio show, Joel recalls his youth as a 10-year old growing up in post-World War II Boston; his older brother, Steven; important adults in his life; and events that impacted his world. The Korean War, the polio epidemic, and the Boston Braves all affected his childhood. Highly evocative of a time and place, Hirshberg's detailed narrative vividly depicts 1950s Jewish family life and kids' freedom to move throughout the city. Meanwhile, Joel looks back with an awareness of how adults communicated their versions of the truth. Short chapters propel the plot and range from the serious ("Kristalnacht, they said, they all knew about Kristalnacht," about Uncle Jake and Auntie Rose's escape from Nazi Germany) to the lighthearted ("Serendipity is an instrument that we can never learn to play"). VERDICT Give to teens who gravitate toward in-depth historical fiction.-Hillary St. George, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2018
Hirshberg's debut novel packs both emotional punch and a vivid portrait of Jewish American life in post-WWII Boston. A retiring radio comedian reminisces on his childhood, fitting himself into the larger picture of a Jewish immigrant family and focusing on one year, 1953, as a turning point in his coming-of-age. Family characteristics help define the shape Joel's world takes, from his mother's ace of spades pronouncements through his father's nose for numbers and his Auntie Rose's dream of becoming a circus performer. Away from home, Joel and brother Steven navigate the larger world with buddies Noodge Mauer, Myandrew, and Frankie, realizing that grown-ups don't always tell the whole truth. Richly recounted incidents?a seemingly innocent scheme delivering envelopes of money, the death of a neighbor in Korea, Uncle Jake and Auntie Rose's tale of a Kristallnacht escape?come together to form a sense of American life at a particular historical moment. Who you become, the author suggests, is an amalgam of who you know and the stories you assimilate. Readers will find connections here to Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) and to Saul Bellow's classic The Adventures of Augie March (1953).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)