THE BOOK FAIR

Review:

Andrew Kane’s comprehensive novel addresses racism, bigotry, race relations, community relations, personal responsibility and love.  Kane’s story, well paced and well plotted reveals the effects of deep seated hatreds and the injustices of mob mentality and rabble rousing.  Kane, in the novel, allows no ethnic group a special place above another, as all men, of any color or any nationality or any religion, can harbor prejudice.   The author hosts a various cast of characters, believable and realistic, from hard working immigrants, to street thugs, who move through the novel with deliberation and ease.

In the early 1960’s, Joshua Eubanks, a young Black boy, moves from a poor Black neighborhood, to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in New York.  Rachel Weissman, resides in Crown Heights, the daughter of a poor, but respected, Rabbi.  Paul Sims, a secular Jew, from a wealthy family, joins the religious community in Crown Heights.  The story centers on the three primary characters relationships to each other, to their communities and to their families.   The beautifully written novel flows quickly, and offers passionate, descriptive images of the racial tensions during the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s in New York.  Recommended.