Goyhood (Zoom)
NOTE: DIFFERENT DATE, TIME, & ON ZOOM
Monday, July 14, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Author Reuven Fenton will speak about his novel Goyhood. Two estranged brothers from Georgia, one a yeshiva student in Brooklyn and the other leading an irreligious lifestyle, are brought together by an unsettling revelation about their identities. This Jewish comedy of errors is part coming-of-age story, part romp through the Southern U.S., and part serious exploration of identity, lies, and brotherly love. Register for Zoom
Have You Seen Luis Valez?
Saturday, August 9, 12:45 – 2:00 p.m.
“Raymond Jaffe feels like he doesn’t belong. Not with his mother’s new family. Not as a weekend guest with his father and his father’s wife. Not at school, where he’s an outcast. After his best friend moves away, Raymond has only two real connections: to the feral cat he’s tamed and to a blind ninety-two-year-old woman in his building who’s introduced herself with a curious question: Have you seen Luis Velez? Mildred Gutermann, a German Jew who narrowly escaped the Holocaust, has been alone since her caretaker disappeared. She turns to Raymond for help, and as he tries to track Luis down, a deep and unexpected friendship blossoms between the two. Despondent at the loss of Luis, Mildred isolates herself further from a neighborhood devolving into bigotry and fear. Determined not to let her give up, Raymond helps her see that for every terrible act the world delivers, there is a mirror image of deep kindness, and Mildred helps Raymond see that there’s hope if you have someone to hold on to.”–Back cover. By Catherine Hyde, led by Betty Becker