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THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU
THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU
BY JOSHUA HENKIN
ABOUT THE BOOK:
It’s July 4, 2005, and the Frankel family is descending upon their beloved summer home in the Berkshires. But this is no ordinary holiday. The family has gathered to memorialize Leo, the youngest of the four siblings, an intrepid journalist and adventurer who was killed on that day in 2004, while on assignment in Iraq.
The parents, Marilyn and David, are adrift in grief. Their forty-year marriage is falling apart. Clarissa, the eldest sibling and a former cello prodigy, has settled into an ambivalent domesticity and is struggling at age thirty-nine to become pregnant. Lily, a fiery-tempered lawyer and the family contrarian, is angry at everyone. And Noelle, whose teenage years were shadowed by promiscuity and school expulsions, has moved to Jerusalem and become a born-again Orthodox Jew. The last person to see Leo alive, Noelle has flown back for the memorial with her husband and four children, but she feels entirely out of place. And Thisbe —Leo’s widow and mother of their three-year-old son—has come from California bearing her own secret.
Set against the backdrop of Independence Day and the Iraq War, The World Without You is a novel about sibling rivalries and marital feuds, about volatile women and silent men, and, ultimately, about the true meaning of family.
The parents, Marilyn and David, are adrift in grief. Their forty-year marriage is falling apart. Clarissa, the eldest sibling and a former cello prodigy, has settled into an ambivalent domesticity and is struggling at age thirty-nine to become pregnant. Lily, a fiery-tempered lawyer and the family contrarian, is angry at everyone. And Noelle, whose teenage years were shadowed by promiscuity and school expulsions, has moved to Jerusalem and become a born-again Orthodox Jew. The last person to see Leo alive, Noelle has flown back for the memorial with her husband and four children, but she feels entirely out of place. And Thisbe —Leo’s widow and mother of their three-year-old son—has come from California bearing her own secret.
Set against the backdrop of Independence Day and the Iraq War, The World Without You is a novel about sibling rivalries and marital feuds, about volatile women and silent men, and, ultimately, about the true meaning of family.
PRAISE FOR THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU:
“When conventionalists claim, 'They don't write novels like that anymore,' this is the sort of novel they mean. Yet the very familiarity and durability of the setup suggests that the traditional novel remains very much alive and healthy as well, if the narrative momentum and depth of character here are proof of vitality. . . . A novel that satisfies all expectations.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Like a more bittersweet version of Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You or a less chilly variation on Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, Henkin tenderly explores family dynamics in this novel about the ties that bind, and even lacerate . . . The author has created an empathetic cast of characters that the reader will love spending time with, even as they behave like fools and hurt one another. An intelligently written novel that works as a summer read and for any other time of the year.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Like a more bittersweet version of Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You or a less chilly variation on Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, Henkin tenderly explores family dynamics in this novel about the ties that bind, and even lacerate . . . The author has created an empathetic cast of characters that the reader will love spending time with, even as they behave like fools and hurt one another. An intelligently written novel that works as a summer read and for any other time of the year.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
JOSHUA HENKIN is the author of the novels Swimming Across the Hudson (a Los Angeles Times Notable Book) and Matrimony (a New York Times Notable Book). His stories have been published widely, cited for distinction in Best American Short Stories and broadcast on NPR's Selected Shorts. He directs the MFA Program in Fiction Writing at Brooklyn College.
MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
On July 4, 2004, Leo Frankel, Marilyn and David Frankel’s only son, an investigative journalist, was killed in Iraq. One year later the Frankel family gathers at their summer home to attend his memorial service. Thus, Joshua Henkin begins this moving account in his latest book, THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU.
The marvelously fashioned characters reveal common conflicts that are centered on Leo‘s death and each person‘s role in the family. The characters are real and the reader can relate to them and believe in them. More importantly, like them or hate them, Henkin writes so that readers care about them. This makes THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU a glorious narrative that keeps readers involved from page one. The combined storylines for each character take place over just a few days and create a powerful backdrop for the story. The simple conversations between two characters is what moves the story along. With so many characters, the result of Henkin seamlessly managing to pull off this extraordinary narrative is quite remarkable.
Clarissa, Leo’s oldest sister, has come with her husband, Nathaniel, a 44-year-old neuroscientist. In the past year, Clarissa has become obsessed with trying to have a baby now that she is 39.
Noelle, the middle daughter, whose wild youth is quite a contrast to her current life, has come with her family all the way from Israel. A practicing Orthodox Jew, she is with her husband, Amram, and their four sons. Theirs is an extremely complicated relationship.
Lily, the third daughter, a lawyer in Washington, DC., seems the most stable. Her boyfriend is not with her at the start and that is how she wanted it.
Finally, there is Leo’s widow, Thisbe, who came from California where she is in her PhD program and raising their three-year-old son, Calder. Thisbe is the least involved in the family dramatics but has something to share with the family that is sure to involve her much more right away.
The final piece in the Frankel family is what should be the glue that holds them all together. This is Marilyn and David, Leo’s parents, who are married 42 years when they discover in the last year that perhaps their marriage died along with Leo. They have the biggest family announcement that sends all the rest into a tailspin. How will the family react to Marilyn and David’s announcement? What part will Thisbe’s news have in the drama of the Frankels? Where will Noelle and Amram wind up after an argument that sent Amram from the home as they all wonder if he will even return? How can these individual problems play out in order to draw THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU to a satisfying close? Or does it?
You have to judge for yourself but I can tell you that from the beginning of the story, you will become so involved in the lives of these fascinating characters that you will definitely have strong opinions on how each one works things out in the end. THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU is one I strongly recommend and hope you all will buy as this is Josh Henkin at his best!
MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
On July 4, 2004, Leo Frankel, Marilyn and David Frankel’s only son, an investigative journalist, was killed in Iraq. One year later the Frankel family gathers at their summer home to attend his memorial service. Thus, Joshua Henkin begins this moving account in his latest book, THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU.
The marvelously fashioned characters reveal common conflicts that are centered on Leo‘s death and each person‘s role in the family. The characters are real and the reader can relate to them and believe in them. More importantly, like them or hate them, Henkin writes so that readers care about them. This makes THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU a glorious narrative that keeps readers involved from page one. The combined storylines for each character take place over just a few days and create a powerful backdrop for the story. The simple conversations between two characters is what moves the story along. With so many characters, the result of Henkin seamlessly managing to pull off this extraordinary narrative is quite remarkable.
Clarissa, Leo’s oldest sister, has come with her husband, Nathaniel, a 44-year-old neuroscientist. In the past year, Clarissa has become obsessed with trying to have a baby now that she is 39.
Noelle, the middle daughter, whose wild youth is quite a contrast to her current life, has come with her family all the way from Israel. A practicing Orthodox Jew, she is with her husband, Amram, and their four sons. Theirs is an extremely complicated relationship.
Lily, the third daughter, a lawyer in Washington, DC., seems the most stable. Her boyfriend is not with her at the start and that is how she wanted it.
Finally, there is Leo’s widow, Thisbe, who came from California where she is in her PhD program and raising their three-year-old son, Calder. Thisbe is the least involved in the family dramatics but has something to share with the family that is sure to involve her much more right away.
The final piece in the Frankel family is what should be the glue that holds them all together. This is Marilyn and David, Leo’s parents, who are married 42 years when they discover in the last year that perhaps their marriage died along with Leo. They have the biggest family announcement that sends all the rest into a tailspin. How will the family react to Marilyn and David’s announcement? What part will Thisbe’s news have in the drama of the Frankels? Where will Noelle and Amram wind up after an argument that sent Amram from the home as they all wonder if he will even return? How can these individual problems play out in order to draw THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU to a satisfying close? Or does it?
You have to judge for yourself but I can tell you that from the beginning of the story, you will become so involved in the lives of these fascinating characters that you will definitely have strong opinions on how each one works things out in the end. THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU is one I strongly recommend and hope you all will buy as this is Josh Henkin at his best!
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