On Division by Goldie Goldbloom

On Division by Goldie Goldbloom – 288 pages

Book Blurb:

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just a block or two up from the East River on Division Avenue, Surie Eckstein is soon to be a great-grandmother. Her ten children range in age from thirteen to thirty-nine. Her in-laws, postwar immigrants from Romania, live on the first floor of their house. Her daughter Tzila Ruchel lives on the second. She and Yidel, a scribe in such demand that he makes only a few Torah scrolls a year, live on the third. Wed when Surie was sixteen, they have a happy marriage and a full life, and, at the ages of fifty-seven and sixty-two, they are looking forward to some quiet time together. Into this life of counted blessings comes a surprise. Surie is pregnant. Pregnant at fifty-seven. It is a shock. And at her age, at this stage, it is an aberration, a shift in the proper order of things, and a public display of private life. She feels exposed, ashamed. She is unable to share the news, even with her husband. And so for the first time in her life, she has a secret–a secret that slowly separates her from the community.

My Review: 4 stars

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On Division came to my attention because of my Tell Me What You’re Reading Tuesday post on Facebook. A few had mentioned it and because this title was completely off my radar, I had to investigate. As soon as I read the premise, I knew I had to dig in. Let’s face it, putting religion aside, a fifty-seven-year-old woman that is pregnant seems implausible to the reader; I consider it the perfect hook.

Goldbloom takes us on a journey to Williamsburg, New York, best known for its thriving Chasidic community. Many books have taken place in or around this area in depicting the Chassidism, and most of them deal with a girl that wants to marry for love or a boy who doesn’t want to be a scholar or head to Yeshiva. This story is so very different as it focuses on a strong matriarch who loves her life, yet knows the backlash and embarrassment she’ll get from her community if they learn about her pregnancy.

This book unleashes some of the moral intricacies that Surie endures. She has no one “outside” her community to talk to and it’s her husband, Yidel, she wants to tell the most. She’s never kept a secret from him; he’s her rock, best friend and lover. It was a welcome change to see such a healthy and loving couple, not only in a community where there is arranged marriages, but in general. She knew he’d understand but for her, to speak it the truth made it real. Their neighborhood is bound by conformity so she understood that this natural blessing would cause great humiliation to her kids and grandkids and dishonor to her husband and his work.

One of the few other subplots that really hit home for me was in regards to Surie’s son that had recently died. Because of him, her pregnancy represented more than just a new life; she considered it a second chance to protect, provide and nurture this child in ways she couldn’t and/or wouldn’t for the son that passed. I can say no more without spoiling that storyline.

Goldbloom, a Chasidic woman herself, tells this story with clarity, simplicity and wit. Yes, there was humor, especially from Surie. The author created believable characters and crafted a very probable and respectable ending. This is not the author’s first novel and I’m looking forward to reading some of her earlier work, especially The Paperback Shoe.

Quotes I liked:

I am not so blind that I can’t see.”

“There were two desires twisting within her, to tell and not to tell.”

“Don’t you already have grandchildren? You must be busy anyway. What’s one more child to a family like yours? Surie only answered gently that a single child is a whole world.”

“Thank God, I know my place in the world. The Torah speaks about many things, but always, always it talks about the children that forth, the children that one is to sacrifice for. Every part of my life is turned towards children, the having of children, the raising of children.”

“She didn’t like it when people made excuses. Do it right the first time. That was her motto. Then you won’t need to make an excuse.”

“The eyes are useless when the mind is blind.”