Goldie Mandel, octogenarian and widow, resides in a New York Jewish assisted living facility. She is a woman who has definite views on things, including the other residents (old and trying too hard,) her daughters (Esti fusses too much, Tamar moved across country to California-God forbid,) and Tamar's daughter Maxi, a research PHD candidate who moved back to New York for a job at the hospital. Maxi is the light of Goldie's life-she's beautiful, brainy, and dearly loves her bubbe. She's also unlucky in love. But Goldie knows how to remedy that-she cooks up a plot with Harry, another resident who is starting to pay attention to her, to find as many unmarried Jewish doctors as she can, make appointments for herself accompanied by Maxi as her "advocate" and see if sparks fly. She likes the cute young driver of the assisted living van but not the van itself, so she hires the driver to get her and Maxi to the doctor's offices, and as the saying goes, "Man plans, God laughs."
The stories are told in alternating chapters by Goldie and Maxi. While Maxi navigates her successful work life and her rocky love life, she begins to deviate from the path that her Jewish heritage sets her on. Goldie and her beloved late husband Mordy were holocaust survivors and saw too closely the results of assimilation and the false sense of belonging to countries that turn on you. Goldie wants to make sure that before she dies and rejoins her husband, that Maxi's future is secure-and that her great-grandchildren remain Jews.
This is a beautifully written book, that while very humorous, also digs into issues of life, death, mourning, and carrying on. Monheit is definitely one to watch.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
Publication date - May 7, 2024
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