" The Family Markowitz is one of the most astute and engaging books about American family life to have come our way in quite a while." —Linda Matchan, Boston Globe In The Family Markowitz, Allegra Goodman writes with wit and compassion of three generations of Markowitzes making their way in America. At the center is Rose, the cantankerous matriarch, who longs for her earlier life in London and Vienna but is now forced into dependency on her sons Ed, an academic expert on terrorism (ahead of his time!), and Henry, an artistic expatriate with a taste for antiques and postmodern poetry. Also in the family circle are Sarah, Ed's wife, who teaches creative writing and longs for a more literary life, and Sarah and Ed's daughter Miriam, a medical student who causes great alarm in her largely assimilated family by rediscovering Judaism. Through her sharp-eyed observations of weddings, hospital vigils, holiday dinners, and other rituals of family life, Goodman writes about the Markowitzes from the inside, bringing each character to life.
Author
Hello, Good Readers! My new novel SAM is about a young girl's exuberance, wonder, and ambition as she comes of age. Jenna Bush Hager picked SAM for her Today Show book club and said, "Sam is about as perfect of a coming-of-age story as I have ever read." About me: I was born in Brooklyn, but I grew up in Honolulu. I now live in Cambridge, MA and I own boots. In addition to writing fiction, I read a lot and teach on occasion. In my free time, I swim and walk around the city. I have four children, now getting pretty grown up. My oldest son (an economist) reads everything. My second son (a law student and grad student in political theory) reads mostly non-fiction, although I try to get him to read novels. My third son (a college student) loves science fiction, fantasy, and history. My daughter (a college student and aspiring human centered designer) enjoys biography and novels—but only if they have exceptionally beautiful covers! I read fiction, biography, history, poetry, and books about art. I also enjoy discovering new authors in translation. When I was a seven-year-old living in Hawaii, I decided to become a novelist—but I began by writing poetry and short stories. In high school and college I focused on short stories, and in June, 1986, I published my first in "Commentary." My first book was a collection of short stories, "Total Immersion." My second book, "The Family Markowitz" is a short story cycle that people tend to read as a novel. Much of my work is about family in its many forms. I am also interested in religion, science, the threats and opportunities of technology, and the exploration of islands, real, and imaginary. My novel, "Kaaterskill Falls" travels with a group of observant Jews to the Catskill Mountains. "Intuition" enters a research a lab, where a young post-doc makes a discovery that excites everybody except for one skeptic—his ex-girlfriend. A rare collection of cookbooks stars in my novel, "The Cookbook Collector." A girl named Honor tries to save her mother in my dystopian YA novel, "The Other Side of the Island." With Michael Prince, I have co-authored a supercool writing textbook! If you teach composition, take a look at "Speaking of Writing: a Brief Rhetoric." If you'd like to learn more about me and about each of my books, check out my website: http://allegragoodman.com/ Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllegraGoodman Or on Instagram: @allegragoodmanwriter And of course, you can check out the reviews I post here on Goodreads!
