BEFORE ALL THE WORLD

Israeli American author Moriel Rothman-Zecher delivers a dazzling narration of his novel of trauma, identity, and sexuality in 1930s Philadelphia. The story centers on three characters: recent arrivals to America Leyb and Gittl, who are the only Jewish survivors of a pogrom in their Ukrainian village, and Charles, a Black intellectual whom Leyb meets in a gay bar. Charles, who has some fluency in Yiddish, helps Gittl, a poet, translate her work into English. With its frequent switches between English and Yiddish words and a nonlinear plot, this is a challenging listen. But it is also rewarding. Every sense is engaged by the novel's precise, inventive language and Rothman-Zecher's impassioned performance such that listeners may see, hear, and smell the sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hopeful world portrayed. M.J. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2022]