Wednesday, June 21, 2006

And the Word Was by Bruce Bauman

This novel is set in New York City and India. The main character, Neil Downs, is a physician who is on call when his son's body is brought into the hospital following an act of school violence. The outcome of the incident changes Downs forever and sends him on a search for life's purpose in New Dehli, where he takes a job as embassy physician. I especially liked the passages about the teachings of Levi Furstenblum, a Holocaust survivor and writer whose philosophy Bauman fabricates in such a way I found myself wondering whether Furstenblum wasn't some real person I had never heard of. This book is about race, inequality and the time it takes to mend damaged lives. I really enjoyed it.

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