Adjmi presents a novel about a Syrian American woman's coming-of-age. Casey Cohen spent most of her 1970s childhood in New Orleans. Although her mother attempted some Syrian dishes and the family celebrated Jewish holidays, they were not particularly observant or overly concerned with adhering to tradition. This changes for Casey during her junior year of high school. After she gets in with a new crowd and makes some questionable decisions, her parents decide it's time for a change. In 1980, they move to Brooklyn, where they will live among a tightknit Syrian Orthodox Jewish community. Casey's days of being a cheerleader at one of the best schools in New Orleans are over. She will now attend a yeshivah where it's not uncommon for girls to drop out and get married. Casey may be a rebel at heart, but she's soon wed to a man named Michael, nonetheless. She once dreamed of going to college, but now she spends her time cubing potatoes and anticipating invites for bar mitzvahs. The story adroitly introduces the devout Syrian community that Casey finds herself in; there are details of parve food (dairy- and meat-free) and the Omer period after Passover that help to show the support and restrictions of living among people guided by strict religious rules. However, as Casey effectively points out, "once you are in, you'll never really be out. No matter what--scandals, lies, addictions, jail sentences, infidelities--you belong." Of course, it's clear from the beginning that the protagonist is never going to love being in or decide that her worldly dreams are a waste of time. Although this setup makes the story somewhat predictable, there remains the intriguing question of what shape her rebellion will take and how, in her own way, she will get out. A nuanced look at one woman's conflicted desire to break free from a regimented life.
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March 1, 2023
Casey wasn't going to end up like the other Syrian girls she knew: married young, preoccupied with fashion and jewelry, willfully ignorant of her husband's shortcomings. But meeting Michael turned out to be the first step on a path she was desperate to avoid. Casey had lived most of her life in New Orleans, the picture of a typical American teenager in a cheerleading uniform. After a break-in, Casey's parents decide to move, and while Casey's thrilled to reconnect with her glamorous grandmother, she bristles at the homogeneity of their Syrian-Jewish community in Brooklyn. Michael is an exciting distraction, until his convictions become so stifling that she begins to question her very identity. Adjmi (Life and Other Shortcomings, 2020) jumps between Casey's teenage years in New Orleans and her young adulthood in Brooklyn, contrasting carefree independence with the constraints of a difficult marriage. This read-alike for Meg Wolitzer's The Wife and Melissa Bank's A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing sets the weight of familial, romantic, and cultural expectations against the terrifying freedom of the unknown.
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