Led by BJ members Jennifer Sylvor and Carole Balin, the long-running Israeli Authors Discussion Group is expanding its reading selection to include authors from across the globe. For this year, we will read important books of Jewish interest by authors from global Jewish literatures, in addition to Israel.
We look forward to welcoming new readers along with our beloved regulars for rich and thought-provoking discussion.
In this session, we will discuss Misophonia, by Dana Vowinckle. The novel is an insightful, heartfelt, and hilarious coming-of-age story exploring cultural diaspora through the story of one teenager’s summer across Berlin, Jerusalem, and Chicago. Fifteen-year-old Margarita is stuck living with her grandparents over the summer, when she would much rather be home in Berlin. A surprise trip to Israel adds more complication to the family dynamics between Margarita and each of her parents. Straddling the two narratives of daughter and father, Misophonia is a graceful work of literary fiction exploring the complexities of imperfect family relationships and larger cultural displacement.
