"Three Jewish brothers struggle to keep their family's business ventures alive through a period of political unrest and upheaval in Unger's satisfying debut novel."--Publishers Weekly
"A sharply intelligent, passionately written novel."--Oscar Hijuelos, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
"The Jewish experience in twentieth century Central America . . . enlivened by innocent eroticism and comic absurdity."--Kirkus Reviews
Three Jewish brothers struggle to keep their family's business ventures alive through a period of political unrest and upheaval in Unger's satisfying debut novel, set in Guatemala in the early 1980s. Marcos Eltaleph is the first-person narrator, a bored former playboy in his early 50s who finally discovers a sense of direction when his gorgeous new girlfriend, Esperanza, talks him into opening a nightclub. At first their new venture is a wild success, but dark clouds begin to gather in the background when the family's factories start to struggle and Marcos's brothers, Aaron and David, are forced to lay off Marcos from his token position in the company. The real troubles begin when Marcos's nightclub benefactor, a slick local military figure named Rafael Mendoza, uses Esperanza's and Marcos's financial difficulties to force them to turn the club into a watering hole for local servicemen. Marco suspects military foul play when Mendoza and his buddies begin holding private meetings there; eavesdropping on one of their sessions, Marcos watches as their plot against the local government is interrupted by an attack. Mendoza is killed and Marcos's brother Aaron, a prominent Jewish community leader involved in the subterfuge, is also shot. Unger puts his unique setting to good use as he layers his unusual story line, building the suspense despite some off-key passages in which Marcos complains unremittingly about getting old. The resolution features plenty of interesting twists and turns, but it's the portrayal of Latin American customs and Jewish values, as well as the exploration of the gray area in between, where Marcos and his brothers find themselves, that makes this book worth reading. (May) Forecast: Fans of political intrigue will enjoy this title, which straddles literary and commercial fiction to good effect, but the hefty price tag will deter browsers. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Marcos Eltaleph, the middle-aged narrator-hero of Unger's first novel, is always the odd man out. He is the middle brother in a family of Guatemalan Jews, an honest man surviving in a venal dictatorship, and a womanizing bachelor in a family that respects marriage and the work ethic. As Marcos ponders his dilemmas should he marry Esperanza, a former prostitute from Colombia; challenge governmental corruption when his family's business and eventually his family are threatened; or emigrate? the narrative presents Guatemala in the 1980s as corrupt, menacing, and volatile. Speaking in an ironic voice, Marcos is unconvincing in regard to his love for Esperanza or his anger at the attacks on the family. In this glib narrative, Unger, an award-winning translator, is unable to distill the conflicts of a community tempted by corruption and assimilation. However, because this novel is a part of the "Syracuse Library of Modern Jewish Literature" and an acute portrait of 20th-century Jewish life in Central America, it belongs in most Judaica collections. Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Despairing debut about the Jewish experience in 20th-century Central America that, though enlivened by innocent eroticism and comic absurdity, finds little to love in a sunny fool's paradise. At 53, Marcos Eltaleph has it made: a member of one of 1980s Guatemala's wealthiest Jewish dynasties, he has so far avoided marriage, responsibility, serious illness, embarrassing business failures, or mediocre success. His brothers, especially Aaron, have become big men in the Jewish community, heading a business empire based on retail, paper products, and import-export. They have luxurious houses, their kids attend US schools, and Eltaleph weddings and bar mitzvahs are social events. Whenever the family brushes up against power-mad colonels or corrupt politicians, they seem to be spared the Nazi torments their father escaped by fleeing Hitler's Germany. So, instead of disappearing into a dank jail when Aaron doesn't pay a bribe, Marcos finds himself imprisoned in a hospital, where his attempt to enjoy the sexual favors of a nurse are interrupted by his girlfriend Esperanza, a sexy Colombian half his age whom he met on a cruise ship and is afraid to marry. Mysteriously sprung from his hospital, Marcos eventually proposes to Esperanza, who wants nothing but her own nightclub—but Marcos is suspicious of Rafael Mendoza, a "retired" colonel who offers to rent the couple his own failed nightclub. Suddenly the Etaleph family department store is bombed. Are Communist rebels to blame, or did Aaron fail to pay off the right people? As Aaron assures his brother that Jews really can make a homeland in paradise, Marcos learns that, as a Jew, he must count his blessing before they turn sour. With echoes ofMordecai Richler's antiheroic tales of urban Jewish life, Unger's downbeat exploration suggests that though success at the price of collaboration with evil is no success, when you meet the love of your life, you might as well live.
