The Slaughterman's Daughter
Yaniv Iczkovits
(Author)
Description
If the Coen brothers ever ventured beyond the United States for their films, they would find ample material in this novel.--The New York Times Book Review Occasionally a book comes along so fresh, strange, and original that it seems peerless, utterly unprecedented. This is one of those books.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) **Winner of the 2021 Wingate Literary Prize**
**Finalist for the 2021 National Jewish Book Awards, Book Club Award** An irresistible, picaresque tale of two Jewish sisters in late-nineteenth-century Russia, The Slaughterman's Daughter is filled with "boundless imagination and a vibrant style" (David Grossman). With her reputation as a vilde chaya (wild animal), Fanny Keismann isn't like the other women in her shtetl in the Pale of Settlement--certainly not her obedient and anxiety-ridden sister, Mende, whose "philosopher" of a husband, Zvi-Meir, has run off to Minsk, abandoning her and their two children. As a young girl, Fanny felt an inexorable pull toward her father's profession of ritual slaughterer and, under his reluctant guidance, became a master with a knife. And though she long ago gave up that unsuitable profession--she's now the wife of a cheesemaker and a mother of five--Fanny still keeps the knife tied to her right leg. Which might come in handy when, heedless of the dangers facing a Jewish woman traveling alone in czarist Russia, she sets off to track down Zvi-Meir and bring him home, with the help of the mute and mysterious ferryman Zizek Breshov, an ex-soldier with his own sensational past. Yaniv Iczkovits spins a family drama into a far-reaching comedy of errors that will pit the czar's army against the Russian secret police and threaten the very foundations of the Russian Empire. The Slaughterman's Daughter is a rollicking and unforgettable work of fiction.
Product Details
Price
$28.99
Publisher
Schocken Books Inc
Publish Date
February 23, 2021
Pages
528
Dimensions
6.2 X 9.4 X 1.6 inches | 1.76 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780805243659
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About the Author
YANIV ICZKOVITS is the author of Pulse, Adam and Sophie, and Wittgenstein's Ethical Thought. He held a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University and was a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Tel Aviv. The Slaughterman's Daughter was awarded the Ramat Gan Prize and the Agnon Prize; it was also short-listed for the Sapir Prize. Iczkovits lives with his family in Tel Aviv. ORR SCHARF teaches cultural studies and translation theory at the University of Haifa. He is the author of Thinking in Translation: Scripture and Redemption in the Thought of Franz Rosenzweig. The Slaughterman's Daughter is his first literary translation
Reviews
"Occasionally a book comes along so fresh, strange, and original that it seems peerless, utterly unprecedented. This is one of those books. You might hear traces of Gogol or Isaac Babel in Iczkovits' voice, but they're only traces . . . Iczkovits is a superb talent, and this novel is a resounding success. As witty as it is wise, [The Slaughterman's Daughter] is a profoundly moving caper through the Russian empire."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Offbeat, picaresque . . . full of invention and surprises. Stories nest inside stories, like Russian dolls. Iczkovits mixes real history, fable, and the products of his imagination into an intoxicating, thoroughly enjoyable brew."
--Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times (London) "Brilliant, sweeping . . . Filled with exquisitely drawn characters."
--Elaine Margolin, Times Literary Supplement "With boundless imagination and a vibrant style, Iczkovits delivers a heroine of unforgettable grit. He wields his pen with wit and panache. A remarkable and evocative read."
--David Grossman "A story of great beauty and surprise. A necessary antidote for our times."
--Gary Shteyngart "Delightful . . . Technicolor characters, pathos, and humor are all wonderfully captured in a nimble translation from the Hebrew."
--The Economist ("Our books of the year")
"Iczkovits elevates this cat-and-mouse story into a sweeping narrative with trips down side roads that reveal the riveting backstories of major and minor characters. His observations about human nature, family dynamics, and the interplay between religion and politics come across as wise but never didactic. Ever entertaining, Iczkovits's lively, transportive picaresque takes readers on a memorable ride."
--Publishers Weekly "Full of fascinating historical detail. Iczkovits has done his research. But, best of all, is the writing. He is a born storyteller. The novel is packed with terrific characters . . . This is a book you will not want to put down. It's full of energy, part farce, part adventure story. Iczkovits is clearly a talent to watch and The Slaughterman's Daughter is the place to start."
--David Herman, The Jewish Chronicle "A bona fide masterpiece that is a sheer delight. Shot through with black humor and rich prose . . . rich in cultural heritage and eccentrically characterized. Brilliantly translated."
--Noel Megahey, The Digital Fix "[F]lamboyant and exuberant, compassionate and emotionally complex, heartwarming and poignant. The human spirit triumphs over all."
--Paul Burke, New Books Magazine "A miraculous patchwork quilt of individual stories within stories told by different voices, [the] quest for justice is the master story: a feminist picaresque set in a landscape of visionary and intimate historical and physical detail."
--George Szirtes "Combine a thriller with a road story, throw in a page-turning adventure, a few fables, some ethical speculation, a Bildungsroman, and more than one love story, and you get this epic tale. It's witty, wise, exciting, intriguing, sorrowful, joyous, and tender. Full of surprise, understanding, historic sweep, and more than a few murders, The Slaughterman's Daughter keeps you deliciously poised on a keen and beguiling fictional knife-edge."
--Gary Barwin "An original take on the historical novel that recreates--with a shrewd but affectionate look back at a lost world--Jewish life in the Russian empire at the end of the nineteenth century. [C]haracterized by historical realism but also an element of fantasy, it is also worth noting the novel's brilliant insights and its winning humor. A novel of unquestionable uniqueness."
--Judges' Committee, The Agnon Prize
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Offbeat, picaresque . . . full of invention and surprises. Stories nest inside stories, like Russian dolls. Iczkovits mixes real history, fable, and the products of his imagination into an intoxicating, thoroughly enjoyable brew."
--Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times (London) "Brilliant, sweeping . . . Filled with exquisitely drawn characters."
--Elaine Margolin, Times Literary Supplement "With boundless imagination and a vibrant style, Iczkovits delivers a heroine of unforgettable grit. He wields his pen with wit and panache. A remarkable and evocative read."
--David Grossman "A story of great beauty and surprise. A necessary antidote for our times."
--Gary Shteyngart "Delightful . . . Technicolor characters, pathos, and humor are all wonderfully captured in a nimble translation from the Hebrew."
--The Economist ("Our books of the year")
"Iczkovits elevates this cat-and-mouse story into a sweeping narrative with trips down side roads that reveal the riveting backstories of major and minor characters. His observations about human nature, family dynamics, and the interplay between religion and politics come across as wise but never didactic. Ever entertaining, Iczkovits's lively, transportive picaresque takes readers on a memorable ride."
--Publishers Weekly "Full of fascinating historical detail. Iczkovits has done his research. But, best of all, is the writing. He is a born storyteller. The novel is packed with terrific characters . . . This is a book you will not want to put down. It's full of energy, part farce, part adventure story. Iczkovits is clearly a talent to watch and The Slaughterman's Daughter is the place to start."
--David Herman, The Jewish Chronicle "A bona fide masterpiece that is a sheer delight. Shot through with black humor and rich prose . . . rich in cultural heritage and eccentrically characterized. Brilliantly translated."
--Noel Megahey, The Digital Fix "[F]lamboyant and exuberant, compassionate and emotionally complex, heartwarming and poignant. The human spirit triumphs over all."
--Paul Burke, New Books Magazine "A miraculous patchwork quilt of individual stories within stories told by different voices, [the] quest for justice is the master story: a feminist picaresque set in a landscape of visionary and intimate historical and physical detail."
--George Szirtes "Combine a thriller with a road story, throw in a page-turning adventure, a few fables, some ethical speculation, a Bildungsroman, and more than one love story, and you get this epic tale. It's witty, wise, exciting, intriguing, sorrowful, joyous, and tender. Full of surprise, understanding, historic sweep, and more than a few murders, The Slaughterman's Daughter keeps you deliciously poised on a keen and beguiling fictional knife-edge."
--Gary Barwin "An original take on the historical novel that recreates--with a shrewd but affectionate look back at a lost world--Jewish life in the Russian empire at the end of the nineteenth century. [C]haracterized by historical realism but also an element of fantasy, it is also worth noting the novel's brilliant insights and its winning humor. A novel of unquestionable uniqueness."
--Judges' Committee, The Agnon Prize
