PositiveWashington Independent Review of BooksA detailed, achingly realistic look at one family’s struggles within a largely unheard-of community ... It’s difficult to identify with Yelena and to witness her repeatedly responding to the plot instead of driving it ... But what truly shines is the author’s ability to bring to life the plight of a long-lost Russian immigrant community, as well as her talent for providing intimate and vivid details of one family’s life.
Yaniv Iczkovits, trans. by Orr Schar
PositiveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksBeyond the humor and philosophy in The Slaughterman’s Daughter is a reckless woman gambling carelessly with men’s lives for the sake of her own validation ... This story should be treated as the fable it is — a celebration of one woman’s defiance of a people cowed into meekness and conformity by the czarist regime; of a country ... the setting is a rare one for historical fiction; while the years before the Russian Revolution are well-trodden ground, the experience of the Jewish people and their discrimination under the czarist regime is a uniquely impressive offering, particularly since that experience centers around a woman magnificently expert at ritual slaughter. The novel is at once a beautiful fable and a philosophical meditation on a people, their history, and their place in society ... At times, the story is bogged down by extraneous detail. While woven into its rich tapestry is an impressive cast of characters, their constantly shifting points of view slow down the pace, immediacy, and beauty of Fanny’s quest, hiding it beneath layers of meandering description and blocks of exposition, and dimming the bright, insistent light that is Fanny.
