ARGONAUT BOOKS

At a banquet hall, at the onset of war, Adam Weizmann's bar mitzvah party turns into a glorious catastrophe. On the cusp of manhood - and the verge of a nervous breakdown - Adam has been bracing for his special day, mired in family neuroses and national dysfunction. In a chorus of voices, a fractious cast of well-wishers narrates Adam's coming-of-age in Israel: his newly devout father and the mystic rituals he practiced on his young son; his best friend, Abbie, who points the way to joyful transgression; Khalil, a Palestinian poet, who offers a glimpse of a different way to be; and Adam himsel...Read More