JEWBILLY

by Rick Rosenberg

Overview

"Jewbilly" is a funny, heartwarming, coming-of-age story about the importance of family, spirituality (wherever a person might find it!), and how friendships can really bloom in the most unlikely of places. Get ready to experience culture clash like never before as a young Jewish boy's life is uprooted and relocated to the South – sparking a journey of growth, adaptation, and dramatic change. Yosef Bamberger is a typical, 11-year-old Jewish kid in 1973 Brooklyn; scrawny, naive, and excited for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah. He lives with his extended family, and a not-so-extended penis that won't grow no matter what Yosef does. Still, he's mostly a happy kid. Until the night of his 12th birthday party. When his father arrives late, Yosef's world is shaken beyond comprehension; a real oy gevalt on the Richter scale. Apparently, his Dad just got a new job – in a small town in Tennessee. They're moving. Like a gefilte fish out of water, Yosef now has to not only navigate a completely different world, but he also has to find a friend. At least one. And he does. A Southern Baptist, highly-freckled, miscreant named Calvin Macafee. With the help of his new companion, Yosef manages to balance two religions, while becoming involved in drugs, alcohol, sex, and a murder investigation - all in just under two years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781667806815
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	11/22/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

At the ripe age of 9, Rick moved from the big city to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, aka the "Secret City." It was around then he had his first experience with the literary world, publishing a short story in Grit Magazine. Somehow surviving a fraught, pimple-filled adolescence, he attended the University of Tennessee/Knoxville where he earned a Bachelors in Communications. Since then, he's lived in multiple cities and has managed to win accolades for copywriting and screenwriting. He has one child adopted from Vietnam. "Jewbilly" is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

2022-03-08
Rosenberg’s debut coming-of-age novel tells an eventful story of a young New Yorker’s life in the South.

After a brief prologue, the story opens by setting the scene of Yosef Bamberger’s old life, before everything changed for him and his family. In 1970s Brooklyn, he was a 12-year-old boy who was looking forward to his bar mitzvah, enjoyed playing arcade games with his classmates, and had few worries. On the evening of his birthday, however, his father dropped a bomb, announcing that they were all moving to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Once they get there, Yosef is determined to make at least one friend as quickly as possible, and he does: Calvin Macafee, whom Yosef describes as “a giant, freckled, redhead redneck of Scotch-Irish descent”—someone who has a different background, a different religion, a different family structure, and a different worldview than Yosef. However, this doesn’t stop the pair from getting up to lighthearted and fun adventures. By the time they’re in high school, however, they encounter drugs, alcohol, and even get involved in a murder case involving a member of Calvin’s family. Rosenberg’s novel ambitiously tackles themes of religion, bigotry, family, and puberty, and presents these concepts and experiences in a refreshingly offbeat way. It discusses difficult issues, such as prejudice, in a smart, hard-hitting manner, while simultaneously developing Yosef’s character as a sweet and likable young man. Historical novels of adolescence are common, but this one has substance and diversity that others in the genre often lack, and it handles its heavy themes in a skillful way that results in moments of unexpected profundity.

A heartwarming and idiosyncratic story of personal growth and friendship.

Kirkus Reviews