Thoughtful, lovely language with the lightest touch . . . poetic, deeply affecting. An allusive, graceful novel.” —Neil Gordon, The New York Times Book Review
“Remarkable prose . . . memorable portraits of people in sync with both the country they've left behind and the political reality of their new home.” —The Washington Post Book World
“This novel pulses with acute observation—and with implications of a broader tragedy. In honoring the particularities of human life in Heavenly Heights, this fine writer honors life everywhere.” —James Carroll
“Graceful and engaging . . . Miller explores the many meanings of home, rootedness, and community.” —The Jewish Week
“Miller is able to conjure a culture and a movement—part religion, part pipe dream.” —Elinor Lipman
“A necessary and important book. Miller has chosen to present the complex human reality behind the screaming headlines. We are grateful she did.” —Naomi Regan
“For Orthodox Jews, Israel is not merely a country, but 'the Land of Israel, the biblical promised portion'—in other words, 'home.' The families in Miller's first novel are mainly immigrants from the U.S. who now live in a small settlement in an embattled area outside Jerusalem, motivated by the conviction that it's their responsibility to reclaim the land of the biblical patriarchs. Miller convincingly portrays the faith that leads people to leave their comfortable homes in American suburbs and relocate to a dangerous place where car and bus bombs are always a threat, and random shootings are common. The plot follows several women, all residents of one apartment house, over the space of a year of changing weather, national crises and dramatically altered lives. Enlivened by Miller's fresh and spirited eye for imagery, the narrative builds a web of cumulative quotidian details that convey the culture shock of primitive living where water supplies are chancy, construction is often shoddy, the bureaucracy is overwhelming, and men stow their weapons in the foyer of the shul, next to the stack of prayer books. The characters are nicely nuanced . . . In the end, the psychological landscape is the most impressive part of this often engrossing novel [and] readers must decide for themselves whether the appealing characters are idealists or zealots, 'heroes or just plain crazy,' as one character muses.” —Publishers Weekly
“Miller's first novel chronicles the lives of a group of Americans, newly immigrated to Israel with a variety of baggage—emotional as well as material. Religiously observant Jews, they have come to settle not in Jerusalem proper but in a West Bank settlement called Heavenly Heights. A quote from Psalm 137—'We will raise Jerusalem above our chiefest joy'—is the bulwark that sustains the group through countless travails. The young families form friendships, the children play simple games, marriages have their ups and downs, the cycle of Jewish holidays is observed, and a culture of sorts develops. Miller mainly conveys the story from the perspective of several wives who often gather on the balcony of one of the apartments in Building Number Four (where they all live) to pass the time while the husbands are at Sabbath prayer service. Kentucky-born Debbie, a convert to Judaism, sings country songs and quotes her granny while tending to her large brood of children. Tova, newly arrived from Baltimore, has given up a life of material plenty to lead a more spiritual one with her zealous husband, as well as her children. Random West Bank violence, the family tensions, and the stress of living in such close quarters are only hinted at in their attempts at cheerful banter. Miller artfully presents a sobering yet sympathetic view of a parochial lifestyle, an intimate cameo replete with its values, problems, and hopes. For most fiction collections.” —Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Maryland, Library Journal
“Remarkable . . . This is a sensitive and clear-eyed portrayal of a much-debated and misunderstood way of life.” —Meredith Parets, Booklist
For Orthodox Jews, Israel is not merely a country, but "the Land of Israel, the biblical promised portion"-in other words, "home." The families in Miller's first novel are mainly immigrants from the U.S. who now live in a small settlement in an embattled area outside Jerusalem, motivated by the conviction that it's their responsibility to reclaim the land of the biblical patriarchs. Miller convincingly portrays the faith that leads people to leave their comfortable homes in American suburbs and relocate to a dangerous place where car and bus bombs are always a threat, and random shootings are common. The plot follows several women, all residents of one apartment house, over the space of a year of changing weather, national crises and dramatically altered lives. Enlivened by Miller's fresh and spirited eye for imagery, the narrative builds a web of cumulative quotidian details that convey the culture shock of primitive living where water supplies are chancy, construction is often shoddy, the bureaucracy is overwhelming, and men stow their weapons in the foyer of the shul, next to the stack of prayer books. The characters are nicely nuanced, but quick shifts in chronology sometimes impede the narrative flow. In the end, the psychological landscape is the most impressive part of this often engrossing novel. But outside of portraying the settlers' fundamental religious convictions, Miller never really develops the other side of the argument-that the West Bank communities are provocative to their Arab neighbors. In the end, readers must decide for themselves whether the appealing characters are idealists or zealots, "heroes or just plain crazy," as one character muses. Agent, Lisa Bankoff. Author tour. (Jan.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Miller's first novel chronicles the lives of a group of Americans, newly immigrated to Israel with a variety of baggage-emotional as well as material. Religiously observant Jews, they have come to settle not in Jerusalem proper but in a West Bank settlement called Heavenly Heights. A quote from Psalm 137-"We will raise Jerusalem above our chiefest joy"-is the bulwark that sustains the group through countless travails. The young families form friendships, the children play simple games, marriages have their ups and downs, the cycle of Jewish holidays is observed, and a culture of sorts develops. Miller mainly conveys the story from the perspective of several wives who often gather on the balcony of one of the apartments in Building Number Four (where they all live) to pass the time while the husbands are at Sabbath prayer service. Kentucky-born Debbie, a convert to Judaism, sings country songs and quotes her granny while tending to her large brood of children. Tova, newly arrived from Baltimore, has given up a life of material plenty to lead a more spiritual one with her zealous husband, as well as her children. Random West Bank violence, the family tensions, and the stress of living in such close quarters are only hinted at in their attempts at cheerful banter. Miller artfully presents a sobering yet sympathetic view of a parochial lifestyle, an intimate cameo replete with its values, problems, and hopes. For most fiction collections.-Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, MD Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
An Orthodox Jewish family makes aliyah to the Promised Land and braves it out among a hardscrabble survivors' community-in Miller's low-simmering, blandly written, but warm-spirited PEN Discovery Award debut.
Tova Zissie ("good and sweet"), who teaches English in Baltimore to Russian immigrants, and her financial project manager husband, Mike, decide it's time to reverse exile and return "home" to Jerusalem: they will be heroes among their Orthodox community, "spirited keepers of the flame." In fact, they end up in a sheltered West Bank community called Heavenly Heights among a disparate group of mostly American exiles like themselves. The story tracks the newly arrived family's first shaky year trying to feel at home on this physically vulnerable site near the Jordanian border and amid a strange conglomeration of fairly impoverished but fiercely religious settlers. Tova, conflicted at first, finds a new friend in the outspoken Kentucky convert Debra, who always brings the conversation among the wives and mothers around from American gadgets to men and sex, which makes them blush violently. Other dramas include a doomed friendship between wayward teenager Yossi and a son of the upstanding Rabbi Altman, whose wife is confined to a wheelchair with MS; the shady family financial dealings back in the States that Mr. Stanetsky, widower and owner of the building, must settle, though he simply wants another wife; and the crowing of Ahouva, the young, pretty mother of five children in six years, about her latest appliance brought with her American parents. The point of view shifts as Miller delves into back stories of some of these characters, and the tale never gets to a climax so much as toa mild-moving denouement that mirrors the tenants' interminable state of waiting, preparedness-and chauvinism.
Precarious lives and eternal holidays patiently observed among West Bank settlers.
Author tour
