July 17, 2017
Continuing the story of Fiddler on the Roof, which was based off of the stories of Sholem Aleichem, Silber focuses her novel on one of the children of Tevye and Golde—their second daughter, Hodel. Silber’s admirable continuation imagines Hodel’s life in two post-Fiddler periods: Hodel’s courtship with and engagement to the scholarly Perchik, and her attempts years later to reunite with him after he is sent to a forced labor camp. Silber, an actress who played both Hodel and Tzeitzel in productions of the musical, imbues the book with obvious fondness for and understanding of the characters. Life in Imperial Russia around the turn of the century is not romanticized: Hodel faces trauma after trauma, including lengthy time in jail, but never stops fighting to find her beloved. Silber’s novel stumbles in moments of transition between the time periods, but the moving story and attention to detail will make this an enjoyable trip for any fan of Fiddler on the Roof. Agent: Joelle Delbourgo, Joelle Delbourgo Associates.
June 15, 2017
The iconic characters from Fiddler on the Roof are brought back to life in a new novel that continues their story.It's tempting to imagine the lives of our favorite fictional characters extending beyond the margins of their stories. Just see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for proof. In her first novel, Silber, a singer and actress who has performed many times in Fiddler on the Roof, continues the stories of two of the characters from that iconic musical: Hodel, Tevye's second-oldest daughter, and the radical socialist Perchik, who tutored Tevye's younger children. At the end of the musical, Perchik has been exiled to Siberia, and Hodel is leaving home to join him there. Silber picks up the narrative at this point. In her telling, Hodel is picked up and imprisoned on her way to Perchik. She's held for a year or more in a dingy, solitary cell, where she is starved and raped. Eventually she reaches Siberia, marries Perchik, and they begin to build a life together. Unfortunately, Silber relates all this in rather florid prose, turning the humorous musical into an overheated, humorless romance. The gentle mockery with which Perchik is treated onstage is entirely absent here. He has become a serious, even tragic figure. He's not entirely convincing, either, despite (or perhaps because of) the back story Silber has given him. Worse, Silber works in flashbacks, so while we do see Hodel and Perchik in their new present, we also have to revisit terrain already traveled by the musical. Much as we might have liked to, we don't get to see what's become of the rest of Hodel's family. Lacking the humor of the original musical, Silber's adaptation is disappointing.
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June 1, 2017
Grammy-nominated singer and actress Silber's fiction debut is a sequel to Fiddler on the Roof, a show whose characters she has interpreted on the international stage. Notably, it's a fully realized, thoughtful literary novel that can also stand alone. The story follows Hodel, a young woman imprisoned in Omsk while attempting to reunite with her fiance, Perchik, a Socialist activist who was taken to a Siberian labor camp. Each of the book's three parts contains a well-developed character arc, and, like Fiddler itself, it contrasts the warmth of Old World traditions with the harsh treatment endured by the Jewish people. The settings have a you-are-there feel, from Hodel's memories of sisterhood and braiding challah back home in Anatevka; to salt-encrusted, remote Siberia, which has its own stark beauty; to the brutality of prison life as the couple's world grows increasingly dark. The strength of their deep romantic bond is emphasized throughout. Fans of the musical and anyone interested in the plight of the Jews in czarist Russia will appreciate this multitalented author's work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)