19102 Review: The Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
It isn’t easy to pin down Stephanie Feldman’s debut novel, The Angel of Losses. Part fairy tale, part family drama, the novel swirls bits of forgotten folklore with ancestral gossip and relies on a heft of real and invented literary academia.
What’s easier to say is it’s a good read. Feldman’s approach allows for an escape into cultural legend within the structure of a contemporary tale.
Feldman, a Fort Washington native, focuses her story on a New Jersey family with a hushed-up immigrant past. Academic researcher Marjorie Burke prefers the company of books to keep her sister’s abrupt marriage and her grandfather’s mysterious World War II childhood at bay.
She spends her days studying the Wandering Jew, a literary archetype that makes appearances in Western folklore. When the character starts showing up in her grandfather’s bedtime tales, her brother-in-law’s religious observations, and even her pillow talk, Marjorie realizes she can’t keep fiction and family apart for much longer.
The novel draws heavily on Jewish folklore, filling in the gaps with history in a way that recalls the immigrant experience and allows readers to question their own family’s cultural identity.
Feldman’s research-driven plot twists and turns and at times threatens to break loose of the modern-day storyline. Despite the lack of structure, Feldman manages to pull most of the loose ends together by the big ending scene in a New Jersey diner.
The Angel of Losses reminds us that though you may experience an intercultural, time-transcending journey, in the end you’re never too far away from your East Coast home.
