Critically acclaimed author, Jerome Charyn is getting a lot of attention for his new novel, JERZY that is just out from Bellevue Literary Press.
In JERZY, Jerome Charyn lends his unmistakable style to this most American story of personal disintegration, told through the voices of multiple narrators—a homicidal actor, a dominatrix, and Joseph Stalin’s daughter—who each provide insights into the shifting facets of Kosinski’s personality. The story unfolds like a Russian nesting doll, eventually revealing the lost child beneath layers of trauma, while touching on the nature of authenticity, the atrocities of WWII, the allure of sadomasochism, and the fickleness of celebrity.
Ruth Franklin wrote this great review and fascinating article for The New Yorker in which she describes the book as “a moving attempt to trace the connections between Kosinski’s wartime struggles and postwar fictions.
Benjamin Markovits in his review for The New York Times Book Review writes that JERZY is “a novel with a light touch that’s still capable of lifting heavy subjects. Charyn knows what he wants to do and knows how to do it.”
And JERZY was included in Jane Ciabattari’s 5 Books Making News This Week column for LitHub for the week of April 4th.
If you are looking for an intriguing and engaging book to read this Spring, add JERZY by Jerome Charyn to your list. This reader’s guide will also help make it an excellent choice for your next book club selection.
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