Scan barcode
A review by alexisrt
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
4.0
Romance novels aren't usually my genre, but a trusted friend recommended this, and I needed some fluff.
It's surprisingly good. This is in more the funny and fluffy vein—strictly PG, no steamy sex scenes. It's *very* Jewish, and Meltzer (a rabbinical school dropout) does a great job. A lot of the time, writers ignore everyone who isn't either completely secular or Orthodox. Here we have a rabbi's daughter who keeps kosher, wears a tallit, and makes references to the midrash. Meltzer doesn't dumb it down, either--if you don't know what the Al Cheit is, she leaves it for you to Google. She goes a little heavy on Jewish humor, but it's a romance; it can take it. It's also self-aware of the problem with setting up a Chanukah themed romance: this isn't our big holiday! Although the novel sets things up by making Rachel a Christmas romance writer who is obsessed with the holiday, Christmas thankfully doesn't take up much of the book.
Meltzer also does a really nice job of handling chronic illness, which isn't common in popular fiction. Rachel has an illness, and it's portrayed realistically and compassionately, but she's also a fully realized character who deserves, in romance novel tradition, to meet her dream man. The gay Black best friend is a little too clichéd, but there’s some story elements that really push it that way (aside from being Black—on the other hand it’s also good to have a character who doesn’t fit into the Ashkenazi stereotype.)
It's surprisingly good. This is in more the funny and fluffy vein—strictly PG, no steamy sex scenes. It's *very* Jewish, and Meltzer (a rabbinical school dropout) does a great job. A lot of the time, writers ignore everyone who isn't either completely secular or Orthodox. Here we have a rabbi's daughter who keeps kosher, wears a tallit, and makes references to the midrash. Meltzer doesn't dumb it down, either--if you don't know what the Al Cheit is, she leaves it for you to Google. She goes a little heavy on Jewish humor, but it's a romance; it can take it. It's also self-aware of the problem with setting up a Chanukah themed romance: this isn't our big holiday! Although the novel sets things up by making Rachel a Christmas romance writer who is obsessed with the holiday, Christmas thankfully doesn't take up much of the book.
Meltzer also does a really nice job of handling chronic illness, which isn't common in popular fiction. Rachel has an illness, and it's portrayed realistically and compassionately, but she's also a fully realized character who deserves, in romance novel tradition, to meet her dream man. The gay Black best friend is a little too clichéd, but there’s some story elements that really push it that way (aside from being Black—on the other hand it’s also good to have a character who doesn’t fit into the Ashkenazi stereotype.)