A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt

Simone, her mother, her father and brother, Rivka, her boyfriend Zack, Cleo-each character is a fully realized human being because of Reinhardt's skill. Simone and her friend Cleo have a circle of friends who nurture one another some of them occasionally drink or smoke pot, one of the friends is gay, and each one is funny, creative and loyal. Finding out that she was born to a Jewish woman helps Simone to consider what a spiritual life might mean-one of the major themes of the story.Īll the secondary characters are believable and add dimension to Simone's life and narration. She still cherishes the rituals of Shabbat, which she introduces to Simone, who has been raised in a nonreligious home. Rivka is from a Hasidic family and in the years since her teenage pregnancy she been estranged from her family. They continue to press Simone as the days go by eventually Simone telephones Rivka and the story of Simone's adoption unfolds. Because this family is so dear to her she has no interest in meeting her birth mother, even though her parents tell her that this mother, Rivka, has called and would like to meet her. All readers will be drawn to Simone's story from the first few pages in which she describes her family, the family she knows and loves. JS *įrom the KLIATT starred review of the book, March 2006: 'Simone is a brilliant 16-year-old, wise and funny she is the narrator of this story of how she comes to know her birth mother, how she grows to love her and then must lose her. A brief chapter in my impossible life.' Retrieved from

A brief chapter in my impossible life.' The Free Library.

A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt