The Puzzle King, by Betsy Clark is a well-written novel, based on Clark’s ancestors and family legends.
The novel opens in March 1936, in Stuttgart, Germany, where a woman named Flora stood in line waiting to see the consul. The story line then moves to 1892, and back and forth through the decades between 1892 and 1936. The main characters in The Puzzle King are Simon Phelps, and Flora Grossman.
Their lives have strange twists, as each one of them emigrates to America. Simon, a Jewish boy, is sent by his mother from Vilna, Lithuania to New York City in 1892, at the age of nine in order to build a new life for himself, and eventually for his family. She promised him that once he was established with a house, she and his siblings would join him. The void of familial loss was ever present throughout his life. His mother’s warmth and love surrounded him at every step of his life journeys, she was there in his thoughts, and surrounded his very essence. Being separated from his mother at a young age had effects on him that would last his life time.
Simon came of age in New York City, and endeavored to improve his condition, attended school and found work as a newspaper boy. From there he found work dressing windows in stores, and from there, his life took him into advertising. Eventually he developed the jigsaw puzzle, and he made more money than he could have ever dreamed of.
Flora, from a Jewish family, emigrated from Germany with her sister Seema, to Mount Kisco, New York, where they stayed with relatives of her mother. The two sisters left behind their mother and their sister, Margot. Flora and Seema came of age in America, each one assimilating and adjusting in different manners. Where Flora was more down to earth, Seema was more outgoing, more elegant in her appearance, and more interested in the monetary aspects of life. She was a kept woman, the mistress of a married man who in essence was antisemitic, and she lived a lavish lifestyle. Flora was the more naive and innocent of the two. Her life in Mount Kisco pales in comparison to the life her sister leads in New York City. She is a bit quirky, and has an unusual hobby collection.
Simon and Flora eventually meet, fall in love and marry. Their marriage is a happy one, although, deep down each one carries the weight of their family on their shoulders. As the years pass by, and Hitler’s power and domination begins to unfold, they begin to understand what is happening overseas. Throughout the years, Flora begs her family to come to America, to no avail. Her sister’s husband refuses, and is adamant in his patriotism to Germany. She and Simon see the writing on the wall, and are aware of what is occurring overseas with the Jews. Simon tries to find his family through the years, to no avail. His money and his blatant use of advertising doesn’t help him in that respect.
The Puzzle King weaves the lives of these two families and their tapestries with strong threads, threads that take the reader through over four decades of family life, struggles to survive, assimilation, and eventually building a business empire. But, more importantly, the story line is one of love and loss, and the inner conflicts that the immigrant faces when trying to sustain in a world opposite from the one they left behind. The feeling of familial loss is ever present for both Simon and Flora.
The two of them eventually travel to Germany. With the last of their money they hope to be able to obtain passports, visas and whatever else is necessary in order to bring over the rest of their family. Simon has composed a list of names, occupations, last known addresses, etc., in order to accomplish his goal. Until his last breath, he is never able to learn what happened to his Lithuanian family. Flora achieves what he could not physically do himself. She helped hundreds of individuals emigrate, escape the events that were unfolding around them, during Hitler’s rule.
Clark has succeeded in writing a novel filled with insight and informative facts regarding the Jewish immigrant experience in America. Her detailed images of how Simon and Flora assimilated into their new surroundings is strong. She has infused The Puzzle King with pages of inspiration, with pages of hope and determination. Simon and his endeavor to succeed literally took him through many stages on a journey that led him to heights he never imagined possible. Flora was right by his side, living the ups and downs of success with him. The flavor of New York City is painted quite vividly, including the essence of antisemitism, which surrounded their days.
I would have liked to learn more about Simon’s family, but Simon’s accomplishments, circumstances and his assimilation were the primary focus of the story line. Also, I was a bit disappointed that when Simon became affluent, he didn’t focus more of his energy on trying to locate his family throughout the years. It wasn’t for lack of caring. He tried through his advertising ventures, but when he earnestly began trying to find them, it became impossible. Those are just my thoughts, and doesn’t diminish from the content of the book.
Betsy Clark has brought us a story that is heartfelt, poignant, and one with the presence of constant yearning, yearning for those left behind, and yearning for the smells, tastes, warm touches and the comforting sights of what once was. As immigrants, and assimilating into a new environment and way of life, Simon and Flora’s positive experiences never overpowered those desires and voids in their lives. Those longings encompass the pages.
Thank you, Algonquin Books, for the review copy.
~~~~~~
© Copyright 2007 – All Rights Reserved – No permission is given or allowed to reuse my photography, book reviews, writings, or my poetry in any form/format without my express written consent/permission.
Friday September 4, 2009 – 15th of Elul, 5769
No comments:
Post a Comment