Odessa by Gabrielle Sher
Odessa by Gabrielle Sher is a multi-POV historical
horror novel that follows the fate of a Jewish family living in a shtetl in Odessa (a city that at that time was a part of the Russian empire and is now Ukraine).
Teenage Yetta has her whole life ahead of her, despite her father Mordechai’s fears that another pogrom will befall their shtetl after several years of relative peace. Mordechai is often gone from the house, meeting with men from the community synagogue to cook up a secret scheme to save their community from looming threat of further violence from the Cossacks. Yetta is beloved by her much younger brother, Ephraim, and nearly engaged to the neighbor boy, her great love. Yetta’s mother, Freida, finds comfort in obsessions and compulsions, willing her family to stay safe despite the ever-looming threat of violence. But when violence finally does befall the shtetl yet again, Yetta is murdered—but that is not the end of her, or her family’s, story of survival.
I was initially drawn to this because I love literary horror, and my own family fled pogroms in this same area of the world in the early twentieth century (also, the cover art slaps, not gonna lie). But I truly could not put this down and finished it in a day. It was that unique and addictive.
This book is a wholly unique blend of Jewish folktales and folk horror (for fans of >!Jewish folklore, the story heavily features Kabbalah, golems, and dybbuks!<) set against a historical backdrop. The plot is fast and suspenseful. Sher could have easily written a far more bloated version filled with (fascinating!) historical context, Jewish culture and religion, and other asides. But she really lets the plot and characters be the beating heart of the story, and the result is an absolutely heartwrenching and compelling narrative about generational trauma and constant anxiety, the ways we all cope with looming violence and systemic oppression, and what familial love ultimately looks like in the face of certain annihilation.
My only real critiques were that at times, it felt almost screenplay-like (though thats not necessarily a bad thing), and that towards the end the ambiguity regarding >!which Yetta was doing what could be confusing,!< though I know that was somewhat intentional. I also felt that times, >!Sher was hinting at rape and/or queerness in ways that I would’ve appreciated her exploring further, though I do really respect that the violence she!< >!did!< >!describe wasn’t gratuitous either.!<
I sooo want to hear other’s thoughts on this one!