A Replacement Life

A singularly talented writer makes his literary debut with this provocative, soulful, and sometimes hilarious story of a failed journalist asked to do the unthinkable: Forge Holocaust- restitution claims for old Russian Jews in Brooklyn, New York. Yevgeny Gelman, grandfather of Slava Gelman, 'didn't suffer in the exact way' he needs to have suffered to qualify for the restitution the German government has been paying out to Holocaust survivors. But suffer he has-as a Jew in the war; as a second-class citizen in the USSR; as an immigrant to America. So? Isn't his grandson a 'writer'? High-minded Slava wants to put all this immigrant scraping behind him. Only the American Dream is not panning out for him - Century, the legendary magazine where he works as a researcher, wants nothing greater from him. Slava wants to be a correct, blameless American - but he wants to be a lionized writer even more. Slava's turn as the Forger of South Brooklyn teaches him that not every fact is the truth, and not every lie a falsehood. It takes more than law-abiding to become an American; it takes the same self-reinvention in which his people excel. Intoxicated and unmoored by his inventions, Slava risks exposure. Cornered, he commits an irrevocable act that finally grants him a sense of home in America, but not before collecting a price from his family. A Replacement Life is a dark, moving, and beautifully written novel about family, honor, and justice.

About the Author :
Boris Fishman was born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States at the age of nine. He is the editor of Wild East: Stories from the Last Frontier, and his work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the New Republic, the Wall Street Journal, the London Review of Books, and other publications. He lives in New York City. A Replacement Life is his first novel.

Review :
A Replacement Life is a memorable debut by a wonderfully gifted young writer... Boris Fishman has written a beautifully nuanced, tender, and often very funny novel about conscience and familial loyalty that will linger long in the memory Is there room in American fiction for another brilliant young émigré writer? There had better be, because here he is. Boris Fishman's first novel, A Replacement Life, is bold, ambitious and wickedly smart... The only problem with this novel is that its covers are too close together. I wanted more Astonishingly brilliant... we are left satisfyingly provoked by the book's deeper questions about culture and ethics and survival and human nature itself Mordantly funny and moving So strong in voice, humor, and compassion that it transcends fiction's limitations to become something wilder and more contained - like life. What a remarkable debut - true and resonate, humorous and real Shines with a love for language and craft Fishman fearlessly tackles the grandest subjects... a writer not only to watch but envy A terrific talent... a gifted and accomplished writer Stunning... A Replacement Life deserves a wide audience A novel that works beautifully on many levels A hell of a book. Told with amazing virtuosity, fun and serious, funny and sad, profound and eminently readable Suffused with elegant language and sly humor and composed with the authority of a novelist on intimate terms with both his subject matter and art form There's a touch of Gogol here, a touch of Babel, a touch of Dostoyevsky, but... Boris Fishman has fashioned something distinctively and triumphantly his own That rare thing: A novel that asks the big questions, embedded in a page-turner haunted by characters who walk off the page A powerful yet tender narrative that explores the tug of war between the past and the future for immigrant families in America Ingenious Excellent writing, memorable and "real" characters, and a compelling plot Fishman's ability to handle the highly complex moral ambiguities as well as his laugh-out-loud one-liners make this a brilliant tragicomedy - one that almost matches Howard Jacobson at his best The real thing... Fishman is at his best... in the disputed territory between truth and lies Funny and astute Piercing, witty and enviably well written Fishman's engaging debut novel... offers a critical and affectionate portrait of the Russian-American immigrant community This sour, funny debut isn't just another tale of a Jewish intellectual in New York struggling with memories of his past Bold, ambitious and wickedly smart Sly and subversive...smart and sardonic...a touching story about a tenacious way of life disappearing amidthe prosperity of America Fishman never loses the reader's trust. No line in thisbook rings false, no character is unheard, no event seems like a plot device In the way the he presents these [truths] to us with feeling, humor and eyes wide open, novelist Fishman doesn't miss a beat Fishman, like his protagonist, is a born storyteller with a tremendous gift for language on all brow levels, making for a captivating and rare first novel that is tender, learned, funny and deeply soulful - frequently all at the same time A REPLACEMENT LIFE is a novel that works beautifully on many levels. It's about the compromises involved in telling any story, but most especially stories about the Holocaust, about family, and about love. Boris Fishman finds a new way to negotiate these tensions, a new language, even as he sometimes shows how he does it, a little magic act all its own Beautifully written and occasionally quite funny...[a] complicated paradox of remaining loyal to one's community while moving bravely into a new world [Fishman's] tales offer the most powerful reckoning with the immigration experience by a Soviet-born American Jewish author this year-and, perhaps, to date Contemporary novelists have a bad habit of making immigrants appearmonolithically earthy and good-natured, but Fishman knows better... deft and funny Boris Fishman's A REPLACEMENT LIFE is one of the year's most memorable Jewish novels A beautifully written novel about families, love and memory