The Believers by Zoe Heller

The Believers by Zoe Heller is a harsh satire which tells the story of a family in crisis. The Litvinoffs are a clichéd left-wing New York family, led by patriarch Joel Litvinoff, a famous, flamboyant civil rights lawyer. For most of the book however, Joel Litvinoff is in a coma, and the effect of his illness on his wife and three children is the focus of the novel. The book primarily describes the struggle of Audrey, Joel’s wife, and two daughters, Rosa and Karla, to figure out what they believe about themselves and about their family (the character of Lenny, the drug addicted son, is somewhat poorly developed). Heller alternates telling the story from the perspective of Audrey, Rosa, and Karla. For Audrey, Joel’s coma and the revelations about his behavior that arise as a result cause her to question the years she spent devoted to building her husband’s legacy. Meanwhile Rosa, who for most of her life followed in the radical footsteps of her father (spending several years helping “the workers” in Cuba), finds herself inspired to explore becoming an Orthodox Jew (a severe rebellion from her aggressively secular upbringing). Finally Karla, who is the classic do-gooder, a social worker and peacemaker in her family, is in an unhappy marriage and is contemplating having an affair. Heller presents each of characters in a supremely unpleasant light – they are all for the most part unlikeable (especially Audrey, who hurls cringe worthy insults at her children and anyone else she comes into contact with). But Heller tells their story in a highly entertaining way. I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

The book inspired me to make a twisted version of a traditional Jewish food, decidedly not kosher, like each of the Litvinoffs.