The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield

It’s difficult to determine whether Fishbeyn’s doorstop debut is intended to be a diverting contemporary romance or a melodramatic polemic against anti-Semitism. The first-person narrative of Russian Jewish émigré Emma reveals a self-indulgent navel-gazer who is both grandiloquent and romantic. The romantic part withers a bit when her interfering grandmother sets her up with the ostensibly perfect match: Alexei Bagdanovich, who’s a Russian Jew, a Princeton man, and determined to remain chaste until marriage. That’s not exactly ideal for this newly minted American feminist who shed her birth name, Lena Kabelmacher, quicker than you could say “Emma Kaulfield.” Liberated as she professes to be, behind Emma’s American face lurk Lena’s roots. As she indulges in a no-strings affair with dashing gentile Eddie Beltrafio, the voices of her ancestors nibble away at her so-called liberated resolve. Occasional laugh-out-loud moments provide respite from the avalanche of angsty, guilt-heavy, conscience-cleansing prose. Agent: Don Fehr, Trident Media Group. (May)