I loved parts of this; parts were confusing. Set in a Jewish shtetl in the late 1900's, this is really a story of the connection between women: friends, sisters, mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters. This is also a story of life in a tradition bound small village in Poland and the intimate lives that live there. Four girls grew up together and were best of friends. Now, as grown women, they are leading separate lives. One is married to a butcher and unhappily seems unable to bear children. Another forsaking her education, married young and now has many children. One left for America with her husband but has died there leaving a son and daughter who return to Blaszka, their mother's village. The other, Misha, has divorced her husband, lives alone and serves as a midwife (and herbal healer) to the village.

Even living their separate lives, they cannot become unconnected. As Misha turns up pregnant, there is mystery as to who the father is. Emma, the young girl born in America, returns to the village with worldly ideas of freedom and scorns the traditions of the village. There are a number of male characters whose lives affect the women. Berekh is a young rabbi and the probable father of Misha's child. Yarush is a horrible, cruel thief who could also be the father because of rape.

There is an element of the supernatural intertwined. I was never able to figure to quite get the idea of the "Director" and the "Traveler" who appear in several different chapters. I'm just not a fan of the mystical and this led to a lesser rating. However, I loved the ending of the book and the imagery of the river midnight under the ground that ties us together. ( )

Set in a shtetl in Russian occupied Poland during the late 1800s, this is a story told multiple times. The action takes place over a year’s time (with both flashbacks and glimpses of the future, too); first it’s told from the viewpoint of the women of the village, then again from the men’s POV, then finally from the view of the main character, Misha, the shtetl midwife and herbalist. While the whole village is part of the story, the backbone of it follows the pregnancy of Misha, ended with her giving birth.

The story focuses on four women. As young girls, they were nicknamed the vilda hayas, the wild creatures, because they ran wild through the forest and the village. They had great plans. But in the end, one emigrated to America and died, leaving two children; one ran her husband’s business brilliantly but never had a child; one had too many children; and the fourth was Misha, who did not have a husband but was pregnant, had one divorce, still wore her hair loose, and knew all the secrets of the shtetl.

Each telling brings the story and the people more into focus, like watching an old interlaced GIF download years ago. While we find out what happened in the first telling, by the end of the third telling we know *why* the things happened. Hard things happen; children are orphaned, a young girl goes to jail, an unspeakable crime takes place. But it’s still a story of joy; their sect of Judaism asks them to look for joy, to help each other, to let no one starve.

Nattel brings the shtetl to life with her writing. From the houses with the chickens roosting in the hallways, to the herbs that Misha gathers and stores, to the way that religion permeates every aspect of the villager’s lives, it’s all described in loving prose. The love and friendship that binds them together is warm and alive; the story is like a tapestry with a million details. While the pace is moderate to slow, I love this book. It has a touch of magical realism and a lot of life. ( )

The River Midnight tells the story of a Shtetl in Poland using 4 women friends, the "Vilda Chayas" (wild animals, a nickname they received as children because they were mischievous) as the main characters. Easy to see this novel as a play with a number of acts in which each main character and sub-characters move the simple plot forward.

Hard to believe a poor Jewish hamlet could contain so much depth and wisdom about women's strengths, hidden or otherwise, spirituality and belief in G-d, loyalty, innocence, anger and violence, birth and death, education and ignorance. These 4 women care deeply about their families, neighbors, the town and do everything in their power to help each other whether giving charity to those without enough to eat, praying, herbal preparations, advice or love. They are not perfect but understand how they all need each other.

I love Nattel's capable use of magical realism, the river as purifier, gossip and humor to create a wonder of a world fraught with danger but filled with life and fulfillment.

Well done! ( )

As much a look into history as it is a piece of transporting entertainment, Nattel's The River Midnight brings to life the men and women of a shtetl northwest of Warsaw. Weaving small-town gossip with frightening politics, the concerns of a small town with individuals in hope and in mourning, and half-dreamt magical realism with hard-pressed reality, the novel is a layered masterpiece, and well worth reading.

In Blaszka, this fictional village of Polish Jews, everything is paramount. Meticulously detailed, the novel moves effortlessly between characters, teaching history even as it entertains. On some level, there's a pregnant midwife named Misha who is at the center of everything. On another level, she is less important than the village community, and only as important as the young men and women who are around her, accepting or rebelling against changing politics and a seemingly shrinking village.

All together, it's difficult to say anything at all about this work. More than any historical fiction I've read in recent years, this book manages to balance daily life with historical care while still treating issues of the time which go beyond the day-to-day, and there's something magical about the way it all comes together.

Simply, this is one of those novels that is worth reading. Call it literary fiction or magical realism or historical fiction or whatever you like--it tells a wonderful story, with both grace and humor, and it is, very simply, powerful.

Absolutely recommended. ( )

Midnight River, by Lillian Nattel. Toronto : Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 1999.

A gentle, masterfully told novel about a Polish shtetl at the end of the nineteenth century with different women and men recounting their own perspectives of happenings and their own secrets.

When we were discussing historical fiction a couple of months ago, I was impressed by the comments of Lillian Nattel. I found her blog and this book, and I am thrilled that I did. Her historical fiction meets all my expectations and all those suggested by others.

Nattel is simply a fine writer. Her text is smooth and appealing, and while her characters differed from people I know personally, they are utterly believable. Her depiction of shtetl life is never nostalgic or sentimental because she shows us the all-too-frequent obstacles and pains the villager’s experienced. As a historian, I was particularly impressed with how thoroughly she had researched her topic and how well she conveyed what she had learned. Nattel didn’t just accumulate information and throw it at readers. She seems to have immersed herself in her historical setting so deeply that details about it flow gracefully in and out of her story, never heavy or boring as historical data can be in novels. Her glossary and bibliography are very helpful.

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