Word: ilana
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Jared C. Kennedy Andrew Kim Bom S. Kim Nancy H. Kim Ronald Y. Kim Boris Khentov Danielle J. King Matthew T. Kishlansky Adam J. Klein Michael L. Klein Tom M. Kolokotrones Ronald Y. Koo Alison M. Kraus Gregory S. Krauss Justin M. Krebs Praveen S. Krishna Taissa N. Kuncio Ilana N. Kurshan Jennifer C. Laine Sukanya Lahiri India F. Landrigan Eugenie A. Lang Melissa R. Langsam Benjamin A. Lanson Carmelo Larose Garrett L. Law Bryan S. Lee Joseph J. Lee Laura T. Lee Linus Lee William S. Lee Adrienne Leight Jessica Leino Franklin J. Leonard Zachary D. Levenick Sarah...
...Butnitz's descriptions are often overdone, conferring the sense of a writing exercise gone awry. Ilana watches her bother Ari "rip the sheep from piece, till it was nothing but bloody meat," then describes him "trying to put the animal back together, licking his fingers and crooning, cramming the limbs back into their sockets." This display of the grotesque is one of many that causes the reader to wince and writhe; while indicative of her poetic prowess, Budnitz's portrayal of old country rituals offers little to Ilana's narrative and destroys the integrity of her tale...
...With the last two narrators, the novel spins out of Budnitz's previously firm control. The style changes from short sentences to descriptive passages, while snippets of modern existence attempt to address all the moral and emotional issues Budnitz has introduced. To prevent the rich symbolism of Ilana's account in the old country from laying waste, Budnitz reintroduces the egg as the unifying concept for the novel. When Ilana dies, the egg loses its sheen, and the novel comes to a halting...
...Whereas Ilana's narrative is laden with folklore, Sashie, the second narrator, sounds equally fictional, for her story is an unoriginal interpretation of growing up as a first generation American. Still, the absence of lingering discussions of goblins makes Sashie's account is much more believable. Sashie feels the tension of assimilation; in one instance, she appeals to her hair for assistance in cultivating identity-- "There was a black coating on my hair but I could see out of the corners of my eyes that it was golden underneath, if they would only look." Yet even this typical immigrant assimilationist...
...Narrators change voice almost arbitrarily as Budnitz jumps from Sashie to Ilana. Aside from the content of each narration, Budnitz makes little effort to create a different stylistic or narrative voice for each one. She intrepidly attempts to address the conflict of old values and new, western values through the interplay between Ilana and Sashie. However, an analysis of dishtowels, tea leaves and hospitalization from two perspectives destroys the potential depth of this exchange. Budnitz tries to be too profound in her simplification, taking on too large a human theme within too small of a context...