Joan Leegant
Reviews
WHEREVER YOU GO
“Finally, a novel about Israel by an American Jew that’s written well and without sentimentality... There have been many important novels in English about Israel; Leegant’s is certainly among them." The Forward. Read more.
“Leegant has taken this phenomenon of religious and political fanaticism...tempered it with more balanced perspectives and turned it all into a finely wrought story that raises issues while it keeps a reader turning the pages.”
Chicago Jewish Star. Read here.
“Wherever You Go” follows [Leegant’s] acclaimed short story collection [which] garnered positive critical attention and won the prestigious Winship/PEN New England Book Award as well as the Wallant Book Award. Wherever You Go deserves comparable recognition.” The Jewish Reader. Read here.
“Chekhov famously advised that it is not the job of the novelist to solve problems, only to present them correctly. Joan Leegant's remarkable and affecting novel, at once lucid and lyrical, deftly illuminates the darker confusions of contemporary Jewish life in Israel with a warm heart and a cold eye. Not since the warring Zuckerman brothers in Philip Roth's "The CounterLife" have the exigencies of settler politics and secular desires been so cogently addressed in a work of fiction. Who says the novel has lost its relevance? This one should be required reading.”
Jonathan Wilson, author of
“A Palestine Affair”
READERS RESPOND
“I just finished your brilliant novel. Each sentence is beautiful. The characters are compelling and your precise observations, your wisdom and your humor illuminate every page. Congratulations on creating such an outstanding work.”
Aryeh Lev Stollman, author of “The Illuminated Soul”
Click here for more from readers.
“Leegant knows how to write a good story...I found myself choked up at the book’s end. This is a novel that will make you both think and feel.” Cleveland Jewish News. Read here.
"Intriguing...Leegant tells the stories of three very different Americans in Israel [whose] lives collide dramatically. JT News, The Voice of Jewish Washington. Read here.
Click here for Interviews and some short essays about writing and the writing life.
“Leegant is a talented writer with a sharp eye for detail...and a knack for drawing characters that engage our interest and empathy. Her descriptions of settings and mores in Manhattan, Jerusalem and the West Bank...[are] pitch perfect.” Moment Magazine. Read here.
“It is sometimes hard to believe that Leegant is not an Israeli native; the scenes she describes are realistically and intimately Israeli.” Jerusalem Report. Read here.
“A cautionary tale about the danger of a narrow ideology.” Times Literary Supplement. Read here.
“Heart-warming and heart-breaking...an achingly beautiful book. The Reporter. Read here.
“Very compelling...Equal parts character and plot, it would make a great book club selection.” Boston Bibliophile. Read here.
“A wonderful narrative...that illuminates the psychology, motivations and consequences of political violence. Leegant is a gifted writer.” Jewish Literary Review. Read here.
“The novel is a small masterpiece, small only in that Leegant needs few pages to say a lot. Her book is eloquent, timely, and thought provoking -- sure to be a hit with book clubs. “ Association of Jewish Libraries. Read here.
“The novel is as timely as tomorrow’s inevitable news about religious radicalism and terrorism; but it is timeless, too, in the questions running through its pages.” Ha’aretz. Read here.
“Wherever You Go is a provocative novel that will leave readers wondering where, in fact, we are going when it comes to faith and religion.”
Caribousmom.com. Read here.
Now out in paperback
“This is one of those novels readers won’t stop thinking about after it’s finished, which is the measure of a great book.”
San Francisco Book Review. Read here.
WHEREVER YOU GO in the blogosphere! Read what book bloggers are saying here.
“A rigorously controlled imagination. Not since Philip Roth’s The Counterlife has Jewish extremism in West Bank settlements been given such infectious--and disturbing--voices. Hadassah. Read here.