There is No Other

Jonathan Papernick presents nine insightful, tender, and darkly humorous stories. From the streets of modern Israel to the barrooms of Brooklyn to a suburban New England synagogue, the reader easily connects with characters who search for love and acceptance in a world scarred by loss and loneliness.In “The Madonna of Temple Beth Elohim,” an Iraq war veteran returns from battle to find that his old life has left him behind and that a temporary job working at a synagogue may prove to be his salvation when the Virgin Mary appears on the eve of the Jewish high holidays. In “My Darling SweetheartBaby,” a working-class drunk waits on his stoop for his disability cheque and the courage to finally proclaim his love to a local prostitute. In the title story “There Is No Other,” a rage-filled Jewish boy, tormented by his African lineage, arrives at a school Purim party dressed as the prophet Mohammed, demanding difficult answers from his hapless teacher.Magical, erotic, spiritually penetrating and terrifyingly realistic, these provocative stories continue to mark Papernick as a writer who passionately develops his storytelling in the tradition of Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth and Nathan Englander.

"It is Papernick’s sense of the surreal, his dark humor and his consciousness of the deep roots of Jewish and Muslim culture that distinguish this collection."  “Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

"Papernick’s penetrating, clear-sighted stories ring true." “New York Times Book Review

"An utterly original writer?one who doesn't rely on gimmicks, but rather on amazingly real characters and consistently page-turning plots."  “Dara Horn, author, In the Image