"Genius of the World" by Alice Lichtenstein

This first novel is beautifully written. The author uses language with sensitivity and precision to capture the many subtle nuances of experience that influence the lives of her main characters as they develop over a period of nearly twenty years. The story itself is deeply personal, primarily concerned with the reactions of various family members to the complex life of Ira, a dearly loved son, brother, and grandson, as he wanders on the fringes of their own well-honed middle-class sensibilities. While the author assumes the voice and vision of various characters in different chapters, it seems that each voice, except that of the sister Phoebe, is really Phoebe's impression of what the world must look like from the unique perspective of each of the others. This approach is not without merit or interest for the reader, but it does limit the range of vision and insight that might have otherwise been possible as each character is revealed. The problem is that Phoebe herself is searching for the truth, or at least a version of the truth that will work for her, but she has not come close to finding it. She is inclined to try to piggy-back on the answers discovered by her admired big brother Ira, but what works for him, to her grave disappointment, does not seem to work well for her. Even her own, and hence the reader's, understanding of what makes Ira tick, is very limited and superficial. As a reader, I often wanted more of Ira's world view than could reasonably be inferred from the vantage point of his younger sister. The author has attempted to give us more, I think, but the fullness with which Ira's character might have been fleshed out is never adequately realized. In a similar fashion, one senses that other, less major characters, like the mother, the father, and the Nobel Prize winning grandfather, may also be extraordinary in their own different ways. If they are possible sources of inspiration or wisdom, or even of alternate interpretations of meaning or of reality, however, the reader is not given sufficient information with which to ferret out such potential treasures. If these are criticisms of the book, they are not of what has been done or said, all of which are superb, but rather a lament, a reader's longing for more. It is a tribute to the author's talent, that more is wanted, and a hope and expectation that future works will more fully satisfy a reader's hunger for insight and closure.

With compassion and wisdom, Alice Lichtenstein takes us through the minds and into the hearts of her people, from Ira the boy genius to his Nobel Prize winning grandfather, from Phoebe whose love for her brother is unbearably passionate to their mother Eileen, a woman terrified by her children's fury and desire. THE GENIUS OF THE WORLD is a shattering story told with astonishing insight and redemptive clarity. This bold novel is a journey of the body and the spirit. Lichtenstein takes us from Princeton, New Jersey to the coast of California, from a family's Jewish history into a rebellious boy's mysterious conversion to Buddhism. Their story is so tender, so fully felt and fiercely imagined, I couldn't help thinking that the writer must have lived some part of her life with the soul of each one of her characters inside her.

This novel is rich, moving, beautiful. the aithor has a remarkably light touch painting complex, difficult and compelling characters....so, the experience of reading the book has stayed with me as have the characters themselves.