The Peace Process
A Novella and Stories
In each of us, there is a place that lies somewhere between pleasure and pain, and that’s the spot Bruce Jay Friedman aims for—his pithy, funny, dark tales show just how far astray a life can go as his quirky male protagonists find themselves in absurd situations created by their own disturbed and disturbing views of the world.
New York-based Friedman, whose screenplay for Splash (1984) received an Academy Award nomination, is a gifted short-story writer, novelist, playwright, memoirist, screenwriter, and the pioneer of dark Jewish humor in literature. He is at his best in this collection that features the story of a former filmmaker, now a lowly location scout on his first trip to Israel, who winds up engineering a young Israeli Arab’s escape to New York, only to see him land both a dream movie deal and the sexy, Yiddish-speaking woman whose affections he’d hoped to win for himself. In another tale, a writer silenced by the horrors of Nazi Germany is inspired to take up his pen again by an unlikely fan: Joseph Goebbels. Still another finely-crafted story tells of an academic from Detroit with “a distant wife, a rudderless daughter, shrinking income, and crumbling knees” who visits New York to take in an off-Broadway play and finds a stand in for his three deceased psychiatrists in an actor who plays the part to perfection on stage.
A master of his craft, Friedman takes aim at the foibles and frailties of the human male with penetrating wit to reveal the absurdity at the heart of life.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
