Review of 'When the Angels Left the Old Country' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Like a modern Sholem Aleichem, carrying on in the rich tradition of Yiddish novels that are deeply engrained in Jewish diaspora life without necessarily a religious point of view. Similarly to classic Yiddish novels, this one also has a strong Labor-rights and immigrant rights focus. I just found this book downright fun without much else to say about it. I really enjoyed Little Ash and the angel, although I didn't love the sideplot about the angel becoming more mortal, and I also wish that some of the restrictions and supernatural elements about the angel would have been protected throughout the novel, instead of it learning to speak all languages. I felt a little funny at the inversion of Aramaic being the one language angels don't know to it being the only language the angel spoke, but this also seems accurate, in that no one else speaks Aramaic anymore. But, anyway, …
Like a modern Sholem Aleichem, carrying on in the rich tradition of Yiddish novels that are deeply engrained in Jewish diaspora life without necessarily a religious point of view. Similarly to classic Yiddish novels, this one also has a strong Labor-rights and immigrant rights focus. I just found this book downright fun without much else to say about it. I really enjoyed Little Ash and the angel, although I didn't love the sideplot about the angel becoming more mortal, and I also wish that some of the restrictions and supernatural elements about the angel would have been protected throughout the novel, instead of it learning to speak all languages. I felt a little funny at the inversion of Aramaic being the one language angels don't know to it being the only language the angel spoke, but this also seems accurate, in that no one else speaks Aramaic anymore. But, anyway, overall the world needs more Yiddish literature revival, even if it's in English (but I would pay a lot of money to have a copy of this translated into Yiddish.)
