A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

At the start of Bearing the Body, Nathan Mirsky learns that his older brother has died in San Francisco, apparently murdered after years of aimlessness. On the spur of the moment, Nathan leaves his job as a medical resident and heads west from Boston to learn what he can about Daniel's death. His father, Sol--a quiet, embittered Holocaust survivor--insists on coming along. Piecing together Daniel's last days, Nathan and Sol are forced to confront secrets that have long isolated them from each other and to being a long process of forgiveness.

Praise

"It can hurt to be shown reality, to be told the truth. But Bearing the Body reminds you that there's nothing like it. . . . Extraordinary."--Francine Prose, The New York Times

"An ambitious novel driven by a wonderfully talented writer's sense of history, coupled with a deep compassion for his characters, every one of which is rendered fully and with great wisdom."--Richard Russo

"An impressive achievement from a highly gifted writer . . . This sorrowful but beautiful work is richly layered."--Chicago Tribune

"Beautifully, meticulously structured . . . A reader is also forced to notice, with particular acuity, the heavy inadequacy of human relationships."--Los Angeles Times

"The characters in Bearing the Body are riveting. They try and fail, they resist and accept, they survive and feel real."--The Oregonian

"Riveting . . . This novel, more than any I have read in decades, is a masterful meditation on the immorality of familial silence."--The Jerusalem Post

About the Author(s)

Ehud Havazelet

Ehud Havazelet is the award-winning author of two story collections, What Is It then Between Us?and Like Never Before, which was a New York Times notable book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book. He has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim, Whiting, and Rockefeller foundations. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Oregon, and at the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. He lives in Corvallis, Oregon.

photo: Sigrid Estrada