People of the Book

January 31, 2011
The strength of Michael Chabon's contribution to this uneven anthology, "Golems I Have Known, or, Why My Elder Son's Middle Name Is Napoleon: A Trickster's Memoir," only emphasizes, by contrast, the middling quality of many of the other 19 entries. Chabon blends reality and fiction in his fascinating account of how his life was affected by meeting golems. The most science-fictional tale, Matthew Kressel's "The History Within Us," explores Jewish and alien concepts of the afterlife 6,000 years in the future. The line between fantasy and scripture blurs in Rachel Pollack's "Burning Beard," which explores Joseph's gift—or curse—of dream interpretation. There are probably interesting reasons why there are no Jewish Narnias or Middle Earths, but the short introduction offers little guidance.