His entry begins:
As it happens, just as my own Jewish-themed novel is about to be published, I have been teaching Philip Roth's The Ghost Writer, which has long been a favorite of mine, to my students at Tulane. I told my class that certain books, when you read them at a young enough age, kind of work their way into your writerly DNA and influence just about everything you write thereafter, whether you're aware of it or not. In this case, the influence of The Ghost Writer on my novel I Pity the Poor Immigrant is very obvious to me now, though I...[read on]About I Pity the Poor Immigrant, from the publisher:
The stunning new novel by the author of Sway is another "brilliant portrayal of life as a legend" (Margot Livesey).Lazar's novel Sway is on the list of forty-six essential rock reads.
In 1972, the American gangster Meyer Lansky petitions the Israeli government for citizenship. His request is denied, and he is returned to the U.S. tostand trial. He leaves behind a mistress in Tel Aviv, a Holocaust survivor named Gila Konig.
In 2009, American journalist Hannah Groff travels to Israel to investigate the killing of an Israeli writer. She soon finds herself inside a web of violence that takes in the American and Israeli Mafias, the Biblical figure of King David, and the modern state of Israel. As she connects the dots between the murdered writer, Lansky, Gila, and her own father, Hannah becomes increasingly obsessed with the dark side of her heritage. Part crime story, part spiritual quest, I Pity the Poor Immigrant is also a novelistic consideration of Jewish identity.
My Book, The Movie: Sway and the Page 69 Test: Sway.
The Page 69 Test: Evening's Empire.
Writers Read: Zachary Lazar.
--Marshal Zeringue
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