All of Us, We All Are Arameans — Eileen Pollack

Stuck with a plane ticket to Israel bought for her by a Polish Catholic ex-boyfriend, Eileen Pollack sets out on a hectic, solitary journey around the country, cataloging the region's rich history, natural beauty, and troubled politics, while examining her own complicated relationship to her Jewish faith and heritage. In this darkly comic, incisive, and nuanced essay, Pollack upends the reader's expectations as well as her own. A travel essay filled with bewilderment, outrage, humor, and faith, “All of Us, We All Are Arameans” takes us on a trip around Israel and the West Bank that few American tourists would have the chutzpah to attempt.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eileen Pollack was born and grew up in Liberty, N.Y., the heart of the Jewish Catskills, where her grandparents owned and operated a small hotel and her father was the town dentist. A graduate of Yale with a BS in physics, Eileen later earned an MFA from the University of Iowa. She is the author of two collections of short fiction, The Rabbi in the Attic and In the Mouth (which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award); a novel, Paradise, New York; and a work of creative nonfiction called Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull, which won a 2003 WILLA Finalist Award. Eileen's second novel, Breaking and Entering, was published in January 2012 by Four Way Books and soon after was awarded the 2012 Grub Street National Book Prize and named a New York Times Editor's Choice selection. Her novella “The Bris” was selected by Stephen King for the 2007 edition of Best American Short Stories.

PRAISE FOR EILEEN POLLACK

"Eileen Pollack writes with great acuity, humor, and intelligent resignation..." -- Lorrie Moore

"...an American talent..." -- Stephen King