A Singular Beauty by Jerome Charyn

It was from my mother that I learned how memory could kill.~~from A Singular Beauty by Jerome Charyn

As she walked down the street, people were stopped in their tracks by her Hollywood beauty. Faigele attracted men in power, but it was her strength that allowed her to manipulate them.

A Singular Beauty recalls Jerome Charyn's mother and his childhood in the Bronx.

Faigele and and her brother Mordecai were from Grodno, Belarus. In 1927, Faigele's brother sent her to America, promising to join her later. She never heard from him again. Her deep depression left preschooler 'Baby' Charyn as her caretaker. Only when it was arranged for her to receive a fake letter from her brother did she rejoin the world.

The Bronx kindergarten was closed, so Faigele and 'Baby' Charyn taught themselves to read with Bambi. When Faigele became a poker dealer, Baby came with her into a world of criminals and politicians and his mother's lover.

An evocative and unsettling portrait of an era, a neighborhood, and a family, Baby somehow rising above the dysfunctional and complex family and social impediments, this brief memoir makes a lasting impression. Charyn's memories are embellished with a writer's flare so that his story becomes more than memories shared, taking on a cinematic vividness . 

I received a free ebook from the author. My review is fair and unbiased.

from the publisher

In A Singular Beauty, Jerome Charyn magically transports the reader back to his childhood in 1940s Bronx, filled with the tensions of World War II, the rationing of food and fuel, and corrupt public officials who feast on immigrant poverty and hardship. This is the story of his mother, "Faigele," the queen of poker dealers in the West Bronx. Her legendary beauty hypnotizes us as her days and nights are consumed by politicians and crooks; always at her side is young Jerome, whom everyone calls "Baby." The poker hall becomes his kindergarten. Is he her accomplice, her companion, or her cover? Charyn's memoir captures the essence of a child thrust into the role of an adult as he navigates a movie-set world tempered by the harsh realities of the neighborhood and the times.

"He doubtless knows that he has captured an era to perfection . . . This is a terrific little book," -- John Irving, Bestselling author, National Book Award and Oscar winner, from his New York Times Book Review of this memoir.

Jerome Charyn is an award-winning American author. With more than 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life

A Singular Beauty
by Jerome Charyn
Stay Thirsty Press, An Imprint of Stay Thirsty Publishing, A Division of Stay Thirsty Media, Inc. (November 8, 2020)
ASIN : B08MZC6HFP
97 pages
$4.99