The World Without You
The World Without You by Joshua Henkin, published by Pantheon Books in 2012, is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and family dynamics in the wake of tragedy. This first edition spans 321 pages and is written in English. The narrative unfolds during a July 4th gathering of the Frankel family at their summer home in the Berkshires, where they come together to memorialize Leo, the youngest sibling, who was killed while on assignment in Iraq a year earlier.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of family life as the story delves into the complexities of grief and the impact of loss on relationships. The characters, including Leo’s parents and his three siblings, navigate their own struggles and emotions, revealing sibling rivalries and marital tensions. The backdrop of Independence Day and the Iraq War adds depth to the narrative, highlighting themes of familial bonds and individual journeys. The World Without You presents a nuanced portrayal of how a family copes with tragedy and seeks to understand the true meaning of connection amidst their pain.
Official synopsis Publisher
***National Jewish Book Awards 2012, Finalist***
JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for Fiction
From the author of the New York Times Notable Book Matrimony [“Beautiful . . . Brilliant.”–Michael Cunningham], a moving, mesmerizing new novel about love, loss, and the aftermath of a family tragedy.
It’s July 4, 2005, and the Frankel family is descending upon their beloved summer home in the Berkshires. But this is no ordinary holiday. The family has gathered to memorialize Leo, the youngest of the four siblings, an intrepid journalist and adventurer who was killed on that day in 2004, while on assignment in Iraq.
The parents, Marilyn and David, are adrift in grief. Their forty-year marriage is falling apart. Clarissa, the eldest sibling and a former cello prodigy, has settled into an ambivalent domesticity and is struggling at age thirty-nine to become pregnant. Lily, a fiery-tempered lawyer and the family contrarian, is angry at everyone. And Noelle, whose teenage years were shadowed by promiscuity and school expulsions, has moved to Jerusalem and become a born-again Orthodox Jew. The last person to see Leo alive, Noelle has flown back for the memorial with her husband and four children, but she feels entirely out of place. And Thisbe –Leo’s widow and mother of their three-year-old son–has come from California bearing her own secret.
Set against the backdrop of Independence Day and the Iraq War, The World Without You is a novel about sibling rivalries and marital feuds, about volatile women and silent men, and, ultimately, about the true meaning of family.
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