Mrs. Hornstien
by Fredrica Wagman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Fredrica WagmanEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-05-15
ISBN: 0805049568
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Book Reviews of Mrs. Hornstien
Book Review: Transformation and renewal in this powerful, terse novella.
Summary: 5 Stars
A satisfying, circular tale of a woman's journey from naive seventeen-year-old fiancee into a family matriarch. The tale opens with Marty, a Russian Jew who lives in Philadelphia in the not-so-distant past, being introduced to her future mother-in-law. Marty is overwhelmed and intimidated by the grandeur surrounding Mrs. Hornstien and the Hornstien lifestyle. Mrs. Hornstien, called the "Boss Lady" (who is always right), by her son, comes to have a close relationship with Marty, who plays the dutiful daughter-in-law. It is only years after Mrs. Hornstien's death, when Marty's son brings his fiancee to meet her, that Marty realizes that life has come full circle. In this realization is the poignant lesson that Mrs. Hornstien for all her melodramatics and bluster had much to teach, and that life is all too fleeting. A satisfying novella that explores the transition of one woman from Marty Fish to Mrs. Hornstien
Summary of Mrs. Hornstien
A lyrical novel about family, love, loss, renewal, and changing generations follows a young woman's first encounter with her prospective mother-in-law, Mrs. Hornstien, and her realization, years later, as she meets her son's fiance+a7e, that she has become that same woman. 75,000 first printing.Marty Fish is 17 years old when she meets her future mother-in-law, the awe-inspiring Mrs. Hornstien. Mrs. Hornstien lives in an enormous apartment in Ritterhouse Square, Philadelphia, complete with marble stairs and mahogany walls and a zodiac painted on the library ceiling. Heady stuff indeed for a young girl of Marty's humble background. In Mrs. Hornstien, Fredrica Wagman chronicles the relationships between Marty and her mother-in-law and Marty and her husband, Albert, from that first meeting in the Ritterhouse Square apartment to the engagement of Marty's own son 35 years later. It sounds like a pretty massive undertaking, but Wagman accomplishes it in under 120 pages.
The book might be slim, but it's certainly vocal. Everyone in Mrs. Hornstien seems to be shouting; scarcely a page passes without someone speaking in capital letters. This is especially true of Mrs. Hornstien, who seems to value DRIVE and AMBITION above all. One wishes she'd switch to emphatic italics from time to time. This is not a subtle book, but it is a heartfelt one. The message contained within it is obvious: trust love; let troubles strengthen, not break you. Mrs. Hornstien will fit nicely on the shelf next to anything by Robert Fulghum.
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