Having now finished this book, I am mad at myself for taking so long to read it, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a book that so deeply imbedded the trauma of the Holocaust in its plot more. The writing is flowing, the conversations realistic, the characters feel so finely drawn I could imagine running into them on the street, The thread of history, mysticism, spirituality and faith make this book so readable without being evenly remotely cheesy. I loved the different characters' individual POV narratives and loved even more how neatly fitted into each other, I'm not Sephardic but my family is a family of Holocaust survivors and this story and its characters felt so real that they felt they could have been my own family's.

I loved his book. And now that I found out this something like #5 in the Sephardic cycle about the same family, I must find and read the rest!

I found the reference to a certain mystical experience involving Shelly’s sister, Esther, hard to believe. Other readers may not have an issue with it, but I don’t think it added much value to the story.

All the characters are well-defined. Their flaws make them realistic and relatable. I liked all of them, except Shelly.

The author describes in detail his sexual escapades, unfaithfulness toward his wife, and surprisingly open acceptance by others.

A sometimes convoluted but still astounding book. I can’t find the correct way to completely explain how this novel made me feel but its tragic undertone and wonderfully crafted prose made for an intriguing and enlightening read. Although i found some sections tough and difficult to process and hold onto the book in its entirety is a brilliant achievement.

A genuinely transcendental novel. I've never read a book which manages to make an entire family feel so real before. The narrative structure was perfect; moving between generations and stories and gradually learning how they were all connected worked beautifully. I loved every word.

I didn’t want this book to end – it is uplifting, deeply moving and rooted in a deep belief in the human spirit and humanity. It centres around the love and loss experienced by Benni and Shelley, two cousins who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto under the Nazis, and by those closest to them.

Unlike other fictional accounts of a similar subject matter, their story is told in an undramatic, quiet way, taking the reader to intimate places full of beauty and poetry. It is moving and sad but also funny and very easy to relate to. I loved its narrative structure, which comes in the form of a mosaic with chapters giving voice to the perspective of the main characters, enabling the reader to piece together the lives of Benni and Shelley.

This structure supports and brings across the story’s underlying idea that there are incandescent threads around us that are waiting to be discovered so that we can find a way back into our past and also get a glimpse forward, into our future. I found the idea captivating, that there are so many almost impossible connections between any experiences ever made, which link people across centuries. This notion seems perfectly executed in the story telling of this book and also opened up a window into Jewish culture and mysticism I knew very little about and which I found fascinating.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Parthian Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A powerful read!!! This is the first book which I have read about the Holocaust from a survivor's POV and I am glad that I chose to read this book. 5 stars

There was so much about this book that I enjoyed, but unfortunately it had one major flaw which spoilt it for me. It’s the fifth novel in the author’s Sephardic Cycle, a series of books that explore the lives of different branches of a Portuguese Jewish family over the centuries. In this instalment, we meet Benni and Shelly, survivors of the Warsaw ghetto who have made their way to Canada and the US to build new lives, racked though they are by survivor guilt and the trauma of the Holocaust. The book moves back and forth between the war and the present day and is recounted in six parts by six different narrators, with all the threads being skilfully interwoven until the reader has a complete picture of the family and their experiences. We first meet Benni as an old man and his story is the most compelling, from when he is abandoned in the ghetto after his parents are deported up to today. He is by far the most sympathetic character in the novel. But then we come to his cousin Shelly, his closest friend, and the only other survivor from the whole family. And unfortunately the character of Shelly is totally inappropriate in my opinion as he is obsessed by sex and has a string of sexual encounters that become distasteful to say the least as he revels in them so. Very much a male fantasy here, I feel, an unreconstructed man who can only see others as sexual objects. There is also a mystical element in the narrative which sat uncomfortably with me, though perhaps other readers might relate to this more. So although I admired the structure, the quality of the writing and the powerful Holocaust aspects, and found some of the book totally immersive and a thoughtful and insightful read in many respects, overall I am left feeling ambivalent.

Summary: In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the sole survivors of an ancient and esteemed Sephardic Jewish family try to put their lives and hearts together again as they start over in North America. Benny is a tailor in New York City, who because obsessed with his family’s mystical heritage; Shelly works as a gardener and in a sporting goods store in Montreal, and devotes himself to the living life to the fullest. As different as they are, they remain deeply and passionately committed to each other.

Review: This is a novel told in nonlinear but interrelated pieces, from the perspectives of Benny and Shelly’s wives, lovers, and children. While I could have used some time inside the minds of these two wonderful characters, it was just as fascinating to learn about them through the eyes of their loved ones, who find them frustrating and confusing, but always compelling. I loved the depth of these characters and the way the book explores themes of trauma, love, and what it means to 'win' in a violent world.

As a side note, while the book’s events take place in as diverse places as Warsaw, Algeria, New York, and Boston, it captured the spirit, geography, and feeling of Montreal better than any other book I’ve read.

All told, this was an *******amazing******* book and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It inspired me, it made me think, and it moved me to tears more than once.

Read this if you’re interested in:

- Life after Trauma
- Holocaust Survivors
- 20th Century History
- Judaism
- Montreal
- Families
- Legacy
- LGBTQ2S+

My Rating: 97 (Premise 8, Setting 10, Main Character 10, Plot 9, Intrigue 10, Relationships 10, Success 10, Writing 10, Enjoyment 10, Impact 10)

Note: This will be a featured review on my blog on December 3, 2022.

“We need to learn "to be gentle with one another, because we break very easily," Benni says in The Incandescent Threads. Narrated by two men who survived the Holocaust and the family that cherishes them.”

A long novel of nested, telescoping tales told from different perspectives in the same Jewish family, across time. It’s about escaping persecution in Europe and building a new life that’s made of bits of the past.

One of the Holocaust survivors is a joyously oversexed bisexual man, which makes the story in part about the intertwined forces of sex and death. He’s frequently inside others, and he’s also the character most likely to welcome a ghost inside himself.

He’s close with his cousin, who knows that “everything that’s ever happened was joined together by fine filaments of cause and effect that we can’t normally see.” These are “the Incandescent Threads,” emitting “a warm light, at least to those with mystical vision enough to see them.” The cousin knows these “filaments of cause and effect” from his personal encounters with them; “they linked people across centuries and millennia, and their light was caused by the heat that was generated at the time of Creation.”

It opens space for the question: “Is everything we do determined by a world inside us that we know almost nothing about?”

It’s only as I have just finished Richard Zimler’s recent novel, The Incandescent Threads that I’ve learned that it’s part of his Sephardic Cycle – luckily, it’s not a series that demands to be read in any particular order (it’s also one that’s getting some new English editions released in the coming year which will make it easier for me to find the rest). Given how much I enjoyed The Incandescent Threads – especially the way in which it was written – it’s safe to say I’ll be looking to read the others in this cycle which apparently follows members from different branches of the same family, not just across generations but the centuries as well. Zimler’s ability to delve into how different survivors of the Holocaust (and their families) coped with their trauma over the years and generations was beautiful in its confrontation of the raw grief and pain but also the hope and triumph of simply living life in the face of such loss.

In 2007, Eti Zarco struggles in the face of his father’s grief following the loss of his mother. Memories of Warsaw and the war threaten to consume him. In the 1970s, Julie Zarco helps her husband through a difficult recovery following a stroke – a recovery that forces him to face those he left behind when he escaped Poland for Algiers during the war. In 1944, Ewa Armbruster must decide whether or not to shelter a child brought to her by one of her former piano students. In the 1960s, Tessa Sasportes finds herself captivated by a Holocaust survivor protesting the war in Vietnam. In 1945, George moves to Montreal for a fresh start, eager to put his war service behind him and move past what he saw at Bergen-Belsen. In the 2010s, Eti bridges the gap as his father’s generation reach the ends of their lives and their legacy passes along to a new generation.

What I loved most as I was reading this novel was the structure. While the focus of the novel is the pair of cousins, Benni and Shelly, the stories being told about them are always from those around them – immediate family and friends. It’s very much a novel about the trauma and perseverance of Holocaust survivors but it’s presented through the lens of those who bear witness to the trauma and who are helping them to live with the repercussions of their experiences. I found something so compelling about bearing witness that way as a reader. Having those specific people tell the story reinforces the impact of Benni’s periodic philosophizing about the incandescent threads that connect people at crucial moments in their lives – these are the stories of how those threads tie these people to each other.

In addition to having the story told from various perspectives, it jumps around in both time and place, and yet you never feel like there’s a part of the story missing. Each part is so carefully focused, they can easily function as short stories (in fact, I could easily see some of the sections appearing in anthologies for college courses or even for high school English classes). Thinking about which section is likely to linger with me longest, I find that I can’t even begin to guess. The two that take place during and immediately after the war would be my first instinct. So much of those stories carries the fresh, raw emotional impact of their survival and the initial realizations of just how much was lost. But there’s also something to be said for the sections where the grief and trauma rise unexpectedly, years later and it all needs to be confronted all over again. Because that’s the thing that we tend to ignore or forget or downplay with grief and trauma – it isn’t something you get over and never have to deal with again. They can’t be defeated once and for all. You can must learn to live alongside them, whether they’re your personal trauma and grief or whether they belong to someone you love.

The Incandescent Threads by Richard Zimler is a powerful work inspired by the lives of people affected by the Nazi occupation of Poland. The author has done a brilliant job of tying the past, the present, and the impact of the Holocaust on survivors and their children.

The story starts in 2007 when an old man, Benni Zarco, is being comforted by his son, Eti. Benni is a Holocaust survivor and had lost his entire family in Treblinka. He survives because of the kindness of strangers and his cousin, Shelly, brings him to America years later. Benni and his son share a strained relationship and later we come to know the reasons behind it. Benni doesn’t like to talk about his earlier trauma, despite Eti’s best efforts to reach across to him.

The timeline flips back and forth, between the war and the present. Narrators change as the timeline changes, and we get to know many stories. The moment one character’s story ends, another picks up the threads and weaves their own story. The intertwined stories are close-knit, well-tied, and impactful in delivery.

Ewa, a Polish piano teacher who shelters 11-year-old Benni in her home, Shelly, George, his long-time gay partner, Rosa, Benni’s grandmother, Julia, Shelly’s wife, Teresa, Benni’s wife, and Teresa’s dad are other important characters in this story.

Though the author mentions the shift in the timeline, he does not highlight the narrator’s name. I found this transition confusing and had to read a bit back and forth to understand the speaker’s identity. A few chapters could have been trimmed especially those involving tracing Jewish persecution to Egypt.

I found the reference to a certain mystical experience involving Shelly’s sister, Esther, hard to believe. Other readers may not have an issue with it, but I don’t think it added much value to the story.

All the characters are well-defined. Their flaws make them realistic and relatable. I liked all of them, except Shelly.

The author describes in detail his sexual escapades, unfaithfulness toward his wife, and surprisingly open acceptance by others. Two instances felt outright wrong and uncalled for.

The first one is in the 1950s when 30-year-old Shelly is on a first date with a 19-year-old. I don’t have a problem with the age gap. But I certainly find the next scene disturbing.
“With a confident smile, he told me then it was time for my belle surprise and moved my hand below the table and pressed it into something hard and warm, and it took me a moment to realise he’d taken his cock out of his pants.”
The girl instead of being appalled or terrified finds it interesting and later even falls in love with him and marries him. Would any girl appreciate this kind of interaction on her first date? Does this description suit the era?

The second is regarding his physical relationship with his cousin Benni who is just 11 years old when the much older Shelly indulges in a supposedly comforting sexual act with the kid. Pedophile alert!

Zimler’s writing is moving and terrifying. He highlights familial ties, friendship, and the power of community in a captivating manner. The Yiddish and Ladino vocabulary and Jewish mysticism add a special touch to the narrative.

The Incandescent Threads is a deeply moving story of Holocaust survivors and generational trauma. I would have rated it much higher if not for the uncomfortable and unappealing bits.

I received a free copy of this book from Parthian Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Wordsopedia Rating 3.8/5

I received and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

OH, DEAR.
This book touched parts of my heart that I didn't even know were there, and, to be completely honest, answered some ongoing questions about my life and how I want to live it that have plagued me since I was a teenager.
The prose is beautiful, the characters are tridimensional and real and human, the delicate treatment of its main topic (the lives of holocaust survivors and how they affected people around them) made me tear up more than once.
What a beautiful and heartbreaking read.

I read this one sitting with tears flowing. Zimler's writing is not just from the heart but has taken the very beating ventricles within it and pounded emotion into his characters. No wonder the title links metaphorically to kabbalah - the idea of invisible threads that connect human existence across the years and generations which form the basis for this story about Benjamin (Benni) Zarco and his cousin Shelly.
They have survived the Holocaust. The only ones of their family in Warsaw Poland who live to tell their story. But it is that very story that has immersed their grief and tragedy yet also their strength to survive.
From Benni's boyhood and 'escape' due to Rosa to the wild life of Shelly whose bisexuality crosses all continents we are drawn into the subtle but strong familial ties that can never be cut. So apt Benni trained as a tailor with his shears by his side. Cutting cloth but not family. I loved how Ethan as the son/narrator pulled together family grief, hope and love. There were many superb characters - all genuinely believably formed in my mind as a reader - Navajo George, Ewa, Theresa. Wonderful people.
The Jewish religion in its format is pretty unknown to me but Zimler weaves it into the novel in an unassuming manner that seems rich to feel and touch. I loved the images of dybbuks (ghosts) settling on the shoulders and often in full view of their lives.
"Is it a ghost you are looking for, or an old enemy."
The worlds of Nazi horror, collaboration, escape and humanity were interwoven exceptionally.
Many books have been written about Holocaust survivors. None can surely evoke such intensity yet meaningful physical and emotional belief as this one.

I really wanted to like The incandescent Threads but sadly I didn't and had to give up halfway through by which time the narrative had lost me. The book begins well, with ailing Benni being comforted by his son Eti. Benni lost his entire family in the Holocaust and was only saved by his cousin, Shelly. Eti has been told little about his father's experiences, something common with many Holocaust survivors.

The narrative's timeline shifts throughout and sometimes it wasn't clear to me whose story was being revealed. I found Shelly to be an obnoxious character and I must have missed his redeeming qualities. He may be too realistic for my taste; his sexual exploits left a nasty taste in my mouth, most memorably when he exposes his penis and the girl he is with on a first date proceeds to fall in love with him. This is written so much from a man's POV and is a failing. Possibly would win the Bad Sex Award, if it still exists. Not only that but Shelly is a paedophile. Is it necessary to include this in a contemporary novel? What does it add to the characterisation other than make readers dislike him even more?

I will probably pick this book up again and try to finish it but I can't say it's one that I will be recommending. Thanks to NetGalley and Parthian Books for the opportunity to read and review The Incandescent threads.

Overall, I enjoyed and would recommend this book (with one big caveat to be discussed further down). As a descendant of Holocaust survivors I really appreciate the nuanced depictions in this book and felt it was an excellent treatise on aging, family, survival and death. There were several stories, such as Ewa's chapter, which I felt would make wonderful short stories excised on their own, and this might be how I use it with reading groups in the future. One small aspect I liked in particular was the physical affection, poeticism and sensitivity shown by the male characters in these books, which rang true for the Jewish men I grew up with. And as a Ashkenazi Jew, learning more about Sephardim was definitely insightful.

However, there is one thing that keeps my rating down. [SPOILER] As another reviewer described him, the character Shelly is clearly a creep. The fact that every character condones and celebrates his sexually predatory behaviour seems not only completely baffling but also colours the whole books. How they all chuckle fondly on learning he slept with his much younger cousin who he cared for as a child who relied on him to rescue him from the horrors of the Holocaust. Him being one of the central and beloved characters really cast a pall over what could otherwise have been a long treasured book for me.

4.5*

This was a really heartbreaking, poignant, and also beautifully moving and hopeful book to read. The subtitle describes it as a mosaic of a book, and that felt like the perfect description, as we read and learn about Benji and Shelly through the narratives of their loved ones through different times. This then allows our understanding of their pasts, presents and personalities come through in fragments that overlap and explain, giving life to the absolute horrors they experienced through how they affected the world around them.

This was an outstanding and beautiful book, which hurt at times to read but left me overwhelmingly happy, with the restoration of faith in the power of love.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

I loved the Last Kabbalist and enjoyed this novel just as much, (always a relief). A set of truly engaging characters and wonderful (if at times challenging) tale of the horrors they went through in Warsaw and through the Holocaust. It's never easy getting magical realism into literature but the kabbalist and navajo threads worked extremely well. Great read.

This book sounded intriguing and the format and writing was compelling. Unfortuately I found the charachters to be off-putting and bizarre in their behavior. This is especially true for Shelly who literally has no scruple whatsoever about with whom he has sex and in what circumstance .

What was even more off-putting the descriptions of the personalities and behaviors of the holocaust survivors. I have known survivors for all of my adult life and I know no one who was anything like the charachters that people this book. Even the glossary in the back of the book rings false. Gefilte fish is defined as"fish paste". Anyone who is willing to spend thirty seconds in the kosher section of their supermarket knows this is wrong. A goy is not a Christian, the are simply not Jewish.

The closeness and love displayed by Benjamin, his family and friends among each other was compelling and had the book stuck to this theme it would have been far more successful

*Than you so much to netgalley and the publisher for an Earc in exchange for an honest review.*

The Incandescent Threads is a masterful showcase of Sephardic spirituality and Jewish opposition in the face of devastation.

"𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

The novel oppens with a grown son comforting his ailing father. His mother, the old man's wife, has just died and the two of them are unconsolable, bereft of their rock.

"𝘋𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴?"

We soon learn the man is a holocaust survivor, only 11 when his family was murdered and he was hidden amongst an elderly piano tutor.

Not that his son knows this. But soon, the two of them will be forced to confront their deepest horrors of the past. And ultimately, it will bring them together.

Spanning decades, perspectives, and continents, this is the story of many Jewish families.

"𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴."

This is a book filled with quote worthy paragraphs and devastating truths. There were many aspects of this book that I absolutely loved- like the way the perspectives bounced from person to person but never repeated a time frame, or the casually queer representation weaved into the story. (Many of the characters are queer).

It was beautiful in places, as well as vicious and sad, and emphasized the importance of speaking to survivors, of listening to them as they share their stories and treasuring the knowledge and warnings they can pass on because unfortunately, time runs on and they will not be hear forever.

Ultimately, the elements of Jewishness were beautifuly incorporated, forming a worthy addition to the magical realism genre.