Review of Fabulous Small Jews: Stories

Joseph Epstein. Fabulous Small Jews: Stories. Houghton Mifflin Company.  2003. 

I learn from Epstein's long  and short essays. I enjoy and am entertained by his stories. Most of these stories are set in the Chicago area. These stories cover a wide range of situations and issues. All informative, believable, realistic. No violence or explicit sex. 

The stories have a range of characters and story lines that include addressing gaining material wealth, professional success and failure, education, death of a spouse, new love gained and lost, becoming a grandparent, divorce. There are seventeen stories in this collection and they are all original. No story connects with another. Epstein's imagination and creative writing capabilities are on full display here. The only constant is that almost all of the characters in these stories are Jewish or connected to a Jewish heritage in some fashion. The challenge of navigating anti-semitism is present but understated. 

I found these stories a pleasant way to unwind in the evening. 


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