‘I still have a foot in two worlds. I’m trying to bring those two worlds together, but it remains a struggle,” said Reuven Fenton, whose debut novel, , was just released by Central Avenue Publishing. The two worlds he is referring to are Orthodox Judaism and secular American life, and he confronts the dichotomy between these usually distinct universes in .
Fenton, a rare New York Post reporter who is Orthodox, is known to readers for his hard-hitting news stories, which often deal with crime, in a tabloid famous for its eye-catching headlines and focus on sensational aspects of the news. His latest article the day after our interview carried the headline “Man fatally stabbed after running into NYC bodega for help as violence plagues Big Apple stores,” which gives a good idea of the kind of news he covers. He is the author of a nonfiction book, , published in 2015; but with , he turned away from crime and looked into himself to come up with a unique story of identity and redemption that examines no less of an issue than the essence of Judaism.
Goyhood tells the story of Mayer (né Marty) Belkin, a brilliant yeshiva student in Brooklyn married to the rabbi’s daughter. As the book opens, his biggest problem is that they haven’t been able to have children yet. But a phone call changes everything, and suddenly he heads back to the small Georgia town that he left years ago.
IDA MAE, his hard-drinking, hard-partying mother, has passed away and he has to attend her fun.
