Pollack, Eileen, (The Bible of Dirty Jokes [pb, Four Way Books, 2018]) 978-1945588143 [This novel serves as Pollack’s most direct engagement with the mystery genre and Jewish criminal history. The narrative centers on Ketzel Weinrach, a failed stand-up comic who travels to Las Vegas to find her beloved brother, Potsie, after he goes missing. To solve the mystery of her brother’s disappearance, Ketzel is forced to dig into her family’s shady history and its deep-seated ties to the legendary Jewish mob and Murder, Inc. The legacy of the Jewish mob—juxtaposed against the backdrop of the Catskills hotel era and modern-day Las Vegas strip clubs—acts as the primary catalyst for the plot and the main vehicle for exploring themes of generational guilt, family secrets, and Jewish identity.
United States · Fiction author
Eileen Pollack
Eileen Pollack (born 1956, Liberty, NY, resides in Boston) [B.S. in physics (Yale U., 1978) and MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1983. She spent decades as a professor, eventually becoming a tenured faculty member and the long-time Director of the Helen Zell MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. She is currently a professor emerita. Author of multiple novels, short story collections, and creative nonfiction books. Her 2018 novel, The Bible of Dirty Jokes, is a comedic murder mystery deeply rooted in her upbringing, exploring the history of Borscht Belt comedy, Las Vegas, and the Jewish mob. Her nonfiction work Woman Walking Ahead was adapted into a major feature film starring Jessica Chastain. While she is primarily recognized as a literary fiction writer, essayist, and scholar, she deliberately blends elements of the missing-person thriller with historical Jewish underworld themes in her work.
Pollack, Eileen, (Breaking and Entering [pb, Four Way Books, 2012]) 978-1935536123 [Though not a traditional whodunit, this novel flirts with the political thriller genre and features criminal subplots. The story kicks off when a client of the protagonist’s husband commits suicide, plunging the family into a dark period and forcing a relocation to Michigan right before the Oklahoma City bombing. The narrative deals with a massive explosion that destroys a public building, unleashing a wave of conspiracy theories regarding Arabs, Jews, and the FBI. The book functions as a psychological and political thriller driven by fear, militia groups, and anti-Semitic or religious scapegoating. - Google/AI]