(Fiction, 256 pp. 2015)
The novel pans one momentous day in the life of powerful Israeli politician Baruch Kotler, a former Soviet refusenik. Fleeing to the Crimea in the wake of political pressure and blackmail, he unexpectedly comes face to face with the man who denounced him to the KGB forty years earlier. Evoking biblical themes while casting attention to the plight of Jews in both Israel and Ukraine, The Betrayers poses profound questions about ethics and forgiveness.
Reading group guide and a conversation with David Bezmozgis, produced by Little, Brown and Company
Guide to Jewish themes in The Betrayers from the Jewish Community Library
A listing from the Jewish Community Library of other books by Russian Jewish emigres
The Novel as Writerly Returning: a response to The Betrayers by Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer of Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco
Reviews
Arts Fuse by Harvey Blume
The Book Reader (video) by Bari Weiss of the Wall Street Journal
Boston Globe by Brock Clarke
Commentary by Marat Grinberg
Fashioning Fiction by Kelsey Manning
The Financial Times by Amy Waldman
The Guardian by Marcel Theroux
Haaretz by Shana Rosenblatt Mauer
The Independent by Barry Forshaw
J.:the Jewish newsweekly by Lyn Davidson
The Jewish Chronicle by David Herman
National Post by Philip Marchand
New Republic by Sasha Senderovich
New York Times by Boris Fishman
The Oregonian by Alexis Burling
Tablet by Adam Kirsch
The Times of Israel by Renee Ghert-Zand
The Toronto Star by Emily Donaldson
The Wall Street Journal by Sam Sacks
Articles by David Bezmozgis and interviews about The Betrayers
The Novel in Real Time by David Bezmozgis in The New Yorker, March 2014
Interview with David Bezmozgis in The Observer, August 2014
Interview with David Bezmozgis in The Toronto Star, September 2014
The End of Jewish American Literature, Again in Tablet, September 2014
For David Bezmozgis, Fiction Must Go Far Beneath the Surface by Gal Beckerman in The Forward, October 2014
Suggested Articles, Essays, and Websites
Jewish History in Crimea
Before Crimea Was an Ethnic Russian Stronghold, It Was a Potential Jewish Homeland in Tablet, by Jeffrey Veidlinger, March 2014
When Jews ‘Colonized’ Crimea, in Virtual Jerusalem, March 2014
Photo exhibition on Jewish agricultural colonies and industrial schools in Ukraine and Crimea in 1920s and 1930s from JDC
Crimeafrom Jewish Virtual Library
Apprehension Grips the Crimean Jewish Community in Haaretz, March 2014
In Crimea, Some Jews Feel Safer After Russian Intervention, from Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 2014
Crimea’s Sole Rabbi Advises Jews ‘Not to Become Targets’ in The Times of Israel, March 2014
Ukrainian Jews Split Over Russian Action in Crimea, in J Weekly, March 2014
Contemporary Russian Jewish Emigre Fiction
Russian Jewish American Lit Goes Boom! by Sasha Senderovich, in Tablet, June 2014
The Russification of Jewish-American Fiction by Andrew Furman, in Zeek, April 2008
The Ancestral Faith, With a Side of Salami by Boris Fishman in The Forward, October 2004
The Year of the Former Soviet Author by Yevgeniya Traps in The Forward, December 2014
Forgiveness in Judaism
The Limits of Forgiveness by Rabbi Gideon Sylvester in The Jewish Chronicle
Ask the Rabbis on forgiveness from Moment Magazine
King David
Bill Clinton’s “King David Defense” in Monica Lewinsky Scandal in The Forward, October 2014
King David as ‘Collage‘ andKing David, ‘A VProblematic Characterery Problematic Character’ in The Jewish Week, September 2014
The Batsheba Syndrome: The Ethical Failure of Successful Leaders by Dean Ludwig and Clinton Longenecker
