Cammy Sitting Shiva
Cary Gitter’s Cammy Sitting Shiva is a poignant, often humorous novel about learning through loss.
Cammy is trying to figure out her life. Her playwriting class is the last in a string of courses intended to further her stymied writing career. She does just enough temporary work to pay the rent and contemplates how she messed up her latest relationship. But the news that her father passed away throws her into a tailspin. During the shiva period, Cammy flits between people and places from her past and present, desperate to figure out how she feels about the loss of her father and to navigate the difficulties of returning to her hometown.
Cammy’s mother, with whom she has a strained relationship, and the local rabbi are disappointed with Cammy’s inappropriate behavior during shiva and her frequent absence. Cammy clings to old friends from the small New Jersey town where she grew up, hoping they can offer some solace. But both Fran, her childhood friend, and Nick, the boy she adored in high school, fail to offer the stability she seeks.
The story is amusing, as with descriptions of a writing workshop as a place to “drink cheap wine.” Cammy’s hometown is characterized as being “sardined among dozens of other similarly sized towns”—it’s a nondescript backdrop for her messy struggle to find a path forward. Overexplanations of aspects of Jewish tradition and cultural stereotypes, as of the “Jewish stomach,” weigh down some scenes, though. Still, Cammy’s search for solace through her friends, family, and acquaintances is engaging. In the end, her frenetic behavior calms, and a surprising visit with an unlikely person directs her toward personal resolution.
In the heartfelt novel Cammy Sitting Shiva, a woman negotiates a family tragedy, moving toward a more meaningful existence.
Reviewed by
Caroline Goldberg Igra
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
