Happy New Years
In Maya Arad’s epistolary novel Happy New Years, an Israeli immigrant writes annual Rosh Hashanah letters to her friends back home, masking the reality of her life in the US.
From 1966 to 2016, Leah writes to women from her teacher’s college days. Her missives brim with optimism and life-affirming quotations. Ending up in Massachusetts due to the promise of a nonexistent teaching job, Leah nevertheless makes a life for herself: She marries, divorces, moves to Silicon Valley with her children, and forges a career in real estate while having an active love life.
Postscripts to Leah’s closest friend, Mira, form the truest picture: Leah is obsessed with her physical appearance, makes disastrous decisions about men and finances, and has problems with one of her sons. While she takes responsibility for her failures, her final letter reveals the trauma she’s carried for decades. Refusing to be “ashamed anymore,” she tells Mira the truth, including about her friendships with the other women.
The dominant narrative voice is Leah’s; the exceptions are a preface written by the posthumous publisher of her letters, an afterword penned by family members, and snippets of other characters’ quoted speeches in the letters. Occasionally, the epistolary conceit becomes cloying, but Leah’s voice is compelling on the whole, vacillating between self-delusion and self-awareness. The gulf between the cheerful letters and the dark addenda sustains tension, while the social and political changes in the US and Israel over fifty years form the larger backdrop to Leah’s personal changes.
A poignant novel, Happy New Years is about a woman who, despite her flaws, attempts to stake her place in the world.
Reviewed by
Yelena Furman
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.
