The Ministry of Special Cases
by Nathan Englander
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Book Reviews of The Ministry of Special Cases
Book Review: "The troubles always start when they start for you."
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in the Argentina of 1976 - a dark and violent time of upheaval - "The Ministry of Special Cases" is about a family torn apart by a power-corrupted government. It centers primarily on the actions of Kaddish and Lillian Poznan after their teenaged son, Pato, is `disappeared' by mysterious officials one night, perhaps never to be seen again. Kaddish and Lillian are locked in a futile race against time, knowing that every day their son is missing the likelihood that he has not survived increases. But how can they penetrate the defenses of the government and the police to get information regarding a son whose existence is now denied? At best, Kaddish and Lillian are told that their son must have run away from them, and are advised to give up their search before making `needless' trouble. But the Poznans know the truth about Pato's disappearance - Kaddish was home when his son was escorted from their apartment by mysterious men, who also removed three of Pato's books that they had deemed inappropriate.
The search for their son leads Lillian to Argentina's Ministry of Special cases, where hundreds of people line up and fight for information about missing loved ones, and are frustrated by bureaucratic dead-ends. Worse than the government's unswerving apathy toward Kaddish and Lillian is the fearfully uncaring attitude that they find from general citizens they turn to for assistance. Everyone is too wrapped up in their own problems to care about the Poznan's plight - and much too afraid of losing their own family if they anger the government. Until their own son was taken from them Kaddish and Lillian themselves had been blind to the severity of the problem - Lillian is genuinely startled to find so many people waiting at the Ministry of Special Cases, and dismayed to hear from a couple that is finally giving up hope after two long years of no news.
The strength of Englander's story is that the Poznans are a believable family unit. They are not the utopian family of amateur fiction, but a realistic family burdened by animosity and failure and bitter disappointment. Kaddish is marked by his low birth - an `hijo de puta' who will never earn respect or dignity, and the spectacular failures of his numerous get-rich-quick schemes to overcome his status have put a great deal of strain on his marriage to Lillian, who had believed in his abilities as a young (naïve?) young woman. And Pato is your typical disgruntled teenager; he hates his parents, acts out, runs away to his friends' home, smokes pot, and refuses to listen to their sage advice that could have kept him safe. And yet the reader feels the strength of their familial bond thanks to Englander's prodigious talents as a writer. Despite their fighting, it feels devastating when the Poznans are torn apart.
But is "The Ministry of Special Cases" for everyone? No. Englander is a gifted writer, but his eccentricities will turn some readers off as unnecessary and annoying. As a fan of Nathan Englander's story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories, perhaps I was already primed for his style before picking this book up, but I enjoy his quirks and I have spoken to several other people who do too. For those who can appreciate them, "Ministry" is a one-of-a-kind treat and an amazing novel.
Grade: A-
Book Review: The Power To Do Anything
Summary: 5 Stars
Englander's book is truly an amazing example of the author's superb writing abilities. It compares very favorably with his first book of short stories, but here, Englander gets into serious depth of character development and how they deal with bad situations way beyond their ability to control.
The book describes a period during the dictatorship of Argentina and the discrimination experienced by Jewish Argentinians during the reign of the dictatorship in the country at the middle and end of the 20th century. The book focuses on not just discrimination against Jews, but governmentally sanctioned discrimination against youth and liberal or different political and social ideas and ideals. The book is the story of one very unusual Jew, who realized that an old and closed Jewish cemetary could in fact be of danger to those still living. Many decades ago, the business of prostitution in Buenos Ares was a Jewish monopoly, no longer true, but at a time it was. Those people had their own cemetary and it occured to Kadish, the protagonist, that people would pay to have their last names removed from those tombstones. So, he started a business removing the names off people's tombstones to protect those still living.
While the story centers around the Jewish element of the social climate, Englander is careful to point out that the discrimination was not just against Jews, but against Youth and Thought. The police randomly rounded up groups of youths and then either incarcerated them, released them or killed them. The actions of the police were related to power and control.
In addition, Englander paints a wonderful picture of the legal system and its absurdity. In fact, the book is reminiscent of "The Trial" by Franz Kafka, in that no matter what is done, there seems to be no end or ability to seek legal relief or redress. The system seems to be designed to specifically frustrate and delay the attempts of any individual trying to get information on any youth taken away by the police.
In totality, the book is a truly wonderful picture of life in a totalitarian dictatorship, where those who are given the power to enforce the law, abuse this duty to the maximum extent. Absolute power corrupts absolutely; as illustrated so beautifully and graphically by Englander in this book.
The book is truly powerful and beautifully written. All the author's unique talents have been brought to bare in this fabulous work. The book is recommended to all adults who have interest in seeing how things become skewed horribly in situations where there is no check and balance on power, and where people find it amusing and fun to inflict pain, anguish and even death randomly on people, purely because they CAN! It is a fast reading book and highly recommended for its beautiful writing and its clarity of intent.
Book Review: An Unpleasant Read
Summary: 3 Stars
In 1976 Isabel Peron was removed from the presidency of Argentina thanks to a military coup that also saw the disappearance of thousands of dissidents. Nathan Englander's `The Ministry of Special Cases' is the fictional account of the disappearance of Pato Poznan, the teenage son of Kaddish and Lillian Poznan and his parents desperate quest to recover him.
If a person is measured by how they react under pressure than the Poznan's fail completely. They are self centered, abusive and bull headed. Kaddish, occasionally, even resorts to physically attacking people for no apparent reason as he frantically searches for Pato. Luckily he's not just a loser he's a wimpy loser and generally gets his rear end handed to him. At one point a police officer starts pummeling Kaddish with a phonebook to my delight. So who am I supposed to be rooting for in this story? Lillian is even worse. She's verbally abusive to everyone and no one gets it worse than Kaddish and when Lillian unleashes she holds nothing back, attempting to emotionally hurt people as much as she possibly can. She believes that as people around Argentina are vanishing the world should stop moving to look for her own precious, sweet son. Lillian demands sympathy from all but offers none in return. The sad thing is that I got the sense that the Poznan's wanted their son back more for their own emotional wellness than out of any real concern for Pato.
This book really did not do it for me. Just about everyone in it is detestable. Pato didn't even have the dignity of being taken for being a dissident. He was just an obnoxious, whiny brat who forgot his ID one too many times during the time of a coup. At one point the Poznan couple threatens their hapless neighbor for not doing more to stop Pato from being abducted despite the fact that the neighbor had clearly taken a severe beating from the police. The neighbor brings up the fact that Kaddish stood right there as Pato was taken and did nothing but this only pushed the Poznan's to increase their threats. Were the neighbor's words a signal on the author's part of his awareness that the central characters of his book were complete jerks? It's hard to say. At the end of the book Kaddish seems to reach some sort of nadir of pathetic with an absurd plan that completely blows up in his face. It's just the final cap in a long, bleak pointless trial.
I'm actually going to give the author one extra star just for having the bravery to end his depressing novel with such a dismal downbeat, conclusion. There is no Hollywood ending here and this book brings no joy. Read it if you want but I was glad to reach the final page.
Book Review: Englander's Great First Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh man, is this a great book. You can read elsewhere to hear a synopsis of the plot, so I will simply state that the book concerns a family of Argentine Jews--the Poznans; Kaddish, Lillian and their son Pato--who also happen to be outsiders during the years of terrible political upheaval in the 1970s when thousands of innocents were disappeared.
In my estimation, the issue at the core of this novel is the nature of truth. Treading through territory previously explored by Julio Cortazar in his excellent story 'Blow-Up', Englander raises the problem of the necessity for information to be shared and agreement to be reached in order for knowledge to exist. It is through this particular epistemological quandary that Englander is able to illuminate the insidious genius of the Argentine military junta's program of disappearances. By altering the historical record and using fear tactics to ensure the discretion of witnesses the government was able to absolve themselves from their numberless crimes. How can you charge the abduction of an individual who cannot be shown to have ever existed? These notions of altering the present by erasing the past are elaborated further through the character of Kaddish and the 'respectable' Jews who hire him to chip away their parents' names from their headstones in the cemetary of the now defunct Benevolent Self--the congregation of gangsters, prostitutes and other low-lifes. And I almost forgot about the nose jobs! Kaddish arranges nose jobs for the whole family in payment for defacing the grave of the parent of a prominent Jewish plastic surgeon (the metaphor is either brilliant or it was taken waaayyyy too far--i cannot decide)! Not only does this serve to 'erase' the family's link with their Jewish forebears, but it also removes their missing son's image from his mother's face.
The Ministry of Special Cases is also a story about families. The truth that Englander has created through this mother, father and son is astounding. The mythic struggle between a father and his son and the no less mythic love of a Jewish mother are all there and all ring wholly true. It is ultimately the family's refusal to accept the government's revised version of events that will keep their son alive, if only in their own minds.
This is one of the most beautiful, lyrical and heart-breaking books I have read this year. It is also one of the most philosophically challenging. Englander's language is transcendent and his ear for a specific South American Jewish manner of speech is pitch perfect. You will not be disappointed.
Book Review: Low Comedy and Sharp Wit Lead to Laughter, Tears, Sadness, Hope, Desolation, and Absolution
Summary: 5 Stars
Seldom has a novel commanded so many of my emotions. My heart felt like a piano on whose strings a master musician was playing both polkas and dirges. But most of all, Mr. Englander kept surprising me. I usually read mysteries to enjoy fictional surprises, but The Ministry of Special Cases provided many more surprises than any mystery I've read in recent years.
When I began reading the book, I had to stop and start over. I couldn't believe what I was reading. It's almost as though Hamlet started with the grave digger's scene.
How can I summarize this book? I'm not sure I can do so accurately, but I'll hit some of the right notes of I call this book Don Quixote at The Trial. In the process, Mr. Englander unerringly portrays a society that's failing because each person only wants to look out for himself or herself.
You will find yourself in Argentina during the beginning of the "dirty war" when many young people disappeared. What would it like to be a parent of such a young person? That's what you will graphically experience by reading The Ministry of Special Cases.
Kaddish Poznan was conceived through an accident between his prostitute mother and a customer. The rabbi granted Kaddish such an unusual name in hopes it would protect him. As the book evolves, you'll see that the name has indeed shaped his character as well as his actions. Many of the "respectable" Jews in Argentina at the time had forbearers who also engaged in illicit and illegal activities, while sporting colorful names such as Hezzi Two-Blades.
Kaddish has been looking for the big score all of his life, but hasn't found it. As the book opens, Kaddish is busy defacing a grave in the older part of the Jewish cemetery so that a connection to a dubious forbearer can be disguised. That's how Kaddish earns his cigarette money. His university student son, Pato, is a reluctant participant. Father and son are in continual conflict. Kaddish's wife, Lillian, supports the family by working hard for little pay in an insurance broker's office. Concerned about safety, she is soon out buying the strongest door she can locate.
I won't go into more of the story from there lest I give away important details, but you'll find the plot to be amazingly well constructed to open up unexpected doors to empathy and understanding as you identify with one or both of the parents and wonder what you would do to keep your youngster safe.
How can I summarize what I feel about the book? It's a masterpiece.