Joshua

A Brooklyn Tale

By: Andrew Kane

Narrated by: Mike Shapiro

Joshua Eubanks and Paul Sims moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, for very different reasons. Joshua, a young black man, came with his single mother to escape the crime and despair of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Paul left his life of privilege in Long Island to study Judaism with the Hasidic Lubavitch movement.

They live in two different worlds separated by a few city blocks, but their hearts both yearn for Rachel Weissman, the daughter of a respected rabbi, who is torn between her aspiration to become a doctor and her obligation to obey the insular restrictions of her religion. As they establish lives in their respective communities, they are increasingly expected to take sides in growing tensions that would explode into the 1991 Crown Heights riots.

Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale views four decades through three lives. Andrew Kane's novel is a love story about loneliness, a reflection on the value of community that acknowledges that it takes a village to raise a mob, a tale of public dysfunction and personal demons, and an image of the frail beauty of humanity that somehow survives.

©2015 Andrew Kane (P)2016 Berwick Court Publishing

Captured Me

This book was so compelling My favorite character was Joshua who was the kind of human being that was very close to perfect. This compelling story had pieces of Romeo and Juliet,West Side Story along with Hotel On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It is a must read!

Phenomenal

This is one of the most moving books I’ve ever read. Story is great and information is eye opening.

A good listen!

A wonderful darfur tale. I never knew where it was headed. Definitely worth your time and money.

Nuanced and fair

I am both Black and Jewish. Whenever I look at novels or even nonfiction articles that examine Black and Jewish relations, the writing tends to be oversimplified and one-sided. This was a really honest look at the gray area that is the love-hate relationship between the two communities, and the nuance that exists in that space. The love story the novel contained was heartbreaking. There were no clear good guys or bad guys in the book. Just humans being human and learning as they go.