Tales Of The Ten Lost Tribes-Tamar Yellin

Tales Of The Ten Lost Tribes
Tamar Yellin
St. Martin’s, Sep 29 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9780312379131

These are ten well written fascinating interrelated TALES OF THE TEN LOST TRIBES that look deep at the Wandering Jew exiled to travel the world as does the narrator does meeting other lonely displaced people mostly in self exile. In Reuben she admires her Uncle Esdras who soars like a bird from place to place while her dad considers his brother a wandering wastrel. In Simeon she meets on board a ship Nikos who knew everyone but no one knew him. In Dan, her dad’s efforts to find book treasures prove as futile as her uncle’s efforts to find an anchor because when her father dies, his books will be sold. In Naphtali, she leaves home for the last time as her mom has died, but though she has a student room she remains as rudderless as does Professor G whose search for his lost language leaves him mute.

There are six more profound allegorical tales of wanderlust and exile with a stark helpless beauty symbolized by her dad with his perpetual editing of his tiny tome and his book collection. A person can never finish wandering; as home is never the same once you step outside. So each step away is just like the lost tribes after the Assyrians scattered them to find new homes.

Harriet Klausner