Specifics

Tuesday March 18, 2008
7:30 pm
Barnes & Noble
Clifton Commons
395 Route 3 East
Clifton, NJ

"Fear and Yoga in New Jersey"

At the center of Debra Galant's new novel is Nina Gettleman-Summer, a stressed-out New Jersey yoga teacher. Nina should be calmly guiding her high powered students through their savasanas and their chakras. Instead she is worried about... everything: her new meditation fountain overflowed resulting in a dangerous mess that caused one of her more litigious students to slip and fall; her husband Michael's job as Newark Airport's meteorologist was outsourced to the Phillipines, and a hurricane is bearing down on her parents' home in Florida.

The last thing Nina needs is her suspicious mother Belle around, wailing about the weather and asking questions about Michael's job. To complicate matters, her teenage son Adam is showing a sudden interest in having a Bar Mitzvah – even though Nina, never a fan of her Jewish heritage, signed the family up at the local Unitarian Church. Which brings us to the heart of this very funny book. Nina's put her faith in feng shui and crystals while her husband passes the time chatting with the local Jehovah's Witnesses and Adam plots his religious coming of age, which he believes will net him a real life pot of gold. The Gettleman-Summers are poised for an awakening which, when it arrives, is deftly portrayed in Galant's classic screwball style.

- Wendy