In 2003, a mild-mannered historian named Moses Lapinsky jots down notes for a biography. It is to tell the tale of his father Sonny, a famous Jewish- Canadian boxer. As Moses buries himself in his research, he is transported back in time to the pivotal events of his father’s life. So begins the first of the five sections of the novel, each narrated by a different third person. Crammed with humour, sorrow, folly, bravery and the richness of the everyday, Tulchinsky traces the remarkable fortunes of generations of the Lapinsky family, bringing life to the character of an entire community.August 1933: a sweltering Toronto night. At Christie Pits Park, during the ninth inning of an amateur-league softball game, four youths unfurl a white sheet emblazoned with a large black Swastika, lift their arms and shout, Heil Hitler!” Within seconds, a group of Jewish youths charge in a struggle to capture the flag, setting off a four-hour race riot (the largest ever to occur, before or since, in Toronto), involving fifteen thousand people and injuring hundreds.The riot at Christie Pits Park was the culmination of weeks of political and racial tension. Tulchinsky has re-created this and other defining historical moments in vivid detail, taking us inside the life of one immigrant Jewish family. We trace the fortunes of the Lapinskysin particular the four sonsfrom the pivotal moment of the riots, through the years of the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and all its attendant social tensions, World War II, into the post-war era that began to emerge in the early 1950s. A stunning, engaging and moving fictional treatment of a defining moment for a family, a city, a nation and a continent struggling with ideas of freedom, tolerance and identity in a world broken by war.

The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky

Literature & Fiction

Tulchinsky, Karen X.

British & Irish

Talonbooks

Desire, love, hot sex, cool sex, relationships, grieving, surviving, thriving as a Jewish dyke

In Her Nature

United States

Women's Press (UK)

Young lesbian Nomi Rabinovich, unexpectedly dumped by her lover, attends her mother's sudden second wedding and is reunited with her long-lost crush and her beloved gay cousin who both believe the American government created the AIDS virus as a biochemical weapon

Love Ruins Everything

Raincoast Books, Press Gang Publishers

Young lesbian Nomi Rabinovitch begins a long-distance relationship with new love Julie Sakamoto, as her AIDS activist cousin Henry deals with his declining health.

Love and Other Ruins

Raincoast Books, Polestar

In researching the life of his boxer father Sonny, historian Moses Lapinsky uncovers a pivotal event. On a hot Toronto night in 1933, at an amateur baseball game at Christie Pits field, four Nazi youths flashed a large black swastika, shouting "Heil Hitler!" Within seconds, a group of Jewish youths charged at them, trying to grab the flag. One of the Nazi youths snatches back the banner and breaks free, running with the flag through the park, setting off a four-hour race riot involving 15,000 people, injuring hundreds, and sending scores to the hospital. In this panoramic novel, Karen X. Tulchinsky traces the fortunes of the Lapinskys from the evening of the riots through World War II and into the 1950s. It is then, in a boxing ring at Madison Square Garden, that Sonny Lapinsky must decide whether or not to reconcile with a family torn apart by a violent past — a decision that will affect generations to come, including his son and future biographer, Moses. Set against the Great Depression, race riots, and World War II, this family saga about a Jewish boy-cum-champion boxer is filled with humor, sorrow, bravery, folly, and the stuff of everyday life.

Polestar/Raincoast Books

Raincoast Books

Award-winning writer Karen X Tulchinskys debut novel, Love Ruins Everything (originally published in 1998 by Press Gang), follows the adventures Nomi Rabinovitch, a sweet but insecure and bumbling butch lesbian as she recovers from a broken heart and negotiates her way back into the dating scene in San Francisco. Summoned back home to Toronto to attend her mothers surprise second wedding, Nomi is drawn into the AIDS activism of her gay, HIV-positive cousin, Henry and the girl she lusts after and might grow to love, Julie Sakamoto as they battle to expose uncomfortable truths about the origins of the epidemic. As in real life, humour, romance and tragedy are woven through this warm, funny and thought-provoking portrayal of queer life at the end of the last century. Insomniac Press is proud to present this new edition for a new generation of readers to enjoy.

Insomniac Pr

The sequel to Karen X. Tulchinsky’s much-praised first novel, Love Ruins Everything, picks up the story four months later as the characters prepare for the approach of the Millennium. Over the course of the year 1999, Nomi Rabinovitch and her lover, Julie Sakamoto, negotiate the joy and pain of a long-distance relationship; Nomi’s cousin Henry devotes more energy to AIDS activism, even as he must cope with intense treatments as his health declines; and Solly and Belle, Henry’s estranged parents, are drawn closer by their shared love for their son. And Bubbe, aged somewhere between 92 and 97, might be hard of hearing, but she’s certainly not blind to the crazy events swirling around her. A joyful, hilarious, and often very touching story of love, pain, activism, and family, Love and Other Ruins offers readers another chance to spend time with the delightfully engaging Nomi Rabinovitch and her eccentric friends and relatives.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Insomniac Press

Liebe und andere Irrtümer

Quer Verlag Gmbh

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tulchinsky, Karen X.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tulchinsky, Karen X.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tulchinsky, Karen X.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky

In Her Nature

Love Ruins Everything

Love and Other Ruins

The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky

The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky

Love Ruins Everything

Love and Other Ruins

Liebe und andere Irrtümer