Girls, Girls, Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee

 

A Jewish queer debut novel of coming of age set on the bubbling backdrop of the San Francisco in the 1990s, Girls, Girls, Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee is also an exceptional well written story. I had access to the book in the audiobook format - also read by the author -, and therefore the experience may have been different in narrative terms, but in any case, the story of Hannah, a young queer Jewish girl leaving Long Island, NYC, for San Francisco will stay with me for a long time.

Together with her crash, Sam, Hannah leaves her home, dominated by her newly Jewish Orthodox mother, and abandoning her beloved Bubbe to go to a place where she can be herself. No one to tell her what to do, how to dress and eventually who and when to get married. If separating from her devout mother was a relief, leaving behind her beloved Bubbe was so far the hardest thing.

But emancipation, growing up, involves also such decisions and Hannah´s life is taking unexpected turns: in order to make money she is stripping in a bar, then she is the crush of Chris whom, encouraged by Sam, would date for money. Her relationship with Sam is deteriorating, but she is building up a new network of friends sharing the same orientation, belonging to different religions. She learns to grief, as her Bubbe is dying of pancreatic cancer.

The tensions and emotions involved by this process are vividly described and so are Hannah´s efforts to find her place in this new world: new, difficult, but more representative for her search of self. The variants of the Jewish identity she is about to discover for herself may give her the freedom - as in ´frei´ - of being herself. Coming out is just the first step, putting together the fragments of identity, creating her own story, may be different. 

These tensions inherent to the growing up process, becoming an adult with different responsibilities and a life story, who builds the rest of the narrative, are very important for me. 

Shoshana von Blanckensee, who is also an oncology nurse, was inspired by her own experience with the queer scene in San Francisco in the 1990s. Different vocabulary and ways of talking, nevertheless a queer life of itself, that may look very different of today´s. Those nuances, especially regarding the choice of words, are part of the charm of this book, that is still echoeing in my head those days.

Rating: 5 stars