Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan (29 page)

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Authors: Paula Marantz Cohen

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C
arla Goodman
WAS WORRIED.
She knew she had much to be thankful for: a nice home, a good marriage, two beautiful children. She even had a close relationship with her mother, whom her husband actually liked.
But lately, there were problems.
First, her husband was coming home from work frazzled and depressed. A gastroenterologist in private practice, he should have been free from worries about making a living. But medicine wasn't what it used to be. “It's one thing to look up butts and get rich,” Mark complained wearily. “It's another to do it for nickels and dimes.”
Then there was Jeffrey, their ten-year-old, on his way to becoming a fifth-grade delinquent. Each week, Jeffrey's backpack released an avalanche of notes from his teachers. “Dear Mrs. Goodman,” one recent note read, “Your son's poking of the girls with pencils is unacceptable. Please apprise him of the dangers of lead poisoning and the fact that several of his victims' parents are lawyers.”
If this weren't enough, there was Stephanie, aged twelve, who existed in what seemed to Carla like a perpetual state of PMS. Stephanie's bat mitzvah was only months away, but the unpredictability of her moods—which often revolved around whether she was having a good or a bad hair day—
meant planning this event required the tactical insight and diplomacy of a seasoned military strategist.
But these were all everyday problems, part of the expected stresses and strains of life. The business with her mother was another story. Carla found it confusing, disturbing, even (truth be told) scary.
She had noticed the first sign that something was wrong one evening a few months after her mother had moved in with them. The afternoon of that day had been uneventful—which is to say, no more nerve-wracking than usual. She and Stephanie had spent several hours fighting in a stationery store in an upscale strip mall on Route 73 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey … .
ALSO BY PAULA MARANTZ COHEN
 
Fiction
 
Jane Austen in Boca
 
 
Nonfiction
 
Silent Film and the Triumph of the American Myth
 
The Daughter as Reader: Encounters Between
Literature and Life
 
Alfred Hitchcock: The Legacy of Victorianism
 
The Daughter's Dilemma: Family Process
and the Nineteenth-Century Domestic Novel
I
would
LIKE TO THANK MANY PEOPLE WHO PUT THEIR TWO cents, or more, into this book. First, the early readers of the manuscript: my mother-in-law, Gertrude Penziner (how was I blessed with such a mother-in-law?), my husband, Alan S. Penziner (whose wit and weird erudition never ceases to amaze me), and my daughter, Kate Marantz Penziner (who is
not
Stephanie but who did help with Stephanie's dialogue). I also want to thank my delightful research assistant, Irina Teperman, who hunted down background material and served as a touchstone for my ideas.
Other thanks go to those who served as informational resources. On literary and pedagogical matters: Rosetta Marantz Cohen and Sam Scheer. On Philadelphia geography: Barbara Coleman and Sue and Phil Lipkin. On the Venetian ghetto and sundry Italian details: Lauren Weinberger, Fred Abbate, and Mort and Annette Levitt. On Jewish law and lore: Phyllis Markoff. Special thanks to Rabbi Ramy of the Chabad of Venice, who answered my e-mails and whose responses I hope to have accurately incorporated.
I am also grateful to Rosemary Abbate, who never ceased cheerleading for this book, to Albert DiBartolomeo (aka Liza), my literary therapist, and to the conversational and culinary support
of my dear friends Mark and Vivian Greenberg. Others who have provided support and advice include Bella Stander, Karen Simonides, Carolyn Hessel, Don Riggs, and Marsha L. Mark.
I could not have written this—or anything else—without my family. The influence of my father, Murray S. Cohen, and the memory of my mother, Ruth Marantz Cohen, inform everything I do.
I count myself blessed to have Felicia Eth as my agent and the brilliant Hope Dellon as my editor.
Finally, I want to thank Drexel University, where I have taught for over twenty years. Early portions of the novel were presented at the Honors Research Forum for the Drexel Pennoni Honors College, the Writing Gala for the
Drexel Online Journal
(
DOJ
), and the Betty and Milton Shostak Lecture for Drexel Hillel. I am grateful to my academic mentor, Dave Jones; to my supportive department head, Abioseh Porter; and to the university in general for allowing me to range so widely in my work. Most of all, I want to thank my Drexel students, who have helped me stay fresh as a teacher, thinker, and writer.
MUCH ADO ABOUT JESSIE KAPLAN. Copyright © 2004 by Paula Marantz Cohen. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
 
 
 
 
Book design by Jonathan Bennett
 
 
eISBN 9781429903004
First eBook Edition : December 2011
 
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cohen, Paula Marantz.
Much ado about Jessie Kaplan / Paula Marantz Cohen.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-32498-7
EAN 978-0312-32498-8
1. Parent and adult child—Fiction. 2. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Relations with women—Fiction. 3. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 4. Jewish families—Fiction. 5. Reincarnation—Fiction. 6. Aged women—Fiction. 7. Widows—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3603.0372M83 2004
813'54—dc22
2003026481
First Edition: May 2004

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