Lilith (remember her name) Zeremba claims the title of “The Last Jewish Virgin” (I always thought all Jewish girls are virgins until marriage—at least, that’s what they say) and she plans to stay that way. She strives to meet her goal in life, a career in fashion. But a funny thing happened on the way to meet that goal. Lilith finds herself in a strange world that is laden with vampires among other things. Lilith’s choice of careers is at odds with what her mother, Beth, feels. Lilith’s choice of keeping her virginity is directly at odds with the way she presents herself and when she begins working toward her career goal, she goes to her first day at art school dressed as a vampire and looking very sexy. Mr. Rock, her instructor totally approves of Lilith’s appearance and this leads to an interesting relationship between the two. Rock is a good deal older than Lilith and comes across as the epitome of the “bad boy”. There is another man in Lilith’s life, Colin Abel, who is the completely different to Rock. Abel is good looking and talented and although we really do not know how the three became involved there is a love triangle going on with the two male characters being on opposite ends of the love spectrum. (Did I forget to mention that Rock is also a vampire?). We get two popular themes here from two different worlds—fashion vs. vampires.
Eidus has jumped on the vampire bandwagon and adds a Jewish twist and this book is a fun read.
So how does fate fit into the novel? Jewish tradition includes the idea of “bashert” which says that some things are predestined and this is especially true when we think of marriage. We see that Lilith indeed finds what she is looking for in a man in an unconventional and non-traditional way and this refers to that concept.
“Bashert” is just one of the themes of this book—we also have mother/daughter relations, career goals, virginity, Jewish life, the wrong man, feminine sexuality, justice, and several others. Eldus writes with great wit and humor and combines reality with fancy. Looking at the idea of vampires, she uses the idea to reflect “repressed desire” and in a book that has so many Jewish themes, one would think that this would not work. However Eidus makes it work and does so sublimely. There is homage to the vampire myth but it is updated in a way that it works beautifully. The mother/daughter theme has been done before but here it is a bit different. Since Beth, Lilith’s mother is not only a feminist but a college professor who lectures on feminism yet still adheres to the idea that “Jewish women have a responsibility to shape their fantasies along feminist lines” and feels that Judaism as a patriarchal religion must change to become open to women and become more multi cultural. Lilith looks at her mother (as many girls do) and sees a representative of old school thinking and therefore feels she must rebel against her. The age old conflict ensues.
I love that the main character is named Lilith, a character that carries her own myth—Adam’s first wife who was created equal to him, left him and then returned as a threat to Eve. She has become a central figure among Jewish feminists and is regarded as a hero because she did what she believed.
This is such an interesting and fun read and so beautifully written. It is a sexy read that opens many doors to thought. I guarantee that you will enjoy it. As a male feminist, I had a ball.
Amos Lassen
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