Insane About Books: WHAT MAKES US by Rafi Mittlefehldt Official Blog Tour

Monday, October 21, 2019

WHAT MAKES US by Rafi Mittlefehldt Official Blog Tour

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (October 15, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763697508
ISBN-13: 978-0763697501

Praise for WHAT MAKES US

What Makes Us is a heart-stopping, heartbreaking read — a book full of heart. Mittlefehldt’s thoughtful, nuanced exploration of identity pulled me in from the very first page, and I could barely put it down. Eran’s story takes a universal coming-of-age theme — finding out your parents aren’t who you thought they were — to a tightly wound and thrilling extreme. Most important, this book provides satisfying, much-needed representation of a contemporary, complex Jewish teen and his family. ―Lisa Rosinsky, author of Inevitable and Only

Provocative. ―Kirkus Reviews

A viral video reveals a teen’s dark family history, leaving him to reckon with his heritage, legacy, and identity in this fiery, conversation-starting novel.

Eran Sharon knows nothing of his father except that he left when Eran was a baby. Now a senior in high school and living with his protective but tight-lipped mother, Eran is a passionate young man deeply interested in social justice and equality. When he learns that the Houston police have launched a program to increase traffic stops, Eran organizes a peaceful protest.

But a heated moment at the protest goes viral, and a reporter connects the Sharon family to a tragedy fifteen years earlier — and asks if Eran is anything like his father, a supposed terrorist. Soon enough, Eran is wondering the same thing, especially when the people he’s gone to school and temple with for years start to look at him differently.

Timely, powerful, and full of nuance, Rafi Mittlefehldt’s sophomore novel confronts the prejudices, fears, and strengths of family and community, striking right to the heart of what makes us who we are.

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WHAT MAKES US BY RAFI MITTLEFEHLDT EXCERPT

DEVORA

There are no more words. She has said all the ones she wrote down.

She touches the space where more would be, as if searching for them, as if willing them to appear. The paper crinkles under fingers chapped from days of dry air. She smooths it against the fake wood of the podium, flat, light, cheap. She does not know why she lingers, when she wanted this to be over before it began.

She looks up for the first time, at the people standing before her. In those eyes she reads so much: anger, pity, grief, anticipation, disdain. Suspicion.

Her heart aches. There are so many who will still believe what they believe, she knows. In the new silence, now that she’s able to measure the completeness of her words together, they feel inadequate, useless, impotent. In desperation, she searches for others, something, anything to communicate what she feels unable to get across, and says the next five that come to her mind.

“This is not our fight.”

My Review

This story is an intense read that proves that family secrets can make a huge impact on life. Should you keep something secret to protect the ones you love? Or be open about it from the beginning? Will knowing these secrets change how you act, change your beliefs?

Eran always wondered about his father...however his mother was always closed lipped and would not speak of him. Until one day, when Eran organizes a protest, his whole world will be turned upside down. Eran soon learns who he can count on, and who will turn their backs to him...but one constant, even though it takes him a while to accept, is his mother...who has only wanted to protect him for the past 15 years. Was she in the right? Whatever you decide after reading this story, remember the sacrifice she gave for her son for this protection.

This story is heartbreaking at times. But true to life and what many people experience today with discrimination....showing people's fear of the unknown that they don't understand. It has moments where small gestures are everything. It teaches you that someone else's actions is not your own and you shouldn't be judged because of it. Lots of lessons to learn in this story and I hope it opens some perspective to others. This story has a huge impact. I found it eye opening...and a great read.

Photo Credit: Damien Mittlefehldt

Rafi Mittlefehldt is a writer who has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance theater critic, and children’s author. His debut novel was It Looks Like This. Rafi Mittlefehldt lives with his husband in New York City.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Shortly after the horrific Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, I read an article that mentioned one of the bombers having left behind a wife and three-year-old daughter. It was a throwaway line, but it stuck with me — I couldn’t stop thinking about that girl, who was too young to understand what had happened. When would she find out who her father was, and how would she process that? How would others react to learning about her family history? Would she keep it a secret? Would her mother?

What Makes Us began very simply as a story exploring those questions. But as I fleshed out the two main characters, Eran and Jade, their personalities took the story deeper, toward matters that are personal to me but relatable to so many. Eran’s volatility and tendency to react instinctively force him to confront issues of impulse control and anger management. And both characters’ uncertainty regarding their own pasts compels them to wrestle with self-determination and to ask, What makes a person? As the novel switches between Eran’s and Jade’s perspectives, we see them reluctantly frame and then try to answer this question, all against the backdrop of a community on the brink of chaos.