Houghton Mifflin should consider adding a “Best American Jewish Writing” volume to its “Best American” series, and for 2007 might consider starting with Rob Eshman’s “And Who Shall Die?” from last week’s Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.
It is a story about his first girlfriend (and valedictorian) from high school, a one-time golden girl whose life he records with great sensitivity and that presents a number of questions that he handles honestly. Here are the first two paragraphs, which will hopefully make you read the rest:
Whatever happened to Marcy Asher?
I know the answer to that question — I’ve known it for a year now — but I also don’t know the answer, the one that helps us make sense not just of one woman’s tragic arc, but of good and evil, of life and faith.
