As someone interested in stories of Jewish immigration as well as retellings of myths, I was hopeful this would be right up my alley. Instead, it fell flat. Great concept, uninspired storytelling.

I am guessing this book would have held greater meaning if I were familiar with the Roman poet, Ovid, and his Latin narrative poem of 250 myths, upon which this novel is overlaid. On his website, Turtel does offer a chapter breakdown of how the poem and the book share parallels (as well as his naming conventions).

If one is not familiar with the poem and not inclined to do that extra bit of homework, it’s still evident the writing prowess of the author, who exhibits great skill at spinning a tale … and even greater skill at creating downright despicable, narcissistic, selfish characters -- all while using beautiful language.

I had hoped some of these family members might actually grow and become more human and compassionate, but, alas, their reprehensible nature seemed only to grow over the years. And the author intended it that way (the Roman and Greek gods were not, after all, human - and were often quite unkind). He intended for the family’s mythic Manhattan wealth and status to be a thing of legend - a legend comprised of cut-throat, corrupt, and wealthy individuals.

The hints of towers and power in NYC are pretty obvious, and the ending quite open-ended. A disturbing, well-written read that mirrored, I assume, Metamorphoses – a series of not-altogether-connected stories about those at the top, looking down on the rest of the mere mortals of the world.

One of my rules was actually voiced by Zoe Heller. A reader should not look for friends between the covers of a book. That being said, I am usually drawn to stories featuring complicated characters, characters with a bit of grit that while I don't want them as friends, I'll find some pleasure in reading about them. Watching them from a distance. The trouble here is that each and every one of the members of this Jewish crime family is unashamedly venal, and where's the fun in that?

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

I have no idea what adjective to use when describing this novel. It was fun, interesting, and hilarious at times, but also odd and frustrating because let me tell you, the Morfawitz family is all of those things and more. Beginning in pre-war Europe and quickly moving to NYC, this tale of a family rising in power (while also always growing in members thanks to the patriarch's inability to be faithful to his wife) felt like a tale of antiheroes. And while I've been sick of the antihero in pop culture recently, I never got sick of the Morfawitzs. With each new sibling coming to light and trying to get to the top, we get a new caper and a new way for Hadassah, the matriarch, to pull her behind-the-scene stings and move people out of the way.

This book grabbed me from the beginning and really liked the way the author wove the stories together and kept them moving. At times I had difficulty remembering what year we were in, but the plot kept moving and the characters felt vivid. I'm looking forward to Turtel's other work.

"The Family Morfawitz" would appeal to people who love "Succession" or "Billions"--any show about cruel, mendacious families . This novel ups the ante by making that family one of Holocaust survivors and people who escaped by the skin of their teeth, people who love misogynistic, anti-semitic jokes and are as mean as snakes.

The writing is good, but this book was just not for me. I stopped at 30%. There's enough meanness in world without adding the family Morfawitz to it.

Well that was DARK.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. Every character is despicable, and I don’t love the whole setup of villainous wealthy Jews. But their villainy wasn’t one-dimensional or stereotypical so I guess I can say it was written with integrity? After all, we are sometimes the bad guys in the books.

The scandalous family relations and multiple shady murders got a little gratuitous at times. I lost track of whose illegitimate son was whose and how they were all related. And how many times can you really kill a personal on the sly and get away with it? A lot, if you get away with it, it seems.

I did like the concept of an anti American dream type of story. The writing was witty and engaging. I think it’s pretty clear the parts I didn’t like were matters of taste, not quality.

What a horrible family!! I’m not smart enough to get all the Greek God references but I did enjoy the story. There is a lot of humour running through the book and the story of a Jewish immigrant family in America is fascinating. But they are all so horrible!! They will do anything to get ahead, in general, but also other family members.

The Family Morfawitz, by Daniel H. Turtel
This novel is told through the eyes of Hezekial Morfawitz, the rejected son of Hadassah and Zev Morfawitz. He was born disabled, deformed and unpleasant to look at, and so he was given away at birth by his cold-hearted mother who had designs for her future that did not include such a child. Her husband did not object either. However, Hezekial was destined to return to his family, years later, as the result of an act of revenge against his father Zev, by his mother, Hadassah. Zev had a roving eye and constantly abused the vow of fidelity.
Hezekial’s parents, Hadassah and Zev Morfawitz both survived the Holocaust, uniquely, compromising their souls when necessary, and ultimately with a combination of courage and mendacity, both reached the American shore. There, similar in character, they met and married. They had dreams of building their empire and worked steadily to achieve that goal, mercilessly and savagely climbing the ladder of success. Neither one was particularly scrupulous or honorable in their behavior, rather they did whatever was required to achieve their goals, removing obstacles along the way without regard for the consequences or for those they destroyed.
The depravity of the family is portrayed as generational. Their wealth gave them power and their power gave them their legitimacy. They lacked a code of ethics. They made their own laws and were motivated only by their greed and need for power and fortune. Although their acts of moral turpitude have been compared to the Trump’s, I found little comparison. It might just as easily have been compared to the Bidens, who indeed actually have a son who produced an illegitimate grandchild that they do not recognize or accept, in much the same way as Hadassah refused to recognize Zev’s “bastard” children or her own imperfect child. Even the Kennedy’s, who hid their mentally ill child away from the world and subjected her to lobotomies which left her unable to function normally, could come to mind, but the author chose to hone in and humiliate a Jewish family for its unending depravity. Because they are real estate moguls, building a monument to themselves, and Trump is so often portrayed that way by our news media, I believe, the thought immediately comes to mind, unfairly, but was probably the actual intention of the author. In this way he could attract a certain kind of reader, sadly one that might take away a very negative view about all Jewish people, since he has exaggerated every stereotype within the Morfawitz family. They behaved reprehensibly, without showing any humanity to others.
The book reeks of anti-Semitic dialogue and portrayals. There is no one in the book that deserved my respect. I did not find it funny, because I found the picture of the Jewish family to be abysmal. No family I know, is or was, like that, and I grew up in the era of the book. No Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, that I ever knew, lacked a moral compass because of their experience, more likely they were made stronger and more determined because otherwise they would not have survived. They worked hard to achieve whatever they did, not by hurting others, but by being grateful for their freedom. They were dedicated to their purpose of improving their lot in life by promoting education for their children so they would be better prepared to fight back in this world, a world that did, and still does, seem to birth evil in so many places.
Yet, this author has ascribed every negative personality and moral trait to the matriarch, patriarch and their progeny, though many of the children came from the patriarch’s utter lack of marital fidelity. The Morfawitz family destroyed people without any sense of remorse; they thought they were better than most people even as their very behavior singled them out to be the worst kind of examples of anyone in society. They let no one stand in their way, legitimately or illegitimately, without making them pay for it. Any slight required the most horrible punishments to be meted out. The characters were quite despicable.
To think that portraying Jews in this way is humorous, because the writer is talented, is a mistake as far as I am concerned. If this book was about any other religion or race, it might remain unpublished or even banned as hate speech. Even those characters that are horribly abused in the book, those hurt brutally by the Morfawitz family, have few redeeming qualities. It is as if the whole of humanity has been compromised and made depraved by the actions of the Morfawitz family, who of course, are even worse. A reader might find him or herself desperately hoping for retribution against this family, because of its cruelty toward others. Might this spill over into our reality in society? This book is hard to read for a Jew because it highlights all of the worst character components of all human beings and rolls them up into this Jewish Family, survivors of the Holocaust, who became as brutal and as ruthless as their enemies.
The only Jews I know, or have ever known, who have survived pogroms or the Holocaust or have come to America from places that rejected them, have worshiped the Statue of Liberty, not to compete with its message or better it, like Hadassah and Zev, but to live up to its promise of welcome and opportunity. So, would I recommend the book, I am not sure, because it paints such a horrible picture of a Jewish family that it is bound to stain an entire population of Jewish people with the same ugly brush. Is it written well, and is it engaging, yes, which is why I find it so upsetting. The author has a gifted pen, but one can only wonder why he wrote such a book as this, with a vicious sense of humor, that offered no redeeming features for any Jew, even in the end.
Jewish people should be respected for their achievements, kindness and compassion, not judged for the debauchery that this book promotes by featuring such a corrupt family as members of the Jewish community. I am afraid that there are people who will simply now put all Jews into the box of unethical, greedy, selfish, and power hungry humans. The book reinforced too many negative stereotypes using the cloak of artistic talent.

I am a sucker for modern novels rooted in Greek (and other) mythology, so the idea of a condensed Metamorphosis reset in the recent past was intriguing. While reading The Family Morfawitz, (doesn't that name sound Ovid adjacent?) I imagined Stephen Fry chuckling in the background.

To me this book was more an allegory or a clever writing exercise than it was a novel. Apparently it's a contemporary rewrite of Ovid's Metamorphosis, but I was hoping for a fleshed-out story with well-rounded characters. Here the characters came across as coloring-book outlines, and much of the dialogue was oration in service of some grand point. Big swaths of plot were hand-waved away (how did Zev make it to America?) and few characters seemed to feel realistic emotions (offspring die and... oh well!). The writing held my interest, but little else did. I also wish it didn't paint just about every Jewish character as remorseless and interested in only money, power, and status.

Thank you, NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing, for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really found it diffuser to dig into this book. I understand this is my weakness, I hate reading a novel with lots of names, especially unfamiliar names. After a while, I lose the plot trying to keep up with all the players.

Thank you Netgalley. I’m sorry that I found this difficult to plow through.