Shortly after being released from prison, serving time for a crime he did not plan to commit, Lamont Williams begins working as a janitor in a New York cancer hospital. There he meets Henryk Mandelbrot, a Holocaust survivor, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Central themes of Perlman’s novel include the importance of acts of kindness, the power of memory, and the drive to tell one’s story to the next generation. The narrative spans half a century, stretching from Polish ghettoes to the black civil-rights movement, and everyday struggles of modern families. The linchpin of the book is Adam Zignelik, a historian who struggles to find both his personal and his academic identity, and the man who is, in one way or another, related to most of the characters in this ungainly tale. Perlman’s habit of reintroducing characters practically every time they re-enter the narrative is a bit wearying, but the plot will ensure the reader is curious enough to persevere to the end.
