Through Fire and Water, by Avi Schwartz, is a small but powerful novel of filial love, spiritual growth and ultimate redemption. As such, the story weaves in and out, propelling the reader out of his comfort zone of reality into the ambiguous world of dreams. Hallucinations become the reader’s guide and a powerful beam of light his mode of teleportation from one domain to another.
“The ground began to shake wildly. An immense and menacing shadow quickly approached as the ground split. Michael hastily returned the contents into the shopping cart and began running for his life. A towering wall shot out from the underneath, followed by three more, trapping him. A beam of light descended and whisked him upwards and through a tunnel that seemed to traverse billions of light years and worlds away, bringing him into a dark oval room.” (p. 8)
The plotline traverses different worlds and places with hallucinatory speed. Some actually exist (Long Island City, Queens, the Delancy Subway Station, Shannon’s Pot); others are a combination of the real and the dream (Mr. Levy’s Conference Room, Justice Hall). Two are stylizations drawn from the author’s theological background. The first is the Hereafter: “Appearing on the wall was a myriad of downcast human beings, in black outfits, marching in uniform lines toward a horrible inferno.” (p.8) The second is the Corridor of Judgment,
“The Corridor of Judgment, the last exit before Hell. It is a place where the soul of man meets its moment of reckoning. The point of no return. Where action and consequence merge into Heaven or Hell.” (p.10)
Just as the plotline crosses different worlds so do the characters: among them are Michael Winston, a real man who lives on Earth; Simon, the Keeper of the Corridor of Judgment, a hallucinatory character who controls Michael Winston and ultimately brings about his redemption and that of his father; Jake Winston, Michael’s dead father whom Michael meets in the Corridor of Judgment and ultimately brings to redemption; Mr. Joseph and Mr. Benjamin, other hallucinatory characters who work for Simon in both the Hereafter and the Corridor of Judgment; a shopping cart named Marty which serves as Michael’s physical and emotional support; Mr. Levy, a hallucinatory character who works as a lawyer in a hallucinatory law firm and dresses like Clarence Darrow. Finally, there are characters who exist in real life but transform into characters from the past. Everything and everyone exist in a dream-like state, catapulting from the real into the surreal and ending in the ultimate redemption of the son Michael and his father Jake. Redemption of the soul and the body. Redemption of lost love. Redemption of the spirit.
Avi Schwartz is a gifted writer and a visionary. He is a master of such stylistic devices and techniques as allegory, allusion and anecdote. His ability to create hallucinatory scenes, embedded in reality is remarkable. His use of stream of consciousness literary technique is impeccable and rivals that of James Joyce and William Faulkner. The quality of his soul radiates in his fiction – the belief that good will triumph eventually over evil; that man is resilient and strong; that redemption is in the hands and heart of the individual. Through Fire and Water is a stylistically amazing novel. It is timeless and universal, provocative and thought-provoking.
Dr. Sandra Alfonsi
OPPURE
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Le recensioni migliori da altri paesi
Amazon Customer
is a small but powerful novel of filial love, spiritual growth and ultimate redemption
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 12 gennaio 2017Joshua Jones
Unique is an understatement.
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 16 giugno 2022Tomer D. Tamarkin
I loved Rabbi Avi Schwartz's "Through Fire and Water."
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 27 giugno 2022