Hudson River Crossings: A Novel

Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Crossing the Hudson by Peter Stephan Jungk ,. Gustav Rubin, a fur dealer in Vienna, flies to New York to spend the summer with his wife and two young children in a lake house north of the city. When he arrives late at JFK, he is met by his opinionated, unrelenting mother, Rosa.

They rent a car and set out for Lake Gilead. But Gustav loses his way, and son and mother end up on the wrong side of the river. Trying to fin Gustav Rubin, a fur dealer in Vienna, flies to New York to spend the summer with his wife and two young children in a lake house north of the city. Trying to find the right route north, they become trapped on the Tappan Zee Bridge in the traffic jam of all traffic jams— a truck transporting toxic chemicals has turned over—and Gustav and Mother remain gridlocked high above the Hudson River.

Gustav begins to think of his beloved father, a renowned intellectual, now eleven months dead. Then, in a surprising, highly original twist worthy of Kafka, both Gustav and Mother see the body—"the colossal, golem-like fatherbody" — of Ludwig David Rubin floating naked in the waters below.

Crossing the Hudson

Jungk gives a profound meditation on a Jewish family and its past, especially the lasting distorting effects on a son of a famous, vital father and a clinging, overwhelming mother, and of the differences between the generation of European intellectual refugees who arrived in the United States during the Second World War and the children of that generation.

Paperback , pages. Published March 10th by Other Press first published August 31st To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Crossing the Hudson , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia.

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May 05, Meg Bortin rated it it was amazing Shelves: This very amusing and original book allows to author to spin out his thoughts about life, love and the recent history of Jews in Europe and America via an odd scenario. While crossing a bridge over the Hudson, the protagonist and his mother a mom-from-hell if ever there was one get stuck in a massive traffic jam.

Will this vision and the events on the b This very amusing and original book allows to author to spin out his thoughts about life, love and the recent history of Jews in Europe and America via an odd scenario. Will this vision and the events on the bridge allow him to change his life? Or will it lead to destruction? You won't have any trouble finishing the book to find out. Jun 21, Leslie Bonato rated it liked it. I read the proof of this book. It was a simple book about the relationship between a son, his mother and father. It was a little quirky which I liked.

Crossing the Hudson by Peter Stephan Jungk

It takes place in one day and you wonder how interesting can a book be that is based on one day but the author actually pulls it off and keeps you engaged with stories from the past. The oddest part of the story is that the father has died but appears to the mother and son as a sleeping giant in the Hudson River. Aug 19, K C rated it it was ok. Jul 30, Suzie Rua is currently reading it. I like the geography of this book, but not sure about the characters Buffy rated it did not like it Jun 26, William Kohler rated it really liked it Mar 15, Sam rated it really liked it Jul 20, Margie rated it really liked it Jun 19, Irena rated it liked it May 06, Patricia Ryan rated it did not like it Nov 27, Lee rated it liked it Apr 27, Lara Abdallah rated it it was ok Apr 20, Anne-Louise rated it did not like it Jul 02, Tara H rated it really liked it Aug 21, Missdemeanor rated it it was ok Dec 25, Chiho rated it it was ok Dec 18, Stacy rated it did not like it Apr 24, They each deal with their newly found freedom in different ways: Nash agrees to go to Africa as one in few educated and freed black men.

Later, however, he becomes limited and restricted in his own view of the world — he sees things as a slave owner might toward the end of the novel. Freedom for Martha comes at the cost of her life as she escapes the Hoffmans in Kansas. Travis, whose story occurs after the Emancipation Proclamation , is technically free but is still bound by a white culture that refuses to accept his relationship with a white woman. Instead of freedom enhancing their world view, freedom impedes them and is one more obstacle that they must overcome before they can reach the far side of the river.

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Christians in Crossing the River are presented somewhat negatively. Many of Phillips' characters lack faith, and the majority of those that do believe act hypocritically. Martha, having lost her husband and daughter and everything worthwhile in her life, completely lost faith in everything, including religion.

The Hoffmans try to sell Martha when the family decides they want to move to California. Their decision demonstrates a lack of strong morals despite their religion. Joyce seemed to want some sort of reconciliation with her cold, distanced mother and hoped that religion could fill the gap between them. In reality, however, these characters' morals were anything but good.

They all tried to force their beliefs on people that they deemed were below them. Travis alone seems to be the one person who maintains Christian beliefs without becoming a hypocrite. He never pushes Joyce to accept his religion. Crossing the River has been translated into various languages and is internationally acclaimed for its portrayal of the realities of the African diaspora.

It has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since its initial publication in and has become required reading in universities across the country. Black scholars and critics alike have raved at Caryl Phillips ' deep insight into the struggles of Africans in one of the largest dislocations of people in history. For even though the text was written by a white woman, it was essential in stirring up much antislavery sentiment — even in countries as far away as England.

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Uncle Tom's Cabin majorly advanced the cause of African Americans across the globe. Phillips further alludes to the novel when he names Martha's daughter Eliza Mae. Eliza and Eliza Mae are both long-lost daughters. Eliza eventually meets her mother in Canada. Martha, on the other hand, only meets Eliza Mae in her dreams and finds that Eliza Mae has changed her name to Cleo.

Martha reports that "all was not right" p. Martha dies moments afterward, signaling her release from the anxiety of not finding her daughter. Through death, Martha is finally able to overcome the pain of her life and "cross the river. World War II , however, takes on a greater significance in the novel since it is actually occurring at the time that Joyce tells her narrative. The text mentions Adolf Hitler , ration books, the Axis powers , Benito Mussolini , Neville Chamberlain , Winston Churchill , blackout curtains, Jerry planes, and even a lack of basic hygiene products such as scented soap so that the reader gets the idea of what it was to actually live in that time period.

The first died when Germans bombed her small town because it had a steel manufacturing plant, and the second died in Italy, just a few weeks before the end of the war. The society actually existed until Today, scholars argue about the extent of the society's colonization ambitions, its development of Liberia, and whether or not it was a racist society. The society closely monitored and controlled Liberia until its independence in From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article includes a list of references , but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations.