The Lost Legends of New Jersey

Book excerpt: In Reiken’s “affectionate but tough-minded second novel, he captures the poetry of the New Jersey condition, circa 1980, with a rare precision” (The New York Times Book Review). A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year Romeo and Juliet in northern New Jersey? Yiddish constellations in Asbury Park? A garbage dump in the Meadowlands that’s filled with old musical instruments from a high school marching band? Love and sex, hockey and snorkeling, a family that is falling apart despite the best intentions—this is what Frederick Reiken has delivered in his brilliant second novel. But the real subject is true love, the one and only—known in Yiddish as b’shert. Anthony Rubin, the young protagonist, isn’t sure whether he’s found it with his neighbor, Juliette, daughter of a reputed Mafioso. His mother, who quits the family after her husband’s affair with a neighbor, doesn’t believe in true love at all. But his father does, and so does Anthony’s grandpa, who meets the love of his life at 78. Reiken is known for creating characters you feel you’ve known all your life, for mapping landscapes with profound intimacy and wonder. In The Lost Legends of New Jersey, he “reminds us that when good literature comes along, it feels, like true love itself, as if something legendary is occurring” (The Washington Post). “A beautifully told story of bad choices, good intentions, and the price of intimacy.” —Chicago Tribune “Reiken has created a rich, seductive mythology out of the ordinary places and people of the Garden State.” —Los Angeles Times