Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations Book Review

A memoir has the potential to tell a good story. It also has the potential to appear to the reader that the writer is all about me me me.

Last month, writer Mira Jacob published her memoir in graphic novel form, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations. Currently living in New York City, Ms. Jacob is the daughter of Indian-American parents. Growing up with dark skin and immigrant parents, she was often faced with questions that are uncomfortable by nature. The questions became even more complicated when she married her Jewish filmmaker husband and brought her biracial son into the world.

What makes this book standout for me is that it is written in graphic novel form instead of being written in the traditional format for a memoir. In other memoirs where uncomfortable topics such as race and immigration are talked about, the writer may have the tendency to preach or write in a dry, academic style. In this book, Ms. Jacob writes in a way that makes these topics feel approachable and more importantly, talk-able.

I recommend it.

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Her Name is Lori Gilbert Kaye

The general definition of a hero is someone who does something selflessly; that is that their act benefits the person whom the act is for, it is not for them and their needs.

Lori Gilbert Kaye is a hero in every sense of the word. Yesterday, when a gunman entered the Chabad of Poway synagogue, he aimed his gun at Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein.

The Rabbi survived, but congregant Lori Gilbert Kaye, who stepped into the path of the gunman and took the bullet, did not.

In Judaism, we have a prayer known as Eishet Chayil (A Woman of Valor). It is traditionally said on Shabbat by a husband to praise his wife.

If one had to look in the dictionary to define A Woman of Valor, Ms. Kaye’s face would be underneath the definition. In saving the life of the Rabbi while sacrificing hers, she joins the ranks of Jewish women across history who have fought and died for Jews across the world and across the generations.

May her memory be a blessing not just to those who knew and loved her, but to all of us. May her courage inspire us to fight against hate and prejudice. My prayer is that one day, sacrifices like Ms. Kaye’s will be confined to the past.

Z”l.