Book Review: Jumping the Green

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Jumping the Green     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Leslie Schwartz
Class/Genre:   Fiction
Simon & Schuster, Oct 1999, $23.00, 269 pp.

The San Francisco art world has just discovered and fully praises the works of sculptress Louise Goldblum. However, the murder of her older sister, a noted journalist, interrupts Louise's from basking in her ever rising acclaim.

Seeking some serenity from her shock, Louise turns into the violent arms of wild photographer Zeke Heirholm. Shared acrimonious pleasure sums up their entire relationship. However, as the sexual brutality increases, Louise fades into her past, seeking answers to herself as Goldblum the artist. Instead, she finds more questions and remembers reckless abandon being a way of life for the eccentric Goldblum clan. With no solace in the present and even less in her past, Louise risks everything she cherishes to find a future inner harmony.

JUMPING THE GREEN is a thought provoking tale that centers on an individual’s need for a self identity amidst the external labels tagged on the person. Louise is a very intriguing individual who finds herself desperately seeking the real Louise. Her flashbacks to her youth adds depth as the audience understands what has led the young artist to her current crisis. Leslie Schwartz delicately handles rotating chapters between past and present that never slows down either subplot and ultimately ties together into a winning tale of deepening self reflection.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner