A Polish golem in Brooklyn!
Deeply caring, blazingly fast read. It moved me. ( )

Bari Wood's The Tribe lives on a borderland between horror, cultural critique, and suspense novel, sharing spirit and concepts with novels of Jewish Magical Realism--in fact, it might belong there more than in horror, where the Paperbacks from Hell label places it--but I'm glad to have discovered it, regardless. Although there are moments in the writing itself that definitely come across as dated to the 70s/80s, especially in relation to stereotypes and, to a lesser extent, gender, the book's story and writing overall stand up well and offer a fascinating blend of genre. What's potentially most impressive about the writing is the way in which Wood blends Jewish culture, belief, and legend together without weighing the book down, whereas particularly poignant moments that feel all too real add to the realism she achieves here.

All told, this book has made me a big fan of the author's, and I hope the Paperbacks from Hell reprinting allows many more readers to discover it. It's not quite like anything else I've read... and I rather loved the journey of it. Absolutely recommended. ( )

A compelling story about a small group of Holocaust survivors living in New York City who create a golem to protect them but it gets out of hand. The character development is good, particularly Rachel, the young widow who determines to go against her beloved father-in-law and stop the golem. This novel had some interesting things to say about the lengths we may go to feel safe after suffering great trauma. Although unfortunately coming off as a bit dated now, this entry in the Paperbacks from Hell series is worth reading for horror aficianados. ( )

An Orthodox Jewish man wouldn't shake hands with a grown woman because she might be bleeding and even her touch would make him impure. Keep yourself free of blood, the Torah said, but she couldn't do that, no woman could. Then laws weren't for women, she thought. Maybe because women weren't people to the lawgivers, they were the "other". Like Lilith, the demon. But if the laws weren't for them, they weren't bound by them either. They could lie, cheat, steal. They could dishonour father, mother, God - their God. They could kill.

I wouldn't exactly say that the story "builds to a masterly climax of shrivelling terror" as it claims on the cover, and as soon as I'd read the back cover blurb I knew what the the answer to the mystery would be, but it was quite interesting. I could believe in the elderly Jews still stuck in wartime, trapped by their memories of the camps, and in Rachel, frustrated by a religion that seems designed only for men, but Roger never seemed like a real person to me. ( )

Jewish Golem made of clay

Highly acclaimed when first published in 1981, The Tribe follows a group of Jewish people who not only survive the concentration camps, but thrive. Their secret follows them to modern-day Brooklyn, where they continue their relationship and keep their deadly cabal until one day a new threat arrives...
Drawing on Jewish mythology and folklore, the novel also combines well-drawn characters and police procedural to create a memorable and humane horror novel.