{"product_id":"9781571310965","title":"Being Esther: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Growing old is one of the most surprising things that has happened to her. She hadn't given it any thought. Then one day, she was eighty-five. Not just old, but an object of derision, pity. Is there any use explaining that she is still herself—albeit a slower, achier, creaker version of the orginal?\"\u003cbr\u003e—from \u003ci\u003eBeing Esther\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeing Esther\u003c\/i\u003e intimately explores the interior consciousness of an elderly Jewish woman who lives as much in the past as in the present.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhereas the past includes pleasant memories of family, love and lust, the happy confines of marriage, and the rare occasions to break those confines—like taking a part-time job as a bookseller at Kroch's \u0026amp; Brentano's—the present includes crossing out the names of the deceased in a phonebook, fending off attempts by her daughter to move into assisted living, daily check-ins with a neighbor, and the occasional outing. Not prone to self-pity, Esther is at moments lucid and then suddenly lost in a world which has disappeared along with many who had inhabited it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMiriam Karmel's fiction debut brings understanding and tremendous empathy to the character of Esther Lustig, a woman who readers will not soon forget.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Milkweed Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47034645545200,"sku":"9781571310965","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781571310965_p0.jpg?v=1763793743","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781571310965","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}