Judy Budnitz's debut novel, If I Told You Once, introduces us to Ilana, a peasant girl living sometime at the beginning of the 20th century, in an unnamed European town so gray that "the color of an egg yolk is something of a miracle." This is a place as timeless and vivid as fairy tales, with figures from Russian folklore cast against real-world horrors like rape, cannibalism, and genocide. Not to say that all is gloomy in Budnitz's world. That's certainly not the case for Ilana, who is inspired to escape her environs for America, the only place with an actual name in the whole book. Here, Ilana's voyage turns into an immigrant's story of poverty, love, and loss. Budnitz also abandons much of the magical realism that fuels her tale's first 100 pages. What replaces the nonstop parade of wonders is a narrative device--suddenly the story is told from the point of view of Ilana's daughter, Sashie; then by Sashie's daughter, Mara; and finally by Nomie, Mara's niece.
As each woman speaks her mind on the American experience and the wounds of the heart, what emerges is a multi-generational saga that not only traverses time and geography, but sensibility as well. The novel is so well paced that the four narrators manage to keep up with the times without having to lean too heavily on cultural benchmarks like world events, slang, and references to pop songs. Budnitz's method is much more integrated, gently conveying a sense of time and tradition slipping away.
Even as Sashie and Mara dismiss the magical stories of Ilana's youth as fabrications, these tales resonate through a novel of great mythic weight. Here, nothing less than the modern world is ushered into being through the voices of girls who become lovers, lovers who become wives, and wives who become mothers. Miracles, indeed. --Ryan Boudinot
From Library Journal
This imaginative debut novel tells the story of four generations of women. Ilana, the matriarch, comes from a cold, desolate Eastern European village where "the smell of a goat was a welcome thing." Her recollections of her childhood, family, and escape from a domineering mother are filled with fairy tale episodes. Ilana flees her country prior to World War I by posing as her lover's sister. In America, she begins raising her own family, but it soon becomes obvious that the same forces (paranormal in nature) that haunted her in the old country remain with her and will continue to haunt her family for generations. She tries in vain to convey this to her daughter and granddaughter, but it is only her great-granddaughter who finally understands. A dark, wickedly funny, and poignant first novel; Budnitz, author of the short story collection Flying Leap, is an original and instantly appealing voice. Highly recommended.ADianna Moeller, OCLC/WLN Pacific Northwest Service Ctr., Lacey, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
An original retelling of one of fictions oldest stories: what its like to be a mother and/or a daughter in an ever-changing world. Born in an unnamed pogrom in what is probably Eastern Europe, 16-year-old Elena leaves her beloved mother and seven siblings to embark on a new life in America. As Budnitzs debut novel opens, Elena is telling her life story to a young woman who turns out to be her granddaughterand what a story she tells. Full of superstition, magic spells, and folk legend (this is the land of The Evil Eye, after all), Elenas take on life is both familiar (anyone with a foreign-born grandparent will nod her head in recognition) and extraordinary. Simple of language, she is nonetheless complex in her understanding: ``They loved each other very much, my parents,'' she writes. ``But love was different then. People didnt talk about it, didnt even think of the word, but it was there in every mouthful of food they shared. It was a simple thing, certain, it needed no discussion. Certain as blowing out a candle. Do you need to discuss whether the room will be dark? Her daughter, Sashie (soon to be Americanized to Shirley), then weighs in with her story, which includes no small measure of combined love and hate for her foreign-born mother, who engineers Sashies marriage through Old World magicand lives to regret it. When Mara, Elenas granddaughter, gives birthto a son!the three generations of strong, feisty women are forced to face their connection and to resolve age-old conflicts. Budnitz (stories: Flying Leap, 1998) is at her best when she has Elena speak; for all their feistiness, Sashie and Mara never quite emerge from under the shadow of their amazing matriarch. Still, Budnitzs debut is a kind of Jewish Rashomon, delivered with humor and heart. You shouldnt have to be told twice to read it. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"Part dark fairy tale, part weird family history it is altogether strange, inventive and ethereal." -- The Washington Times
About the Author
Judy Budnitz's fiction has appeared in Story, The Paris Review, Glimmer Train, and 25 And Under. A Harvard graduate, she also holds an M.F.A in creative writing from NYU. She lives in Manhattan.
From The Washington Post
"Poetic and original...never ceases to surprise with its striking inventions."
