The City Beautiful (novel)
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (November 2022) |
| Author | Aden Polydoros |
|---|---|
| Genre | Historical fantasy, young adult, thriller, gothic |
| Publisher | Inkyard Press |
Publication date | 5 October 2021 |
| Pages | 480 |
| ISBN | 978-1-335-40250-9 |
The City Beautiful is a young adult, historical fantasy[1] novel by Aden Polydoros, about a gay Jewish teenager in 19th century Chicago who is possessed by a dybbuk seeking revenge for its murder. The novel won the Sydney Taylor Book Award, and was nominated for the National Jewish Book Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the World Fantasy Award.[2][3][4][5]
Background and development
Polydoros was inspired to write The City Beautiful after reading an article about real-life serial-killer H. H. Holmes.[6] He wrote the novel as part of an independent study in his undergraduate degree.[7]
Synopsis
The novel follows Alter Rosen, a 17-year-old Romanian Jewish immigrant in Chicago in 1893. He avoided death as an infant but believes he curses the people around him to die, including his father who died travelling to America. Alter now works to bring his family over from Europe. He is in love with his roommate, Yakov Kogan, but knows little about Yakov's past, except that his family died in a fire. When Yakov is found dead in the water at the Chicago World's Fair with bruises on his neck, Alter becomes suspicious that Yakov was murdered, and is only the latest in a string of disappearances of Jewish boys, although the police are uninterested.
Alter helps to prepare Yakov's body for burial but falls into the ritual bath and has a vision that his and Yakov's bodies fuse together. After this, Alter begins to have experiences that parallel Yakov's, such as dreaming about fire, and feeling pain on his body where Yakov was injured. He has visions and hallucinations, and sometimes cannot control his actions.
Alter is joined in his investigation of the disappearances by his neighbour Raizel Ackermann and his old friend Frankie Portnoy, who both also know missing or dead boys. Frankie is a Torah-scholar-turned-thief and Alter used to be in his gang, although he left after witnessing Frankie violently beat a man. Frankie now also fights illegal boxing matches for a wealthy audience, but faces antisemitism from his patrons. Although disliking how Frankie makes money, the two become close again, and Alter is attracted to him.
Alter, Frankie and Raizel investigate at the Whitechapel Club, a bar that idolises serial killers, invited by Frankie's patron Mr Whitby. Alter loses control and raves about dead Jewish boys in Europe, and Gregory, a friend of Whitby with a tattoo of a dragon on his arm, takes an interest in him.
With his visions becoming more dangerous, Alter confesses to Frankie about his strange experiences. Frankie suggests Alter is possessed by Yakov's dybbuk and takes him for an exorcism. Despite being warned that the possession will kill him, Alter refuses to undergo the exorcism, fearing it will destroy both Yakov and himself. Instead, he plans to end the possession by taking vengeance on Yakov's murderer.
In the meantime, Alter struggles with his attraction to Frankie. After Alter almost dies trying to summon a vision by submerging underwater, Frankie saves him. Afterwards, Frankie and Alter kiss, although Alter denies it meant anything the next day.
Another dead Jewish boy is found in a meatpacking factory, and they suspect that the factory's owner, Katz—the same man Frankie beat up the year before—is the murderer. Alter sneaks into Katz's factory to investigate, but is captured by Katz, who admits to sexually abusing boys including Frankie. Frankie arrives, and goaded by Katz, Alter admits his love for Frankie. Raizel stabs Katz, and in the ensuing fight Frankie kills him.
Frankie tells Alter about how Katz abused him, luring him in with the offer of a job, and how it lead him to be a thief to avoid the same situation again. Frankie confesses his love to Alter—while Alter is at first afraid to violate the biblical commandment which forbid homosexuality, Frankie provides an alternative interpretation that the prohibition is actually against sexual abuse.
With Katz dead, Alter assumes that Yakov's possession has ended. However, another member of Frankie's gang is killed, meaning Katz was not the murderer and Alter is still possessed. Alter triggers a vision to find out the murderer's name: he sees a winged creature made of burned people, and Yakov tells him that his family died when their synagogue was burned down by Tugarin Zmeyevich—the same name as a mythical dragon. Alter remembers Gregory's dragon tattoo and realises he is the murderer. Whitby reveals his own antisemitism, and that Gregory has been following the World's Fair, killing Jewish boys. Yakov followed him to Chicago for vengeance, but was murdered instead.
Whitby and Gregory have an even bigger plan to kill Jews in Chicago, and Frankie goes after Gregory alone. He gets injured and fails to stop Gregory, but warns Alter that Gregory will set fire to a building at the World's Fair. Alter almost dies confronting Gregory, experiencing a vision of purgatory where he watches his father's corpse be buried at sea again and again. However, Yakov pushes him to live, and he waked up. He follows Gregory to his next target, an unfinished synagogue whose burning would destroy a Jewish neighbourhood. Alter and Raizel confront Gregory, who, while ranting about his hatred of Jews, gets tangled up in ropes and is strangled to death.
Alter undergoes the ritual purification of a corpse, and with his vengeance achieved through Gregory's death, Yakov finally ends his possession of Alter's body.
Frankie and Alter recover, and Frankie suggests that Alter come to work with him again: he wants to stop being a thief, and instead work to give new Jewish immigrants support adjusting to life in America. The two begin a relationship.
A year later, Alter's mother and sisters arrive in Chicago, and Alter and Frankie greet them. His sisters admire the beauty of the buildings of the World's Fair, which is now over. Alter reflects on how the beautiful but empty World's Fair is like America as a whole.
Themes
The novel deals with themes of antisemitism and labour exploitation.[8][9]
Reception
The New York Public Library included The City Beautiful on its Best Books for Teens 2021 list.[10] Kirkus Reviews described the book as "slow-moving but compelling", and praised the combination of a detailed historical setting with fantasy elements.[11] In a review for the Jewish Book Council, Sascha Lamb praises the depiction of different levels of religious observance among the characters, and how the novel affirms both Alter's religious observance and his self-acceptance as queer.[12] In a review for The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April Spisak describes Alter as a "sympathetic and compelling protagonist".[9]
Awards and nominations
The City Beautiful won the young adult category of the Sydney Taylor Book Award.[5] It was a finalist in the World Fantasy Award for best novel, and in the young adult categories for the National Jewish Book Award and the Lambda Literary Award.[2][4][13]
Sequel
In June 2022[update], Polydoros announced that a sequel to The City Beautiful—told from Frankie's point of view and set in 1894—is set to be published in the autumn of 2024.[14]
References
- ^ "The City Beautiful". Publisher's Weekly. Archived from the original on 10 Aug 2021. Retrieved 25 Jul 2022.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; 9 August 2021 suggested (help) - ^ a b "Congratulations to the 2022 Lammy Finalists!". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; 3 July 2022 suggested (help) - ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (20 Jul 2022). "Announcing the 2022 World Fantasy Award Finalists". Tor.com. Archived from the original on 25 Jul 2022. Retrieved 25 Jul 2022.
- ^ a b JBC Staff (20 Jan 2022). "2021 National Jewish Book Award Winners". Jewish Book Council. Archived from the original on 10 May 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ a b "2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award winners announced". American Library Association. 24 Jan 2022. Archived from the original on 9 Feb 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
- ^ Polydoros, Aden (7 Feb 2022). "Dybbuk in Chicago: A Conversation with Aden Polydoros" (Interview). Interviewed by Simona Zaretsky. Archived from the original on 7 Feb 2022. Retrieved 31 Jul 2022.
- ^ Lavoie, Alaina (6 Sep 2021). "Q&A With Aden Polydoros, The City Beautiful". We Need Diverse Books. Archived from the original on 4 Jan 2022. Retrieved 14 Aug 2022.
- ^ Paxson, Caitlyn (25 September 2021). "Fall Brings YA Historicals About Haunted Boys And The Rapscallions Who Love Them". NPR. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
- ^ a b Spisak, April (Dec 2021). "The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros (review)". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 75 (4): 135 – via Project MUSE.
- ^ "Best Books for Teens 2021". New York Public Library. Archived from the original on 31 Dec 2021. Retrieved 26 Jul 2022.
- ^ "The City Beautiful". Kirkus Reviews. 24 Jun 2021. Archived from the original on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 27 Jul 2022.
- ^ Lamb, Sascha (30 Jan 2022). "The City Beautiful". Jewish Book Council. Archived from the original on 14 Feb 2022. Retrieved 27 Jul 2022.
- ^ Templeton, Molly (7 Nov 2022). "Announcing the 2022 World Fantasy Awards Winners". Tor.com. Archived from the original on 8 Nov 2022. Retrieved 8 Nov 2022.
- ^ Polydoros, Aden (21 June 2022). "Just got the greenlight to talk about this--so thrilled to announce that my Fall 2024 book will be a sequel/companion novel to THE CITY BEAUTIFUL, told from Frankie's POV. ☺️ It'll have more of a gritty, noir feel, but same setting, winter of 1894". Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
