What do we owe one another? This question and some of its variations keep coming up in The Houseguest, by Kim Brooks, leaving us to think about altruism, rescues, gratitude, and obligation. Set in Utica, New York, in 1941, two men become involved in the Jewish refugee crisis from different angles. Abe Auer and his family take in a Polish Jewish actress who managed to get to America. Max Hoffman, Abe’s rabbi, starts to work for an organization that is not only trying to help get Jewish refugees out of Europe but also field a Jewish army. Helping others escape genocide might seem like the obvious choice, but things rapidly get complicated.
Abe Auer, when we meet him, is a depressed man who cannot stop reading the Yiddish language newspapers as news begins to pour out of Europe about what the Nazis are doing to Europe’s Jews. Meanwhile, Max Hoffman grows distressed at the lack of progress that various organizations are making when it comes to helping refugees. The State Department (in the book and historically) refuse to take more than a bare handful of Jewish refugees. Only Jews who have relatives in America who promise to support them are allowed in to the United States.
(Image via Wikicommons)
Ana Beidler, an actress in Yiddish theater, is one of the few who manages to get into the country. Abe agrees to host her, but the family are not at all prepared for how traumatized and unusual she is. Abe’s wife, Irene, tries not to be hurt by Ana’s reclusive behavior and bad habits, but it’s clear that neither Abe nor his wife are what they’re supposed to do with Ana. No one is what the others expected. But what do they owe each other? Abe and Irene have offered her room and board, but they want to help make her part of the community. Ana seems to want servants and room service. Allowances must be made, but no one is comfortable or particularly grateful to each other.
As we watch Ana and the Auers try to build some kind of relationship, we also see Max starting to come apart at the seems at his lack of progress. Max has always been sensitive, but it is agonizing to see him bang his head against a metaphorical brick wall. It’s impossible for him (and me, to be honest) to understand why no one will help Jewish refugees and other refugees from the Nazis. Where Abe, Irene, and Ana make us ask what we owe each other as individuals, Max makes us think about what we owe each other as a society.
I can’t exactly say that I enjoyed The Houseguest because the plots aren’t woven as tightly together as I like. There is also a big revelation near the end that pissed me off. But I appreciate the questions this book raises and the parallels that any reader has to draw between how the US Government dealt with Jewish refugees and the way it’s trying to do the same to refugees now.