The Dilemmas of a Jewish Book Reviewer
Susan Blumberg-Kason decides she can no longer review books by authors who demonize Jews.
Editor’s Note: Most of us are aware by now that Jewish authors are being blacklisted, targeted for harassment and boycotts, and told that there’s just no market for their voices anymore. The Jewish literary community is fighting back in many ways, and we all are doing what we can to reverse this disturbing trend. Author Susan Blumberg-Kason discovered that she could use her influence as a book reviewer to simply refuse to amplify those who spread lies about Jews. It’s not a little thing. Book reviews are highly sought after in the competitive, noisy world of publishing. — Howard Lovy
When Ta-Nehisi Coates went on his broadcast media tour, and I learned more about his book—based on a ten-day trip to Israel and the West Bank—that was the turning point. When Roxane Gay posted that there is no justification for Israel fighting back, I felt my throat close in. When Sally Rooney started a petition that’s grown to more than twenty-five pages of authors who want to ban Israeli writers, I felt my heart race when I saw names I recognized. There were many.
I recognized these authors’ names not just because I’m an avid reader, but also because I’m a book reviewer and I’d reviewed some of their books. This pit in my stomach brought me back to May and June 2021 when I noticed that some of the authors I’d reviewed started posting, reposting, and liking things on social media that demonized Israel. I had read these authors’ books and as far as I could tell, they’d never written about Israel before. They also didn’t seem to have any connections to Israel, Gaza, or the West Bank.
I, on the other hand, felt something I hadn’t experienced before: a blanket hatred toward Jews, to whom I feel connected because, well, I’m Jewish. I assumed this furor would go away after the ceasefire in June 2021 when we all seemed to carry on as before. I continued reviewing books as usual and would sometimes remember in a fleeting moment that a certain author had spewed hatred against Israel on social media, but I didn’t think about it much more than that.
Then October 7th happened. As I flipped through social media that day I thought I was hallucinating when I landed on the account of a local Chicago bookstore that posted a photo of a Palestinian flag draped over its shelves. Then I noticed an influx of tweets and Instagram posts that threw around words like genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing, a 21st-century version of blood libel.
The posts didn’t stop. As the days and weeks continued, I heard from journal editors and publicists asking me to review books from authors who were writing hateful things about Jews on social media, formulating their words as if they were experts in the Middle East. I usually get requests to review books from journal editors and publicists. Sometimes, I pitch reviews to editors with whom I work closely.
Before October 7th, I had never considered an author’s background when I accepted a book to review. After October 7th, I couldn’t unsee some authors’ hateful comments on social media. Sometimes, I couldn’t sleep at night after thinking about certain authors and their posts. I knew I had to stop looking at social media hours before I went to sleep, or else that would be the last thing I thought about before I went to bed, and even then, it would creep into my thoughts when I was sleeping.
These authors made it seem that any opinion that diverged from theirs was wrong. They didn’t mention Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, the PFLP, Iran, Sinwar, Haniyeh, or the Ayatollah. The followers of these writers agreed with them and if they didn’t have many followers, they soon found themselves with hundreds of likes and comments in agreement. I looked on in disappointment and horror and forced myself to stop looking at their X, Instagram, and Facebook pages.
Authors started circulating letters to insist on a ceasefire. Authors started to boycott awards events when the sponsor refused to ban Israel and other Jewish authors who believe in a Jewish homeland. Authors expressed disgust in a well-regarded journal when it published an essay by a progressive Israeli translator who wrote about her pain and sadness after October 7th. In all of these circumstances, I continued to see authors I’d reviewed or authors whose books I was lined up to review.
For a while, I thought I would take the high road and keep reviewing any author whose book seemed interesting, regardless of their thoughts of Jews. Why should I stoop to a level of narrow-mindedness that I was seeing in these authors? They wrote as if banning Israeli authors and giving litmus tests to other Jewish authors over their support of Israel would bring peace to the Middle East. Or was it just a blind hatred toward Jews? Did they know how their words hurt? I knew these words and actions would only incite more hatred against Jews, as we’re seeing violence skyrocket against Jews across the world.
The months passed, Hamas failed to release the hostages, and I still reviewed books from authors who continued to post hateful things about Israel. I’m not sure these authors even know who I am. They may not know that I worry about the hostages every day and worry about the future of Jews around the world, including the United States. My reviews, I see, do not cause these authors to be more sympathetic towards Jews or even of the hostages, who have somehow been lost in all of their posts 400 days later.
I started to feel bad about myself when I saw these authors continue to post hateful things that reach beyond a government or a policy they disagree with. They are against the very existence of a Jewish homeland and perpetuate tropes that Jews are way too familiar with, tropes we thought were part of history, and now we wonder if they’ve been here all along.
Book reviewers get inundated with requests and there’s not enough time to cover every book we’re offered. Getting a book reviewed is an honor and a rare one these days, with all the options for publishing available now. I started telling myself that it’s just not worth the stress and anxiety to review a book and then see the author spew hatred. And I know that most of the authors who have posted or liked hateful rhetoric against Jews are not lacking in reviews and certainly won’t get a career boost from any review I write.
But for those who are struggling to find reviews for their books, I cannot find sympathy when they so haphazardly promote anti-Jewish drivel. None of these authors are going to bring peace to the Middle East. I post on social media to remember the hostages and the pogrom on October 7th so the hostages won’t be forgotten and so something as unthinkable won’t happen again.
I know history all too well and know it can happen again, and it will. But I can no longer review authors who demonize Jews and hope for their—and my—destruction.
Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China (Post Hill Press, 2023), a 2023 Zibby Awards finalist for Best Book for the History Lover. She is also the author of Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong (Sourcebooks, 2014) and When Friends Come From Afar: The Remarkable Story of Bernie Wong and Chicago’s Chinese American Service League (University of Illinois Press, 2024), of which all proceeds will go to the Pine Tree Senior Council at CASL. She is the co-editor of Hong Kong Noir (Akashic Books, 2018) and a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, Cha: An Asian Literary Review and World Literature Today. Her work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and PopMatters.Â
Five tiny delights
Drinking tea
Discovering new bookstores
Walking with friends
Hanging out with my husband and kids
Learning something new
Five tiny Jewish delights
Hamantaschen
Matzo ball soup
Discovering new Jewish MLB players
Jewish picture books
Visiting Jewish museums/synagogues overseas
Kol hakavod for this excellent piece. I'm so proud it's here.
Great article! You're amazing, Susan! I'm so glad this is out there.