The Very Unremarkable Life of Mrs. Etty Bloom

A novel by Talya Jankovits

It takes a lifetime for a profoundly flawed Hasidic woman to learn that there is beauty in even the most mundane of lives.

In the insulated Hasidic community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, tradition and cultural norms are as sacred as religion. Childhood friendships are cultivated to climb social ladders, matchmakers dictate futures, and young girls are primed for marriage and motherhood. So, when Etty Greenberger, a headstrong redhead and the only child of Holocaust survivors, commits one ugly and thoughtless act, she believes she has sabotaged her opportunity to secure a desirable match. Reluctantly, she agrees to marry Benji Bloom, a fishmonger’s son far below her marital aspirations, becoming Mrs. Etty Bloom.

With each passing year, Etty grows further from the life she had hoped for, filled with disappointment and delusions of grandeur. As she grapples with loss, grief, and the challenges of motherhood, she also discovers friendship, love, and joy in the most unexpected places. It may take a lifetime, but Etty Bloom finally learns that an unremarkable life can be remarkable after all.

Advance Praise

A photo-real book that almost reads like a fairytale, and a full exploration of a thoroughly unremarkable life in an utterly remarkable debut novel, Etty’s story is deftly and deeply crafted, and her very particular voice—at times hilarious, at others despondent—will haunt you long after you finish the book.
Jessica Elisheva Emerson
award-winning author of the critically-acclaimed novel Olive Days
Talya Jankovits’ secret ingredient is compassion—even when Etty is being a bit meshuggah, Jankovits writes her with so much love and care, we can’t help but love her (and the fire inside her) too. Etty and her family will forever be part of the mishpucha of my heart.
Gayle Brandeis
PEN/Bellwether Prize-winning writer and author of Drawing Breath: Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss
Jankovits renders the claustrophobic world of post-war Hasidic Williamsburg with ethnographic precision and wry tenderness. We watch as Etty—a funny, smart, fiery girl—becomes smaller and smaller, all of her ambitions channeled into the power politics of kugel and reputation management. A beautifully sad and unexpectedly funny representation of the myriad ways women retain a sense of self in the midst of a patriarchal society.
Sarah Yahm
author of Unfinished Acts of Wild Creation
The unforgettable Etty Bloom grows from childhood to womanhood as she learns humility, compassion, friendship, love, and discovers beauty in the mundane. With great humor and pathos, author Talya Jankovits reveals that all life, no matter how ordinary or small, is extraordinary when lived fully. Etty Bloom is not only full of life, she is remarkable.
Zeeva Bukai
author of The Anatomy of Exile
Talya Jankovits delivers the delicious goods in her new novel, The Very Unremarkable Life of Mrs. Etty Bloom. Through the lenses of three generations of fierce, funny women, Shaindel, Etty, and Sarala, we share joy, tsuris, daily minutia, and life-changing events. Both bound and protected by a deeply observant community, their present lives shadowed by Jewish generational pasts, these women move forward, imperfectly, but always with courage and spunk. Powerful, poignant, and joyful, The Very Unremarkable Life of Mrs. Etty Bloom is nothing short of remarkable!
Diane Gottlieb
editor of Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture & Heritage
The Very Unremarkable Life of Mrs. Etty Bloom by Talya Jankovits is a delightful read about a spirited redhead born in the late 1940s into a Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her red hair, which is remarkable and anomalous in her community, is the first indicator of Etty’s numerous challenges to come. Jankovits is a talented poet, and readers will be dazzled by her eloquent, moving, laugh-out-loud hilarious, and sparkling prose in this fantastic debut novel. There are laughs in abundance, and some well-earned tears. The protagonist’s many obstacles (some of her own making) offer meaningful lessons, the most poignant of which is revealed in her relationship with her daughter, Sarala, who’s so well-grounded that her feet drag as she walks. Etty seems largely unaware of the lessons, but through her foibles, the reader is transformed. This lovely gift of a story inspires one to recognize all there is to love about even the most unremarkable life.
Toni Ann Johnson
Flannery O’Connor Award-winning author of Light Skin Gone to Waste

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