Synopses & Reviews
“There are places that I have never forgotten. A little cobbled street in a smoky mill town in the North of England has haunted me for the greater part of my life. It was inevitable that I should write about it and the people who lived on both sides of its ‘Invisible Wall. ”
The narrow street where Harry Bernstein grew up, in a small English mill town, was seemingly unremarkable. It was identical to countless other streets in countless other working-class neighborhoods of the early 1900s, except for the “invisible wall” that ran down its center, dividing Jewish families on one side from Christian families on the other. Only a few feet of cobblestones separated Jews from Gentiles, but socially, it they were miles apart.
On the eve of World War I, Harrys family struggles to make ends meet. His father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less, preferring to spend his wages drinking and gambling. Harrys mother, devoted to her children and fiercely resilient, survives on her dreams: new shoes that might secure Harrys admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that the entire family might one day be whisked off to the paradise of America.
Then Harrys older sister, Lily, does the unthinkable: She falls in love with Arthur, a Christian boy from across the street.
When Harry unwittingly discovers their secret affair, he must choose between the morals hes been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.
A wonderfully charming memoir written when the author was ninety-three, The Invisible Wall vibrantly brings to life an all-but-forgotten time and place. It is a moving tale of working-class life, and of the boundaries that can be overcome by love.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Ninety-six-year-old Harry Bernstein emigrated to the United States with his family after World War I. He has written all his life but started writing The Invisible Wall only after the death of his wife, Ruby. He has been published in “My Turn” in Newsweek. Bernstein lives in Brick, New Jersey, where he is working on another book.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reading Group Guide
1. How would you describe
The Invisible Wall? A social history exposing religious prejudice? A story of star-crossed lovers? A young boys coming of age?
2. Harrys sister Rose dreams of one day having a parlor and a piano; why does she consider her mothers faded fruit shop to be a betrayal?
3. If you were in young Harrys position, would you have kept Lilys love affair a secret? What was at stake for Harry in maintaining his silence?
4. Despite all that divides them, there is a level of everyday mutual dependence linking the Jews and Christians of Bernsteins street- gaps in the invisible wall, so to speak. What examples of this mutual dependence can you think of, and do they work to dismantle the wall or to reinforce it?
5. Harrys mother is a remarkable woman. Her selfless acts sustain the impoverished family, and yet she disowns her daughter for marrying a Christian boy. Discuss this seeming contradiction in her character, and how she ultimately reconciles it within her own heart.
6. In the accompanying interview, Harry Bernstein states that “wars always bring people face-to-face with reality, causing false barriers to disappear.” Do you agree or disagree?
7. By encouraging Lily to improve herself through education, is her mother sowing the seeds that ultimately lead to Lilys dissatisfaction with the boundaries of Judaism and her involvement with her Christian neighbor, Arthur?
8. Why do you think Lilys father prevents her from going to the grammar school after shes won the scholarship?
9. What does America represent to the Bernstein family?
10. Fatherhood and forgiveness are important themes in Bernsteins story. Do you think Bernstein has forgiven his father? Do you think his father deserves to be forgiven? On the other hand, what do you think of the rabbis son, Max? Does he betray his father and his faith by going to Russia to fight in the revolution?
11. Have you ever experienced living in a divided community, like the street on which Harry lived as a child? Reflect on the religious, class, or racial separations you may encounter in todays society, both outwardly and self-imposed.
12. Harry Bernstein published his first memoir in his nineties; what are your own dreams, and how does Bernsteins story inspire you to reach for them?
1. How would you describe
The Invisible Wall? A social history exposing religious prejudice? A story of star-crossed lovers? A young boys coming of age?
2. Harrys sister Rose dreams of one day having a parlor and a piano; why does she consider her mothers faded fruit shop to be a betrayal?
3. If you were in young Harrys position, would you have kept Lilys love affair a secret? What was at stake for Harry in maintaining his silence?
4. Despite all that divides them, there is a level of everyday mutual dependence linking the Jews and Christians of Bernsteins street– gaps in the invisible wall, so to speak. What examples of this mutual dependence can you think of, and do they work to dismantle the wall or to reinforce it?
5. Harrys mother is a remarkable woman. Her selfless acts sustain the impoverished family, and yet she disowns her daughter for marrying a Christian boy. Discuss this seeming contradiction in her character, and how she ultimately reconciles it within her own heart.
6. In the accompanying interview, Harry Bernstein states that “wars always bring people face-to-face with reality, causing false barriers to disappear.” Do you agree or disagree?
7. By encouraging Lily to improve herself through education, is her mother sowing the seeds that ultimately lead to Lilys dissatisfaction with the boundaries of Judaism and her involvement with her Christian neighbor, Arthur?
8. Why do you think Lilys father prevents her from going to the grammar school after shes won the scholarship?
9. What does America represent to the Bernstein family?
10. Fatherhood and forgiveness are important themes in Bernsteins story. Do you think Bernstein has forgiven his father? Do you think his father deserves to be forgiven? On the other hand, what do you think of the rabbis son, Max? Does he betray his father and his faith by going to Russia to fight in the revolution?
11. Have you ever experienced living in a divided community, like the street on which Harry lived as a child? Reflect on the religious, class, or racial separations you may encounter in todays society, both outwardly and self-imposed.
12. Harry Bernstein published his first memoir in his nineties; what are your own dreams, and how does Bernsteins story inspire you to reach for them?