Weeping Susannah

Susannah Rabin, thirty-something years old and suffering from uncontrollable crying fits, may not make readers cry, but her ability to wink at the world may well make them laugh, thanks to her wonderful self-irony and sharp, liberated tongue. In her second book, Kimchi continues to skillfully draw her depressed, unstable characters.

Susannah is incapable of normal relations with other people, particularly men, because she views every stranger as a potential invader and voyeur of her body and life. She hates her body and is disgusted by all natural bodily functions, yet she is well aware of her complexes and defines herself as a mermaid with a fish tail instead of genitals. Susannah can only function under the supervision of her mother, who faces life’s daily trials and tribulations in her stead while usurping her independence and preventing her from experiencing life.

Everything changes when Naor, a handsome and charming relative from the United States, arrives and Susannah’s mother offers him a room in her home. The guest’s effect on Susannah is profound. She falls in love with him, and through him is liberated from all of her physical and sexual complexes. Naor is later exposed as a crook and obsessive gambler, but he heals Susannah’s soul, and he is her redeemer and miracle worker. He turns her into a woman no longer afraid of her sexuality, and as his inevitable departure approaches, he tries to give her a more substantial gift: faith in her ability to become a painter, an independent woman who creates her own world and does not depend on others.