A benevolent shapeshifter shadows four generations of women who married as their people expected, but who if given the chance would have made different choice. Starting out in Poland, in the Jewish City of Laughter (Ropshitz) where laughter as a healing hope, having medicinal values and promised comfort are expectations of significance. To ensure such a valued resource is available, badchans (jesters) were trained and execute their art at all times, but the most important times are at weddings, the genesis of family creation.

This tale was a maze in narrative structure with undead amongst the living, and four full marriages in successive generations challah-bread-braided together. I was lost much of the time, but fairytale enchanted throughout.

*A sincere thank you to Temim Fruchter, Grove Atlantic, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #CityofLaughter #NetGalley

it's been ages since this was published but i just started reading it this past month and unfortunately it did not capture my attention and i had to dnf it at around 35%
i just did not connect to the main character, and i felt like nothing was happening, i was extremely bored, and i had close to zero curiosity about how the novel would continue and end, hence my decision to dnf.
thank you to the publisher grove atlantic and netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

beautiful exploration of folklore, family history, queer ancestry, and the things we leave unsaid. enjoyed tremendously

Subversive, clever and just extremely interesting. I wasn't expecting this to stun but it totally did.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity

Not my cup of tea

Title: City of Laughter may 8
Author: Temim Fruchter
Summary: An ambitious, delirious novel that tangles with queerness, spirituality, and generational silence, City of Laughter announces Temim Fruchter as a fresh and assured new literary voice. The tale of a young queer woman stuck in a thicket of generational secrets, the novel follows her back to her family’s origins, where ancestral clues begin to reveal a lineage both haunted and shaped by desire. Ropshitz, Poland, was once known as the City of Laughter. As this story opens, an 18th century badchan, a holy jester whose job is to make wedding guests laugh, receives a visitation from a mysterious stranger—bringing the laughter the people of Ropshitz desperately need, and triggering a sequence of events that will reverberate across the coming century. In the present day, Shiva Margolin, recovering from the heartbreak of her first big queer love and grieving the death of her beloved father, struggles to connect with her guarded mother, who spends most of her time at the local funeral home. A student of Jewish folklore, Shiva seizes an opportunity to visit Poland, hoping her family’s mysteries will make more sense if she walks in the footsteps of her great-grandmother Mira, about whom no one speaks. What she finds will make her question not only her past and her future, but also her present. Electric and sharply intimate, City of Laughter zigzags between our universe and a tapestry of real and invented Jewish folklore, asking how far we can travel from the stories that have raised us without leaving them behind.
Review: This book presents a challenging start, with a slow build that may make it difficult to fully engage with the story initially. While the humor and themes are promising, the pacing can feel sluggish, and the characters may take time to resonate with readers. However, for those who stick with it, the novel eventually offers a rewarding exploration of identity and family against the backdrop of Jerusalem's streets.
Copy provided by @netgalley in exchange for an honest review. #CityofLaughter #NetGalley #LGBTQIA #Jewish #history #familysecrets #poland #booksbooksbooks #queerbookstagram

A fantastic debut novel that weaves together a tapestry of multigenerational marvel, and Jewish history.. Beautifully written.
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed the idea of this book, and the writing was beautiful, but I just could not get into it. I tried several times, but it was just not for me. I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters.

It's not often that I DNF, but this was such a slog for me, I just couldn't get through it. It started out fine, but it slowed about 1/3 of the way through. DNF at 50%.

Really beautifully Jewish and queer! I especially loved the bits about S. Ansky and his life and work, and the way we look for meaning in absence. I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending, but I enjoyed the majority of the book enough that it didn’t bother me as much as it might have otherwise.

City of Laughter covers a lot of ground, exploring mother-daughter relationships, romantic relationships, family secrets, what we inherit from our ancestors, queerness and identity, and more - all with a magical folkloric twist.

The story follows four generations of women from an Modern Orthodox family, with roots in a small town in Poland, but living in the United States. With little knowledge of the women that came before her, Shiva desperately wants to know more about her ancestors in order to better understand herself and the relationship she has with her mother, especially now that her father has passed and her mother is all she has left. But Hannah, her mother, is more than reluctant to share anything about her own mother and grandmother. Thus, Shiva embarks on a mission to discover the truths she is missing, which takes her to graduate school for Jewish folklore, and eventually back to Poland. As Shiva progresses through her journey, the other three narratives unfold alongside hers, slowly unraveling to reveal a larger interconnected picture of a family and what they have carried through generations.

This novel draws a lot from existing folklore, and the author even invents some of their own. I wasn’t super familiar with S. Ansky or some of the other lore, but I enjoyed the narrative nonetheless. The language and style is stunning, and I found myself highlighting huge chunks almost right off the bat.

I think those that struggle with slower pacing may not enjoy this book as much as I did, but I felt like there was a lot to savor here. The ideas and themes in this novel really appeal to me, and I think anyone who has had similar questions about identity and ancestry will get a lot out of this one. I will definitely check out more books from this author in the future!

*Thank you to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic/Grove Press, and Temim Fruchter for the opportunity to read a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

stunning!!! the writing is truly gorgeous. this is the best kind of book; one that is not just enjoyable in terms of plot but truly beautiful in its prose. it's hard to describe what makes it feel so magical, but like shiva suggests, i guess the body knows more than the mind sometimes. i was truly drawn to and immersed into this book.

[thank you to netgalley for the arc! my review is completely my own opinion]

3.5/5 stars.

Oh man, when I tell you I wanted to love this one so much and I'm so disappointed that I didn't.

I feel like all aspects of this book worked for me individually. I can confidently say that I'm a huge fan of the writing, that the characters were perfectly compelling, even that I appreciated the non-linear approach and narrative structure overall. However - I never managed to gel with it, and these individual aspects didn't seem to gel together, either.

Mind you, I feel like I learned a lot and Shiva is an incredibly relatable character to me. I also loved the backstory and the character histories. They were reminiscent of certain storylines from The Thirty Names of Night, which is one of my favorite books of all time, and I love love LOVED that.

There is, overall, a lot of positive that I took from this. I'd even go so far as to say I'll probably pick it up and reread one day and probably take even more from it. This time, though, it constantly left me wanting more; like something simply wasn't clicking even though I was desperate for it to do so.

Sometimes too much telling instead of showing and overly descriptive. I was Intrigued by the narration of the mysterious/nameless Messenger. I wanted more of that story!

The chapters are way too long for my taste so it was hard to pick up when I didn’t have the energy to commit to a potentially 1hr+ chapter. Plus the pacing dragged at times making it even harder to want to read.

Almost DNFd twice and set it aside multiple times for other books, but kept coming back to see where the story of Shiva’s ancestors would take us. I also really wanted to learn more about Jewish folklore.

The folklore and the idea of a generational family saga drew me to this book but sadly the execution just fell flat. If the book had been made shorter or at least better pacing, as well as more of the folklore/prologue type writing as opposed to Shiva, I probably would have stuck with it. It just felt like the author was trying to do too much and didn’t pull everything together in a satisfying way

Sadly decided to DNF for good at 32%-another book with a great idea but poor execution

City of Laughter is an intergenerational tale of familial secrets in a line of four women. Each woman must follow her own path of discovery, but the reader gets to see the shared connectedness. I loved the present day storyline, the character development of Shiva and Hannah kept me invested. Enjoyable and thought provoking read. Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a doozy! While some novels can seamlessly pull off multiple timelines and narratives, I struggled a little with it here. It seemed to switch nearly mid paragraph in some places and it was slightly jarring and left me confused and trying to keep up. Ultimately, I thought the message was strong and I loved unearthing more women's stories as Shiva also got to them in her research but it was a bit muddled in parts.

This book is beautifully written, but I had to DNF it at 50%. I loved the folklore aspects, but keeping up with three different story lines was a lot, and it just felt too long. It follows three generations of women and their connection to their Jewish roots and folklore, and I think it was building toward something cool, but after half of the book, I didn't want to continue that journey with them. I think this will find its audience, and I'm bummed it wasn't me.

Mixed on this one. The introductory story was an absolute stunner, but after 1/3 to 1/2 of the book following, I just didn’t remain engaged. Did not finish this one.

feels like this book was made for me. i love reading about queerness, judaism, and family history. due to story gaps in my own family, I found the curiosity and questions coming from Shiva and Hannah so relatable. as my time reading continued, I was surprised that I found myself more interested in Hannah's storyline. both journeys were super fascinating to read about. the reason i am giving four stars has to do with overall pacing and confusion on timeline at points.

I adored this magical, deeply queer story of family, memory, and Jewish folklore. I’ll be thinking about these characters and their world for a long time.