Seated next to Louise Rackoff at Shoshanna Teitelbaum’s free, Friday night dinner, shy, young Leon Rosenberg, an aspiring therapist, patiently listens to Louise’s neurotic rant about the fraught relationship with her recently deceased mother. “My mother was raised an Orthodox Jew and then became an Orthodox Freudian, so she pathologized me with a religious fervor”. Intensely bitter, Louise castigates her mother for “invading her innermost thoughts, psychoanalyzing her every act” messing up her life. Instead of sitting shivah for her mother Louise pulls no punches and entices Leon to an after-dinner romp at his place.
Captivated by her contrarian behavior, Leon respectfully pays Louise an unexpected shiva call. No less “oppositional” and much more intense Louise unravels the long, agonizing months she begrudgingly became her mother’s sole caregiver, watching her wither away from brain cancer. Moved by Louise’s stark honesty, her utter irreverence, Leon was equally touched by her vulnerability her palpable loneliness very much like his own. Gentle, empathetic Leon senses Louise’s desperation and risks dating her. He endures her dark moods, her offensive barbs, her persistent “emotional whiplash,” her incessant criticisms ---and forgives everything. Surprisingly they both develop tender feelings for one another that almost approximates love.
When Louise becomes pregnant, Leon transforms to the “elemental father.” He venerates his “little kneidel,” their daughter Lydia. On the other hand, Louise feels trapped declaring “I’m not a good mother,” packed, ready to leave her marriage and child. With the grace of a tzadik Leon convinces Louise that her post-partum depression will subside. Louise raises their daughter with love, overwhelming warmth and dedication that Leon had never seen in her before. A phone call from cousin Chava in Israel capsizes the entire family and seals their fate.
New indisputable research based on other members of the family clearly indicates Louise’s mother did not die of brain cancer as Louise had been led to believe. She perished from a genetic neurological disorder affecting Ashkenazi Jews. Chava urged Louise to be immediately tested. She refused. Instead Louise made a decision readers might identify as an act of supreme altruism. Or an act of unspeakable selfishness. And nobody, not even Leon, with all his entreaties and unconditional love could reverse her resolve.
Emotionally visceral, never morbid nor sentimental Unfinished Acts of Wild Creation by author Sarah Yahm is a remarkable work of fiction imbued with humor, edgy dialogue and unforgettable characters. Incidentally, the author, herself suffers from a “hypermobility disorder.” Disabled, Yahm could not type her manuscript, care for her newborn baby, hold a pen nor scroll a computer screen. Yahm’s intricately plotted novel is a startling work of wild imagination.