Excerpts from Writer's Digest:
A book of vaulting ambition, packed with sumptuous details, brisk dialogue and fascinating narrative asides that engage 6/5 of the human senses. Add to that its leapings back and forth in space and time -- all handled with careful consideration to readerly attention, it should be noted -- and the fact that the novel manages to come together as a coherent story, one that blends timeless folklore with in here-and-now allegory, is nothing short of miraculous. In Gaal’s hands, though, readers should expect nothing less; she proved it once with Dream Stitcher (dazzling debut) and has outdone herself with Synchronicities.
Gaal's signature style -- indefatigably quick-witted and punchy, at times bordering on (delightfully) frenetic -- is present throughout, though she displays subtle refrain here in comparison to her debut (Dream Stitcher). Sentence-over-sentence pacing is slowed (for Synchronicities) but ever so slightly, and the text on the whole embodies the "go slow to go fast" mantra repeated by Noah throughout. The effect is a slowing of our collective mind's eye, slow enough to see the interconnected beauty laid before us every day.
Through Noah's eyes we readers are given space to cultivate awareness as a conduit to that elusive fifth
The Dream Stitcher won two literary awards: the IndieReader Discovery Award in 2019, and placed as a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards in 2018.
dimension, such that the happenings of the world (and in the book) begin to seem less like hopelessly randomized chaos than beautifully synchronized swimming, however spontaneous and improvisational. Every page and paragraph is damn good, enriching fun.
A heartfelt, audacious and magical book with practical imports abound, useful to anyone struggling to find purpose and connection in an increasingly modernized world in which our technological progress can leave our minds and hearts feeling alienated from reality. If nothing else is taken from Noah's journey, the book reminds us that for those who struggle as he does, it is often not the fish that begs diagnostic inspection so much as the water itself.
Since 1950, the Jewish Book Council has awarded Jewish literary awards to more than 700 books. These prestigious awards recognize outstanding literature in the field and aim to encourage authors to continue to write on themes of Jewish interest.