The Rebirth of Gershon Polokov
Mindy Littman Holland
The idea of metempsychosis (the posthumous transmigration of souls into new bodies) began with
the Greeks. Currently, stories that deal with this phenomenon are categorized as paranormal.
James Joyce and Plato (both believers in metempsychosis) would enthusiastically welcome Mindy
Littman Holland’s treatment of the passage of a soul to another physical body if they were around
today.
We first meet Sophie Gordon as a three-year-old in the 1950s in a grocery store in the Bronx who
is given a gold locket in the shape of a heart by a stranger only she can see. We follow her life from
there through two marriages besides taking a sidetrip to New York in 1910 to understand how the
seeds were planted for the transmigration of two lovers' souls.
I was intrigued by Ms. Holland's choice of a simple narrative style to tell a story that deals with the
complexities of the human psyche. She doesn’t reveal the souls of her characters by overwhelming
readers with philosophical and psychological discourses. Holland’s reliance on humor to make us
laugh at family dysfunction serves the novel well. Sophie's mother, Roma Gordon, is practical to
the point of being a caricature of motherhood while her father is a doting husband and daddy who
just doesn't get it.
It's a long hard road Sophie and her beloved, Gershon, travel to find each other. I enjoyed
traveling it with them, especially with Holland’s guidance. It's a fun read on a subject matter that is
often misunderstood. The point the story makes well is that whether you believe in
metempsychosis or not, don't think of it as irrelevant. Many great minds have given it serious
consideration.
5 Stars
One of Amazon's Best Books of 2015
Bill Snyder
http://www.amazon.com/Rebirth-Gershon-Polokov-
Novel/dp/0865348723/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1440006809&sr=8-
2&keywords=mindy+littman+holland.com
http://mindylittmanholland.com/MLHdotcom/Fiction.html
http://mindylittmanholland.com/
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