Hebrew Punk by Lavie Tidhar

Lavie Tidhar concocts a fantastical stew from disparate elements in Hebrew Punk, in which a Dream Team of Hebraic antiheroes breaks into a blood bank, a Jewish vampire meets Nazi werewolves, past and future civilizations ebb and flow through the hills and valleys of East Africa, and an immortal Tzaddik guardian falls prey to jealousy, betrayal, and drug abuse. These four tales have a decidedly noir sensibility with their gritty settings and even grittier characters.

As one relatively unfamiliar with Jewish legend and folklore—other than the occasional golem story—I was intrigued at the prospect of reading this collection. My actual experience, however, was mixed.

This slim volume opens with “The Heist,” the shortest of the four stories, which introduces the reader to the primary characters that will be featured in subsequent tales. Jiminy, an apparent Mafioso, seeks out a shady character known as the Rabbi, a “fixer,” to orchestrate a break-in at the city’s blood bank, which is protected by both high-tech and arcane means. The Rabbi gathers his team: Jimmy the Rat, a Jewish vampire with shapeshifting abilities; the Tzaddik, an immortal former guardian of world order; and Goldie, a sort of super-golem of the Rabbi’s own making. This group then sets out on its mission to break the blood bank.

Scenes of queued–up citizens being herded by armed police—apparently to have their blood drawn—and protesters with signs proclaiming, “Vampires are people too,” suggest that there is something sinister going on at the blood bank, but this is never fully explained. More importantly, it is unclear why Jiminy and his organization are interested in stealing the blood, as is the underlying reason for the Rabbi’s involvement.

While I was mulling these concerns, a pack of zombies suddenly appeared, and the Rabbi began cursing the bank for the “criminal offense” of raising the dead. What can you do? At that point, I had to give up and go with the action.

Overall, this story has potential, but lacks polish. The ideas are interesting, but could be more fully fleshed out. In addition to incoherence in the plot, I was struck by a certain choppiness in the writing—the occasional awkward sentence that distracted from the narrative. A surprising number of typos caused further distraction.

In “Transylvania Mission,” we again meet the Rat, this time traveling with a group of Jewish partisans through the Carpathian Mountains in 1944. Near Bran Castle, the one-time home of Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad Dracul, they spot a Nazi convoy. The Rat and his partisans follow cautiously as a contingent of Hitler’s own werewolves, the Wulfkommando, escort the infamous Josef Mengele to the castle. It seems the Butcher of Auschwitz has come to resurrect Tepes and “turn him to the Reich.”

The writing is smoother in this story, but it still feels as if the author is warming up. “Transylvania Mission” offers plenty of action and some suspense—and I have to admit, “Wulfkommando” just rolls off the tongue—but the characters are more action movie “types” than well-rounded beings, human or otherwise, making empathy difficult.

“Uganda” is told through a series of interspersed journal entries, interview transcripts, letters, and other fictional documents. It is the early 1900s, and the Rabbi has been asked to accompany (at a distance) a scouting expedition to East Africa by a group determined to establish a Jewish homeland there.

This tale shows more depth than the two preceding it. The story unfolds little by little through a fragment of one of the Rabbi’s journal entries here, a bit of a Mossad interrogation there. The effect is that of piecing together the narrative like a puzzle, which I find rewarding as a reader. Some of the diary entries from the Wilbusch character seem unnecessarily mundane and repetitive, but overall, this is an interesting, thoughtful piece.

Hebrew Punk clearly saves the best for last, as “The Dope Fiend” is easily the strongest story in the collection. The Tzaddik, once a member of an elite group of immortal guardians, is now a drug addict chasing the ghost of a girl he once loved through the seamy London underworld of 1926. This tale has everything: sex and drugs, voodoo and Kabbalah, dark angels and golems, Chinese assassins and American criminals. It also has well-rounded characters, a fully realized, fascinating plot, and strong, evocative writing.

If you pick up Lavie Tidhar’s Hebrew Punk, flip to “Uganda” and don’t miss “The Dope Fiend.” Then keep an eye out for more from this writer as he continues to develop his unique vision.

Publisher: Apex Book Comany
Price: $13.95
Trade paperback: 156 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9788676-4-5