If I Told You Once

By Judy Budnitz

Book Overview

In her utterly original novel about mothers, daughters, and love, Judy Budnitz gives the traditional folktale an electrifying twist as she follows four generations of women from an Eastern European village to the tenements of an American city. Elena, born into a family ruled by a formidable mother, embarks on an epic journey to the New World, met along the way by evil, magic, and good fortune. The daughter, grand-daughter, and great-granddaughter who follow each share her special powers of observation and, often, destruction. The result is a family saga unlike any other: a hilarious, heartbreaking story of family ties that bind.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312267517
• ISBN13: 9780312267513
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Absolutely good!

Really like the way the author tells the story in a fairy tale or whimsical way. Absolutely a page turner Enjoyed

Absolutely Stunning.

This story was so beautifully written. The similes and metaphors used were extremely effective, and also the fact that there were no quotation marks used. This made it seem more like a story, rather than text written on paper. The voice used for each character was very unique. Each girl a different person, but with similarities in all of them. This was the best book I have ever read in ages. Excellent page-turner.

A Wonderful Russian Folk Tale-evocative of Gogol

This novel is a wonderful take-off on old Russian Folk Tales, evoking Gogol at his wildest. It starts off well enough but improves vastly as it moves forward, and eventually resettles the tale in the New World. It is written with wit, compassion, and a wonderfully provocative prose style. It is a shame that writers with trendy themes, or some sort of artificial hype...get thrust high into the limelight, while true writers, real writers, women and men who will no doubt write until the day they die because telling stories is just in their blood, such as Ms. Budnitz, have to be discovered in the relative shadows.

If I Told You Once is a Mother Goose tale turned inside out!

Ilana yearns to leave the poverty of her Eastern Europeanvillage, to embark on a voyage to the New World...This is not agentle story of a girl's wandering in the wilderness & hereventual escape, yet there is an innocence, a wonder & aremarkable change in perspective.A profound transformational workof values, honor, madness & reality. Destined to become a classicin women's literature...

Poignant commentary on womanhood

Judy Budnitz's imagination is wild enough to be exciting but restrained enough to stay focused on the matter at hand. In _If I Told You Once_, she tackles womanhood, adeptly and with amazing insight. Though the characters are harsh and conflicted, both internally and in relationship, their voices are crisp and honest and unapologetically eccentric.I look forward to Ms. Budnitz's long and fruitful literary career. It's going to be a good one.

brilliant

IF I TOLD YOU ONCE is a genius work of pure imagination, seamlessly fusing the old world and the new in a stirring epic chronicling three generations of women. Utterly haunting, poignant, and unforgettable.