Author Origin: Hamilton, ON
Page Count: 337
Genre: Fiction
Difficulty: Medium
Grade Level: 9+
Key Talking Points: Identity, discrimination, the ignorance of persecution
Sensitive Subject Matter: Violence in general, historical acts of violence, some dirty jokes
Warning: You need to be someone who loves words to enjoy the struggle of this lexicon
If you can tell from my inclusion of "dirty jokes" in the sensitive subject matter, this one is different than many of the other books I've reviewed so far. While the story is set against the horror of Jewish persecution throughout the 1400s, the voice of the narrator, a gregarious talking parrot, keeps the tone light and moves quickly from murder to telling you about the two rebbes who walked into a bar. A talking parrot, you say? It's going to be one of those books is it? Prepare to have every expectation turned on its head in the ridiculously unpredictable Yiddish for Pirates.
Summary: The story begins with a young boy named Moshie suffering from the typical affliction of the young, wanting to leave all that he knows for the adventures of the wider world. This restlessness ends up saving his life on one hand, as the village of his family is wiped out by the Inquisition's hatred, and risking it on the other, as he is still learning how to hide his true identity as a Jew in the wider world that, at the time, is also a minefield. The story follows Moshie's exploits over the years, from being a cabin boy on a ship, to being the captain of his own pirate ship, with years of hijinks in between. He meets Christopher Columbus, Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and even joins the timeless quest for the fountain of youth. There is love, romantic and platonic, but above all, the novel is a love story to language and the Jewish faith. Don't get me wrong, there is a healthy amount of "shtupping" too, but more in passing and presented humorously. Towards the end, the story also weaves itself into another traditional narrative: the search for the fountain of youth. And all the while Moshie is joined by the parrot Aaron, who loves the shoulder he sits on more than anything else in the world. Except maybe his jokes.
This book is like a full five course meal in every sentence, the language is so rich. Personally, I often thought while reading: "That CANNOT be a real word. Barwin's making this up!" But I was wrong. I looked up the more fantastical words that I was reading and, in fact, they were correct. Barwin uses words in creative, albeit perfectly accurate ways. For example, the parrot describes his feathers as crepuscular, meaning resembling twilight, which makes total sense based on the recognizable colour scheme of most parrots. However, I'd never heard crepuscular used as this type of descriptive adjective. Normally, I think of the zoological definition referring to animals that are most active at dawn or dusk. So I went "aha!" and jumped on google in a challenge to Barwin, only to expand my vocabulary and see that he was 100% right. There are also words that are used that are yiddish or jewish slang. Those were a little harder for me to puzzle out, but eventually I just gave up and went with it, getting the gist with the mood and tone of the words around them.
Teacher Note: Given the language challenges I mentioned above, this book would be good for a student with initiative who would enjoy the puzzle of the strange words, rather than one that would just give up. The creation of research notes, chapter summaries, and a glossary would be great assets while reading. A background in yiddish would definitely help, but is not necessary. Despite the potential for vocabulary based trials and tribulations, the content and themes of this novel work really well for a younger reader, around grade 9 or 10.
Final Thought: At first I did really struggle with this book. The story and the characters are engaging and kept me going until I realized that this was not a book I could just quickly read, or read while tired or distracted. And once I realized that this book needed my full attention, I was able to pick up the pace and fly through it. The language became easier and I was also learning the flow of Barwin's writing, so that I didn't try and decode the yiddish phrases, knowing that he would provide me a translation in the next line.
Barwin's voice, through the narration of Aaron, once states "In an adventure, the next place is always somewhere else" (244). This is also descriptive of the plot of the story. It often jumps around and leaves the reader wondering how we got there, but again, just go with it and soon you realize that you didn't miss anything important. It is an adventure story, after all, and those are meant to be unpredictable.
Finally, a quote that I believe sums up the unpredictable uniqueness of the premise for this book: "Yiddish. The perfect language for pirates, its words raggletag plundered and refitted from other times and tongues. [...] Words belong to those who use them only till someone else steals them" (247). So enjoy the story, but, also, enjoy the words.
📚 Ms. CAN Lit
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