Book Review: The Escape Artist

The novel The Escape Artist by Judith Katz takes place over 17 years and travels from Eastern Europe to Argentina. Sofia Teitelbaum is a young Jewish girl when her poor parents decide to marry her off to a wealthy Jewish businessman who boasts of taking Sofia to Argentina where she will be treated as a princess. The wealthy businessman, Tutsik Goldenberg, is clearly not who he says he is but Sofia’s family can not offer her a better life in their Polish town so they agree to the marriage. Before Tutsik and Sofia can be wed, Tutsik takes Sofia to another village where she meets “tante Sara” who pretends to be Tutsik’s aunt. Tante Sara, Sofia, and Tutsik board a boat for Argentina on which Tutsik promises to marry Sofia. Of course the marriage does not take place, and instead Sara teaches Sofia about the art of seduction. When they arrive at the dock in Argentina, Sofia is brought to Tutsik’s sister’s brothel where Sofia will work as a prostitute for three years until she meets Hankus. Hankus, formerly Hannah, has a story of his own which Sofia tells the reader. When Sofia meets Hankus he is already working as a magician and about to take his talent to the big stage. The love between Hankus and Sofia is the crux of the story that leads to betrayal, secrets, and magic.

Katz is simply an excellent writer. She is able to describe a scene with such precision and detail that the reader can almost feel it. In addition, she peppers the text with Yiddish words which deepens the issue of Jewish identity in the novel. However, readers who do not know Yiddish will still understand the text and might even pick up some Yiddish verbiage. The story is written in sections that each have denoted years. One of the sections is specifically Hankus’ section. Yet, it is not told by Hankus but instead by Sofia as it was told to her by Hankus. Therefore, she uses the second person when writing this section which is a fantastic technique and works very well in this book.

Overall, the novel was a very good read. Still, I only have it 3.5 stars because I could not sympathize with the characters. Though they certainly developed throughout the novel, they were not likable and at times I could not even understand the love between Sofia and Hankus. However, Katz proves herself to be an excellent writer and I look forward to more works by her in the future.


-DLP