The Puttermesser Papers

A novel in five episodes following Ruth Puttermesser, a brilliant, bookish New York lawyer, through decades of her life. At its wildest, Puttermesser creates a female golem out of the dirt of her houseplants, who helps her become mayor of New York City. At its quietest, it is a study of a woman reading, thinking, and growing old alone.

Why Read This

If The Shawl shows Ozick’s intensity, The Puttermesser Papers shows her range. It is funny, inventive, and deeply strange, drawing on Jewish mysticism and Talmudic argument while staying rooted in the mundane details of New York municipal politics and apartment life. Puttermesser is one of the great characters in American fiction: intellectual, idealistic, and perpetually disappointed by the gap between how the world should work and how it does.

The novel was a finalist for the National Book Award and demonstrates Ozick’s ability to blend fantasy with realism, comedy with tragedy, and ancient tradition with modern urban life.

What to Expect

Episodic and playful in structure, each section written years apart and assembled into a coherent whole. The tone shifts from satirical to elegiac. Ozick’s prose is erudite and allusive, full of references to Hebrew texts and Western literature, but always in service of the story rather than for show. Readers who enjoy intellectual fiction with a sense of humor will find this irresistible.