Marvin's Novel

In this funny and heartwarming novel, a man who has been bullied all his life, first by his parents, then by his wife and even by the students he teaches at university, learns to stand up for himself and take control of his own destiny. “Marvin’s Novel” is the story of Marvin Keselman, a man in search of himself, a man shackled, as are many of us, by his parents’ expectations. They assume that Marvin will remain in New York City and be a doctor like his father and brother before him. But Marvin has other ideas and makes a break for it. He takes a teaching job in a university in Winnipeg, as far away from his parents as he can get, only to find himself periodically returning home to suffer their disapproval in person. And in Winnipeg the naïve Marvin encounters the ultimate seductress, Myrna Berman. Their wedding, organized by Myrna’s funeral home director father, is a comedic tour de force featuring among other things, a deceitful rabbi, a missing ring, and a dead body. Life after marriage is fraught with new and unpleasant surprises and the situation is made even worse because Marvin’s students are in revolt. Buffeted on all sides Marvin strives to merely stay afloat but ironically it is only when things go from bad to worse and Marvin is hauled up before the university’s kangaroo court on unfounded charges of racism that he understands that he can be the master of his own fate. Written with a compassionate appreciation of time, place and human nature, this engaging story will give you the kinds of laughs that you will think about later.