How a bestselling book became an unlikely lightning rod in literary fights over the Israel-Hamas war
The Korean-Jewish author Gabrielle Zevin has been targeted, and defended, for “Zionism” even though she’s never spoken publicly about Israel
Author Gabrielle Zevin speaks about her bestseller “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” during the 28th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California on Saturday, April 22, 2023 in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(JTA) — “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” Gabrielle Zevin’s novel about video game designers, has dominated the bestseller list for two years and was recently chosen as one of the New York Times’ best 100 books of the 21st century.
But for months Zevin, an author of Jewish and Korean descent with nine other books under her belt, has been grabbing headlines for an unrelated reason: accusations from pro-Palestinian corners of the literary world that she is a “Zionist” and therefore, that her works are worthy of boycott.
Zevin has never publicized any of her views on Israel. But she has become an unlikely poster figure for the culture wars around Israel that have permeated arts and culture spaces, particularly the literary world, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The latest flare-up occurred over the weekend, when a manager at a Chicago bookstore, City Lit, told book club members that they could no longer vote to read Zevin’s book owing to her perceived Zionism.
“It was brought to my attention that the author Gabrielle Zevin is a Zionist, and I am not comfortable having us reading something by her, especially knowing people would buy it from the store and she would receive monetary support from us,” the assistant manager wrote in the email. He continued, “If you want to read it, I’d encourage you to get it from the library and read it critically!”
Zevin, 46, grew up in Florida with her Korean mother and Jewish father before heading to Harvard University. She published her first novels in 2005 and has had a steady output since, but “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” has been far and away her most successful work. The book’s two protagonists, Sam and Sadie, are both of Jewish descent, a detail Zevin has said is autobiographical; she told the Harvard Crimson in 2022, “I am, like Sam in the book, half Jewish and half Korean.” While promoting a 2014 book, she wrote, “I’m the product of no religion to speak of except, if this isn’t too pretentious to write, the religion of books.”
Readers, generally from the left, who claim Zevin is a Zionist point as evidence to one instance of her appearing at a February 2023 event hosted by the Zionist women’s organization Hadassah (a group that makes a brief appearance in the novel).
Hadassah Magazine’s executive editor Lisa Hostein denounced City Lit’s move as antisemitic on social media, where she confirmed that even Hadassah doesn’t know Zevin’s stance on Israel.
“I don’t know whether Gabrielle Zevin considers herself a Zionist or not,” Hostein tweeted on Monday, adding that Hadassah had selected “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” for its own national book club and that, when the magazine spoke to her, “Zevin spoke proudly about her dual Jewish-Korean heritage, themes that she included in her writing for the first time.”
Hostein added, “I also know that boycotting a Jewish author for appearing before the largest Jewish women’s organization in the country is antisemitism, pure and simple.”
Some also note that “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” features an Israeli character, though the novel only references Israel tangentially and the character is widely seen as unlikeable. “Gabrielle Zevin included Israeli sympathy into her books,” one pro-Palestinian proponent of boycotting “known Zionist authors” wrote on X.
Before the current flap, Zevin was among dozens of authors who appeared on a recent viral online list titled “Is your fav author a Zionist???” — with boycotts recommended against authors for whom the answer was yes, such as Zevin.
The list was condemned by the Jewish Book Council, whose president compared it to Nazi-era book burnings, and several authors on it expressed their concern that it would make them fall victim to antisemitic targeting. In response to such incidents, the Jewish Book Council has launched an initiative for authors to report any antisemitism they experience in the literary world.
Zevin was also the subject of social media targeting in December when a fantasy subscription service, FairyLoot, defended its decision to promote a special edition of her book over online backlash owing to her perceived Zionism.
Fairyloot rejected the accusation of Zionism as “completely unfounded.” In contrast, City Lit did not address its manager’s assumption that Zevin was a Zionist when it posted a statement Monday to social media apologizing for removing “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” from the book club poll.
“The moderator removed the book from the poll hoping to maintain in [sic] what they believed a safe and comfortable space for the group,” the bookstore said. “A better course of action would’ve been to allow the group to discuss and vote on this decision. For that we apologize.”
The lengthy statement did not apologize to Zevin. The store said her name came up after “several members” of the book club “privately reached out to the moderator to express their discomfort with the title.” The statement went on to reject accusations that removing the book as an option constituted either antisemitism or censorship.
Still, the store appeared to apologize to the Jewish community. “We will continue to welcome and host Jewish authors in our space,” it said. “We understand that due to current political events Jewish people have been victims of unfair scrutiny and we sincerely apologize to all of those who have been subjected to that response.”
Calls to City Lit on Tuesday were not answered.
Zevin, who just wrapped a nationwide tour promoting the book’s paperback release, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment through her agent.
She has never made any public statements about Israel and doesn’t address the topic in her live appearances. The closest she has skirted may have come during a June radio interview, when she was asked how she thought it would affect first-time readers that the paperback was emerging at a time “where we have lots of major international conflicts going on.”
Zevin responded by talking about her characters, not readers. “I think the worlds that my characters find themselves in in the book is the world,” she said. “It has all of the things in it, not necessarily the particularity of 2024, you know, but it doesn’t exist in a world that doesn’t have conflict.”
With the author back in the spotlight this week, Jewish and non-Jewish critics of the Palestinian boycott movement alike were quick to condemn City Lit. New York Democratic Rep. Richie Torres, a prominent pro-Israel voice in Congress and on social media, was among those to condemn the bookstore.
“Since most Jews are Zionists, the ban is tantamount to putting up a sign that reads: ‘No Jews Allowed,’” Torres tweeted. “Anyone who adopts a policy that excludes most Jews is guilty of institutionalizing antisemitism.”
Edward Einhorn, a New York theater director, tweeted, “Gabrielle Zevin’s offenses seem to be: she had an Israeli character in a book, she spoke at Hadassah, and she’s Jewish. This sort of antisemitic McCarthyism is truly awful.”
The pro-Palestinian backlash does not appear to be hurting Zevin. In addition to her spot on the New York Times list, an upcoming film adaptation of the novel — which has sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide — is slated to be directed by Sian Heder, the Oscar-winning writer and director of “CODA.”
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