By Jasmine Durst
With a packed audience and no seating left, Dr. Laurence Roth’s reading of his new novel, “Unpacking My Father’s Bookstore,” was the first of many in the Writers Institute’s Seavey Reading Series.
Junior Jazmyn Moodie, a creative writing and theater arts major, was the night’s student speaker, announcing Dr. Roth and his bio, and she shared her experience with Dr. Roth as her professor in Aesthetics and Interpretation.
“He teaches through interpretation and discussion,” Jazmyn said.
Dr. Laurence Roth is the author of three books, the editor of Modern Language Studies, a scholarly journal of the Northeast Modern Language Association, a professor of English at Susquehanna University, co-director of the publishing and editing program, director of the Jewish and Israel Studies program, and leads The Build Collaborative.
“Unpacking My Father’s Bookstore” is a mixture of a memoir and critical study, aimed for a general audience, and gives readers an insider’s experience to an indie bookstore that is dedicated to Jewish and American-Jewish literature and culture.
Dr. Roth claimed, “It’s both about the emotions of growing up in the store, and the thoughtful work of making sense of that experience and of what bookstores do for their communities.”
Unpacking My Father’s Bookstore created a narrative centered around Dr. Roth, his family and his father’s bookstore in the 1900s. The first section read was about Dr. Roth growing up in his father’s bookstore, accompanied by a projected image of his father in front of the bookstore in the 1900s.
The second section was about the man who founded the bookstore, Michael Harelick, who sold the bookstore to Roth’s father for $33,000. This section was partnered with an image of Harelick dressed wisely in front of the bookstore that, at the time, was named Michael Harelick’s Books.
Michael Harelick immigrated from Russia in the 1940s and became a recognized Jewish bookstore owner by the 1950s, carrying English and Hebrew books to make a living.
Dr. Roth explained his move from Queens to Los Angeles, describing New York apartment complexes as having basements while California apartment complexes have tiny crawl spaces for children tocrawl in.
The third section was encouraged to be read by Dr. Roth’s peers and featured a picture of Roth, his two brothers and their mother. The scene was mainly about his parents’ marriage and intimacy issues. During their marriage, Roth’s mother opened a subsidiary bookstore under the family name. One day, his mother was working and received a box that she believed contained a bomb. She called the fire department, who arrived to open the box but began laughing. The firefighters explained to Dr. Roth’s mother that the box did not contain a bomb but instead a Santa-themed, male genital warmer.
Dr. Roth had several audience members laughing throughout his reading because of his engagement with various voices for each character. He also included Hebrew phrases.
Overall, Dr. Roth’s goal is to spread a positive message about indie bookstores. Despite their sustaining role, the work these bookstores do can be lost or forgotten in time. “I hope the book reminds people to try to remember and to keep those bookstores alive. Especially in our contemporary cultural climate,” Dr. Roth said.
Dr. Roth thanked everyone for coming and filling every seat, with some people even standing in the back. He also thanked his colleagues for sharing his love of books. He thanked President Green, Lynn Buck and his own family for being in attendance.
His reading was given on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. in Isaacs Auditorium, and it was a compliment and reflection of Jewish culture.
The Writers’ Institute hopes to see such a great turnout again for the next installment in the Seavey Reading Series!