Resonance: A Novel by Michael S. Tobin and Daniel S. Chertoff is a magnificent exploration of the literary and arts scene in 1920s through 1940s Paris via the uncovering of the journals of Anna, a fictional young Jewish sculptor who left Poland for Paris in 1922 and met Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Janet Flanner, and others while studying with Antoine Bourdelle and then worked to help Jewish families escape Germany.
In 1971, Sophie, an American on leave from college and her suffocating life, works as a “tumbleweed” at Shakespeare and Company bookstore, where she and others get soup and a place to live in exchange for a few hours of daily work and owner George’s mandate to read a book a day and discuss it with him. George offers insight into the literary history of Paris. He notes: “Hemingway said he did in writing what Cézanne did in painting.” Later, when Sophie tells George she doesn’t know anything about Cézanne:
“Layers,” he continues. “Cézanne taught Hemingway to write the way the eye actually sees, not with outlines but with planes, fractures, and tensions. Read the nature passages. Then go to the Jeu de Paume and look at the landscapes. Cézanne teaches you how to see.”
From the beginning, this novel made me look again at Cézanne’s paintings and explore Hemingway’s connection to Cézanne—he credited the artist with influencing his work and spent many hours studying his paintings. The way the novel organically leads the reader into the history of the writers, artists, and political figures of the 1920s and 30s while simultaneously sharing a sensitive love story is unique in that it builds the reader’s knowledge base while continuing to tell a compelling story. It also teaches the reader how to see just as Cézanne taught Hemingway.
Later, George sends Sophie to a basement rental around the corner from the store to go through the “old stuff from Sylvia Beach’s time.” (Note: Sylvia Beach was the original owner of Shakespeare and Company and the publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses.) Sophie finds letters, documents, and photographs featuring Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway among other treasures. When Sophie discovers a valise containing Anna’s journals she finds a kindred soul and enters Paris from the 1920s through the 1940s taking the reader with her as she follows the rise of Nazi power while arts and literature flourished seemingly undiminished in the salons of Paris.
The novel soars when Anna attends a speech by activist banker Max Borovsky and then meets him for lunch at Café de Flore the following day.
“The food arrives. The scent of butter and lemon curls into the air. I pick up my fork, testing the edge of the fish. So does he. Talk and taste don’t make good partners. We give the moment, the silence, over to the sole, letting sweet and tart flavors linger on our tongues. I smile inwardly as he savors his first bite. We have something in common: Neither of us makes small talk. We converse the way we eat—with curiosity, attention, desire.” The way the authors convey the beginning of Anna and Max as a couple by allowing the reader to observe them instead of telling the reader about them is indicative of the novel’s careful simplicity.
This book is a gift for lovers of literature and art that’s also a sensuous love story and a harrowing adventure tale. The portraits of real writers and artists of the time infuse it with authenticity and facts that bolster rather than detract from the lives that the characters lead.
Having recently read Mark Braude’s exceptional nonfiction tale The Typewriter and the Guillotine, I had learned more about Janet Flanner, the New Yorker correspondent in Paris, and was excited to see her appear as a contributing character in Resonance. The two books complement each other and I encourage readers to further explore the time period with Braude.
Authors Tobin and Chertoff, age 80 and 72 respectively, have won awards for their individual nonfiction efforts. Tobin, a clinical psychologist, aims “to create characters who live at the edge of beauty and brokenness.” In 1972, Chertoff was a “tumbleweed” at Shakespeare and Company thus contributing the “you are there” feeling of the bookstore in Resonance.
Summing it Up: Read Resonance to enter 1920s through 1940s Paris where arts and literature were paramount as Nazi power rose. Become a part of the lives of writers, artists, and resistance fighters while falling into a beautiful love story and savoring the word pictures that will help you see the underlying layers as Hemingway and Cézanne did.
Rating: 5 Stars
Publication Date: October 13, 2026
Categories: Grandma’s Pot Roast, Pigeon Pie, Super Nutrition, Book Club
Book Website: http://www.resonanceanovel.com/
What Others Are Saying:
Forward Reviews: https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/resonance-9798900261775/
Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-tobin/resonance-a-novel/
The Turned Page Review: https://turnedpagereview.substack.com/p/review-of-resonance-by-michael-s
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