A Great Stocking Stuffer?

When writing a comic novel like The Academy of Smoke And Mirrors: A Boarding School On The Brink,  the idea is to keep the jokes inside the novel.  That’s certainly what Jim and I thought we were doing during the five years we worked on Smoke And Mirrors.  

But when we finally, finally completed the novel—about three and a half years later than we had projected—I was for the first time able to experience it holistically.  Only then did I discover a meta-joke wrapped around the story like a red ribbon encircling a Christmas present.

The joke: somehow, in telling the story of a Jewish boarding school in rural Georgia, where most of the characters (and all of the drama) are Jewish, Smoke And Mirrors bears a striking resemblance to the beloved Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.

Huh?  

How could 80,000 words chronicling Head of School Jeff Taylor’s madcap efforts to leave the Hampton Acres Hebrew Academy have anything in common with the Frank Capra film?  It’s especially surprising when you see that those 80,000 words contain many allusions to Jewish culture and learning, not to mention numerous jokes about the seemingly infinite capacity Jews have for disagreeing with one another. 

Nevertheless, Smoke And Mirrors and the Jimmy Stewart classic share the same comic engine: both Jeff Taylor and George Bailey strive to escape the place they feel stuck in (Bradleyville and Bedford Falls, respectively), and both are repeatedly frustrated in their attempts to exit. Time and again, when Jeff and George see daylight, something happens at work (Hampton Acres Hebrew Academy, Bailey Savings and Loan) that blocks the exits.   

So, Jim and I set out to write a Jewish-centric novel, and when I put the book down after my first full read I’m reminded of George Bailey’s glorious Christmas? Was I seeing the little fingerprints of the dybbuks, those trouble-making imps of Yiddish literature who delight in flummoxing humans with practical jokes?  Or was this some kind of cosmic rebuke for borrowing someone else’s plot device?  I quickly rejected the latter idea. While it doesn’t take much to make me feel guilty, the borrowing, and outright stealing, of storyline is too common across the creative world to bring down punishment.)

Which leaves us with a mystery that would “cross a rabbi’s eyes.”  But, please don’t worry! That mystery won’t stop you from having many laughs reading The Academy Of Smoke And Mirrors. Just don’t be surprised if, alongside your own laughter you hear a deep and hearty “Ho, ho, ho.”

“The Academy of Smoke And Mirrors: A Boarding School On The Brink will be available this fall. If you’d like to be kept up to date, subscribe to Alex’s Substack.“