Ivan Prashker’s latest offering is a skillfully rendered, moving collection of short stories that trace how ordinary lives are shaped by memory, loss, humor, and resilience. The title, borrowed from Shakespeare, neatly captures its essence.

The 15 stories are set from the 1950s to the present. In the opening story, a young man revisits his old neighborhood, pausing near where his grandfather was murdered: “He was beaten to death shortly after opening an old men’s walkup synagogue off Broadway…” This somber history is interwoven with the memory of a childhood baseball game. Near the story’s end, the Jewish protagonist recites Kaddish (the mourner’s prayer for the dead) for his non-Jewish friend’s mother, deftly bringing these seemingly incongruous elements together.

Lighter stories provide balance. In “Duke”, the joyful barking of an apartment dweller’s beloved beagle puts its anxious owners at risk of eviction. After taking Duke to a funeral to avoid enraging the neighbors, Duke’s owner exclaims, “Let’s get the hell out of here before the whole world learns I’m the schmuck who brought the barking dog.”

Elsewhere, a solemn story of Holocaust aftermath follows an oddly endearing denizen of New York’s underbelly. Hired to kill a Nazi collaborator’s young son, he instead helps the boy and his aunt escape.

Prashker’s writing has an engaging conversational tone. His style transports readers into vividly rendered settings filled with characters whose stories are momentarily all-consuming. Whole scenes are expertly carried by dialogue instead of description. Grief and humor sit side by side, providing reprieve when stories become challenging. Largely set in New York City, The Big Apple’s heartbeat is palpable.

Readers drawn to literary short fiction rooted in place and memory, mid-century New York, or multigenerational family stories will delight in Prashker’s work, particularly Jewish readers, as Jewish themes recur throughout. However, all will recognize the universal humanity in these stories. Prashker can make readers laugh and break their hearts in the same paragraph, creating an unforgettable collection.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.