Sevananda by CamEvans courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons
According to Jewish folklore Lilith was Adam’s first wife, the one that never made it into the Bible. She is also said to be the first vampire feeding on the blood of Adam’s children. I guess being spurned by him and replace by Eve made Lilith a vengeful bitch, which makes that a perfect name for a dog, right?
“That’s kind of a lot to put on a three-legged dog.”
In Jane Goes Batty the follow up to Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford, Lilith is a three-legged chihuahua former wanderer of the streets of Jerusalem rescued by Miriam Ellenberg now turned faithful lap dog…or is she?
Everyone has secrets this time around, including the dog.
I enjoyed the little twists–some quite predictable, others mildly surprising. I liked it better than the first wherein I kept waiting for Jane to “bite back,” this time around she did have more bite, especially with her wit. Some of the best dialogue moments occur between Jane and her former lover Lord Byron. There’s still some good chemistry there, even if it isn’t romantic.
This book isn’t meant to be a deeply thought provoking work, but I can never just read something and cast it aside without it provoking me just a bit. For me the real thought provoking comes from the dog, or rather the weight of the dog’s name, which is revealed to Jane by the Rabbi Ben Cohen. Let’s all do a double take.
Yes, Jane the vampire speaks to a rabbi on the pretext that she is considering conversion from Protestantism to Judaism because of her boyfriend Walter. Comical situation aside, I find this interesting since most vampire novels tend to focus on the issue through a Christian lens, specifically a Catholic one. No disrespect intended, but it’s kind of refreshing to see a different perspective put forth with the Jewish folkloric mention of Lilith spring boarding us into a discussion of vampires and the soul with a rabbi.
Jewish vampire hunters? YES! I’d like more of that, please.
Well, too bad. We only get hints of that here, and now I have a deep seeded desire to find a novel featuring Jewish vampire hunters and/or Jewish vampires having an existential crisis about the state of their soul.
What did you think this time around? Would you be interested in a Jewish vampire hunter or a Jewish vampire? Know of any books to recommend?