The Marriage Box: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

Casey Cohen, a Middle Eastern Jew, is a sixteen-year-old in New Orleans in the 1970s when she starts hanging out with the wrong crowd. Then she gets in trouble and her parents turn her whole world upside down by deciding to return to their roots, the Orthodox Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn.

In this new and foreign world, families gather weekly for Shabbat dinner; parties are extravagant events at the Museum of Natural History; and the Marriage Box is a real place, a pool deck designated for teenage girls to put themselves on display for potential husbands. Casey is at first shocked by this unfamiliar culture, but after she meets Michael, shes enticed by it. Looking for love and a place to belong, she marries him at eighteen, believing she can adjust to Syrian ways. But she begins to question her decision when she discovers that Michael doesnt want her to go to college; he wants her to have a baby instead.

Can Casey integrate these two opposing worlds, or will she have to leave one behind in order to find her way

Reviews

This read-alike for Meg Wolitzer's The Wife and Melissa Bank's A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing sets the weight of familial, romantic, and cultural expectations against the terrifying freedom of the unknown.
Booklist

In this crisp coming-of-age novel, Corie Adjmi courageously takes on a subject close to her heart, and one that has not yet been told through the female lens: the world of the Jewish Syrian girl.
Ester Amini, Jewish Book Council

The Marriage Boxis a wonderfully delightful page-turner that takes a deep dive into the intricacies of the Syrian Jewish community in New York. With humor, insight, and grace, Adjmi examines the plight of a spit-fire teenager who struggles to find where she fits in the world. As Casey Cohen journeys from wild teen to 18-year-old married woman, she will win every last reader's heart with her witty commentary, down-to-earth attitude, and courageous spunk. An unquestionable joyride from start to finish. This book is a must-read!
Jacqueline Friedland,USA Today best-selling author ofHe Gets That From Me

The Marriage Box is a brilliant coming of age story that moves swiftly between the worlds of New Orleans and the Syrian Jewish community in NY. Our heroine, Casey, is flawed, kind and so vivid. We fall in love with her as she grapples to balance her need for independence with the comforts and constraints of tradition. I cant remember when I last enjoyed a story so much: I laughed, I cried, I learnt, and couldnt wait to turn the page to find out what Casey was going to do next. The Marriage Box is an absolute delight!
Ariana Neumann, New York Time best-selling author of When Time Stopped and National Jewish Book Award and Dayton Literary Peace Prize winner

This book was real and authentic, giving the reader a stunning storyline and a unique cast of characters. There is so much growth and change within this story and it is so well writtenI would highly recommend this book to anyone.
Reader's Favorite, 5 STARS

Corie Adjmis fabulous novel The Marriage Boxis an unputdownable tale of Old World traditions-meets-New World desires. Adjmi doesnt hold back in this coming-of-age tale of a young woman who loses herself early on, shaped by a destructive past. The writing is rich, immersive, and seamless. You will root for Casey as she forges her own way in a patriarchal world. A must-read.
Lisa Barr, award-winning author of Woman on Fire, The Unbreakables, and Fugitive Colors

Adjmi has written a fascinating story of culture and custom and the choices that go along with it. Compelling and compulsively readable; I found myself rooting for Casey Cohen as I flipped through the pages, finishing in one single sitting. A must-read.
Rochelle Weinstein, USA Today best-selling author of This Is Not How It Ends,Somebody's Daughter, Where We Fall, The Mourning After, and What We Leave Behind

I couldn't put The Marriage Bo down. Alternately funny and heart-wrenching, but always deftly observed, this is a fast-paced coming of age story that will stick with you.
Jen Spyra, author of Big Time and former staff writer for CBSs The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Corie Adjmis captivating novel The Marriage Box develops Caseys conflicted emotions with finesse, contrasting the allure of 1980s music, fashion, and television with the strict rituals of Sephardic Orthodox Judaism From the spicy scent of cumin to the gleam of gold bracelets and silver Shabbat candlesticks, The Marriage Box recreates a defiant young womans vibrant and insular world.
Foreword Reviews

A nuanced look at one womans conflicted desire to break free from a regimented life.
Kirkus Reviews

Past Praise for the author's Life and Other Shortcomings:

2021 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award: Finalist in Cover Design: Small Format, Fiction
2020 American Fiction Awards: Winner in Short Story
2020 Best Book Awards Finalist

2020 International Book Award
Included in 2020's Best Beach Reads by Parade

Featuring 12 stories about women in various cities and eras, each share a connection to one another. And you're along for the journey as they reveal certain truths about the female experience. It's an anthem, and also a cry for a change.
Parade, 20 Classic and New Books About Feminism

A compelling collection that captures the mystery and menace beneath love and family life.
Kirkus Reviews

I'm in love with this book. It is just so good. It's real and definitely something that makes you feel like you've been heard and you have a friend.
Ann Garvin, Founder of Tall Poppy Writers andUSA Todaybest-selling author ofI Thought You Said This Would Work,I Like You Just Fine When You're Not Around,The Dog Year, andOn Maggie's Watch

Corie Adjmi has a flair for dramatizing scenes. She homes in on the killer moment, and her dialogue is so honest that I was cringing at times . . . It is just so vivid.
Susan Breen, author ofThe Fiction Class

Corie Adjmis stories are sharply written, unsparing, and spot-on. With wisdom and humanity,Life and Other Shortcomingsplumbs the mysteries of adult life: the menacing underside of love, the protean nature of grief, and the baffling difficulty of staying true to ourselves and the things we value most. Assured in her storytelling, Adjmi writes with force and perception. Her stories are a must-read.
Elyssa Friedland, author ofThe Floating FeldmansandThe Intermission and Love and Miss Communication

Pitch perfect and very haunting,Life and Other Shortcomingsis a true delight. Adjmis interlocking stories are as funny as they are tragic. Her characters are so real and relatable, youll find yourself rooting for them, even as they get into trouble. Adjmi is a great new talent.
Alison Espach, author ofThe Adults

All that glitters is not gold in Corie Adjmis wonderful short story collectionLife and Other Shortcomings. Adjmi exposes the fear, envy, and yearning that simmer just beneath the surface of her characters beautiful lives. Her writing is both elegant and powerful. I was hooked from the first page to the last.
Ellen Sussman,New York Timesbest-selling author of four novels,A Wedding in Provence,The Paradise Guest House,French LessonsandOn a Night Like This

Among the women of these stories are dutiful housewives, devoutly religious women, insecure teenagers, and many other colorful characters. Pop culture references peppered throughout-including nostalgic callbacks to Dr.Scholl's sandals, Swanson's Frozen Dinners, Star Trek, and The Brady Bunchonly add to the realism and heart of the book. These stories are full of drama, humor, descriptive language, and insight, and they make for a very enjoyable read. Adjmi subtly, but so perceptively, unfolds the characters' private fears, hopes, and dreams, zeroing in on how a single experience or event can change a life.
Jewish Book Council

Twelve accounts bear witness to the female experience, and how the choices we make look differently depending on when and where we live. As a whole, the collection illustrates the influence of patriarchy, especially so before the #MeToo movement.
Travel+Leisure

For fans ofThree Womenby Lisa Taddeo, Amazon'sModern Love, and HBO'sMrs. Fletcher,Life and Other Shortcomingsis both a cautionary tale and a captivating window into women's lives. An honest, incisive, and compelling portrayal of the female experience.
Beyond the Bookend

We're all familiar with the happy parts of relationships, we've been raised on them, butLife and Other Shortcomingsgets into the nitty-gritty of what comes over time.
Paperback Paris

CorieAdjmi'sLife and Other Shortcomingsis a slice of life literary work full of lessons that need to be shared today. Juxtaposing the present with the past, the book reveals a web of interconnected stories meant to relate to women's everyday lives. These stories are so honest and relatable, it hurts.
Readers' Favorite

CorieAdjmi's linked short stories tell of the heartaches and difficulties of growing up--physically and spiritually--as a woman in a patriarchal society. Wonderful writing!
Francoise Brodsky, Director Shakespeare & Co

When you're tired of binge-watching Netflix, this collection is an honest cautionary tale about the female experience.
Brit + Co

Twelve stories highlight very different women and their journeys. Take a peek into these women's lives and into their relationships.
Frolic Media

Take a break from reality and relax with a great new book.
BuzzFeed

Honest portrayal of women in a patriarchal world.

Bookstr

Poignant,laugh-out-loud funny, and unnerving all at once,Life and Other Shortcomingsis the one you've been waiting for. This collection is replete with emotionally charged, compassionate, true tolife characters. Stories come together to create layer over layer of veiled emotional and psychological complexity.
Nicole Dweck, author ofThe Debt of Tamar

Author Bio

Corie Adjmi is the author of the short story collection Life and Other Shortcomings, which won an International Book Award, an IBPA Benjamin Franklin award, and an American Fiction Award. Her essays and short stories have appeared in dozens of journals and magazines, including HuffPost, North American Review, Indiana Review, Medium, Motherwell, Kveller, and others. The Marriage Box is Cories first novel. She is a mother and grandmother and lives and works in New York City.