"Simi Monheit's genius is to slowly reveal the complexity behind a stereotype. In Goldie Mandell, we have a new Jewish heroine-acerbic without bitterness, tender without sentimentality. 'Who knew what I had to say was so interesting?' says one of the most memorable characters in contemporary Jewish fiction. A book of pure delight." —Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers, winner of the Jewish Book Council’s Everett Book of the Year Award
“An aged Jewish woman kvetches her way toward love while solving everyone else’s problems in Monheit’s bittersweet comic novel. Goldie is a spellbinding protagonist, full of dudgeon and crabby insights into all things newfangled. Monheit’s sparkling prose poetically and humorously conveys the collision of romantic dreams with crotchety reality. A hilarious saga of family renewal and last-chance romance that plucks the heartstrings. —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Monheit has the real deal knack of bringing her characters to life with the most surprising, charming, and readable voices. Goldie is a protagonist who will stay with me for a long time: a friend, a mentor, a pleasure.” —Josh Mohr, author of Model Citizen and Damascus
“This delightful, insightful debut novel crackles with the different ways to love and the many ways to harm. At its center, the flawed, fierce, and marvelous Goldie Mandell—a Jewish child wrenched from Nazi Germany; a young woman wildly in love; a mother and grandmother thick with love and regrets; and a hard-headed guardian of history, identity, tradition, and family. The Goldie Standard is a tragicomic balm against a too-often inhumane world rife with incalculable suffering that ultimately sends up a rally cry for togetherness, for grace, for peace, for being fully, majestically alive.” —Ethel Rohan, author of Sing, I
“Simi Monheit has created a novel that is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, a tour de force about the weight of generational trauma. Goldie is one of the most unforgettable characters I’ve encountered in years, and Monheit does an amazing job of capturing this elderly Holocaust survivor’s voice as she reminisces about the past while scheming to find her granddaughter a nice doctor for a husband. The way that Monheit weaves between Goldie’s life and that of her equally wonderful granddaughter’s—and between past and present—is nothing short of masterful. We need this novel right now, to shine a light into the darkness and remind us that of the transcendent power of love.” —Malena Watrous, author of You Follow Me; Lead Instructor for Stanford Continuing Studies Novel Certificate
“Can you have an acerbic yet golden heart? Oh yes, you can, as Simi Monheit proves in her compassionate, compelling and comedic debut, The Goldie Standard. While this novel reads like a romantic caper, Monheit doesn’t shy away from examining the most fraught of our human complexities. Much like her main character, Goldie, Monheit’s magic lies in her ability to touch the tenderest of heart strings while tickling all the funny bones. Another bit of magic? No one can live up to The Goldie Standard, and then, somehow, everyone does.” —R. Cathey Daniels, Author of Live Caught
“How to describe The Goldie Standard? Wry, certainly, but also incisive, assertive, and deliciously uncompromising in the voice Monheit creates. But most importantly, necessary: this book is a beautiful reminder that it is never too late to come to ourselves, to allow love to expand the borders of who and what we think we are, and ultimately, to let go of our incessant need for control and let life happen. In Goldie’s continual unfolding, and in her resistance to it, Monheit
