The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander (4 Stars)

The author takes a political situation set in 1970's Argentina and places it in present day Argentina.  He uses the tragedy of the "disappeared"  as his setting for a story about a lower middle class apolitical Jewish family that loses its only child into the abyss of political intrigue. There are symbols used through out the book.  The main character is Kaddish Pozner who scratches out his living by erasing the names on stone monuments of Jewish dead who were pimps, whores, and gangsters. Kaddish is the prayer for the dead, and yet this Kaddish is erasing the existence of dead Jews who were involved in nefarious activities. He is the son of a prostitute, and he never knew his father.  Jews who were not involved in  nefarious activities would not allow these color-able Jews to be members of their synagogue or to bury their dead in the same cemetery so they had their own synagogue and walled off part of the cemetery.  Their offspring who became respected and successful physicians, lawyers, accountants, and businessmen do not want those monuments to bear their names.  So Kaddish earns his living by chiseling the names off their head stones. In effect he "disappears" dead Jews who were involved in shameful businesses. His wife Lillian is the office manager for Gustavo who sells insurance.  Their son Pato is a college student of no import.  He has a few friends and like all young people he reads left wing literature.  He is not a leader of any group or a student distinguished in any way.  Yet he is arrested by the police twice. Once he did not have his identification documents on him , and he attended a large youth activity.  Once his parents produced is documents he was released to them.  However, shortly thereafter he is rearrested in their home.  Many people like their butcher are arrested for no reason and never heard from again in this period of political repression.  Lillian and Kaddish go to extreme measures to retrieve him alive as would any  parent.  Lillian chooses to assume he is still alive after  he has been gone for months . She chooses to believe that if she pays an enormous out of reach ransom, Pato can be saved.  Kaddish does not.  Yet he tries his best to acquire the funds that may be required of them. Their different approaches create a schism in their marriage.  This novel is well written and it held my interest. The reader will sympathize and grieve with these parents as they persevere in their useless efforts to save their son, Poznan.  Once Poznan is arrested for the second time and is not returned quickly the reader suspects he never will.  Yet that suspicion does not cause the reader to lose interest in their struggle.