Shuli Mensh: hidden heroes, details, and the limitless possibilities of imagination

Newly released, Today is a fresh and easy novel about a battle-scarred family. Light on plot, the book is heavy on rich description that absorbs you into the everyday lives of intriguing characters and takes you along for the ups and downs. It matches the understated tone and drama readers have come to love from Shuli’s writing, examining the nuances of life, challenges, and relationships without resorting to wild drama or exploits.

Shuli Mensh lives in Baltimore, where she is a veteran literature teacher and author. In addition to Today, she has published 4 novels, most recently Tomorrow (2019).

One reason that news of a new Shuli Mensh novel is so exciting is its newness: your novels haven’t been seen serialized before their publication. Why do you choose to write directly for a book?

 I don't know if people who serialize books have it written before, or if they do it as it goes, but I wouldn’t be able to write with a time demand. It has to come from inspiration. It could come to me every day for a while, and then nothing for a month or two. Writing Today took 2 years. Writing is not the only thing that I do. This is my 21st year teaching literature. So I usually write at night and I do it when I feel like the inspiration is coming.

Your novels have a refreshing understatedness.  In Today, it seems like the plot and low-key drama are side-points to the dialogue, rich description, and characters that make up the book. The challenges and scenes are regular, with no extreme problems. Did that present an extra challenge for you in keeping the plot moving? 

I agree that my novels are a bit understated. I try to make my characters extremely real. They're real people to me when I'm writing the book. That's why some of my past characters make a cameo in my latest book, like Sarah Morgan Strauss from Brain Waves. I think my readers are going to get a kick out of it when they read it. It's almost as if I created a mini-universe. 

Mind Games was my only novel that hadthe Mossad, where Nina thought her husband was being distant, but he really was a part of the Mossad. That was a departure for me. Mind Games was a hard book to write because it was so technical. I took a lot of poetic license. People have asked, Is there really something that you could put in your ear that overrides all sound? I don't think there is such a thing- but when you're a writer you could do that, you could write whatever you want!

Mali seems like a fascinating character, who’s endured so much ups and downs but remained strong for herself and her family. But we only get a brief glimpse of her in the prologue and epilogue, and don’t see anything from her perspective in the book. Tell me about the decision to leave her as a peripheral character.

I kept Mali in the background. The book starts off with Mali going to the police station, and everything is about to come apart. And then the whole book happens, and it ends with her leaving with her husband and son, and the storm is over. Even though you don't see her a lot in the middle of the book, you get the sense that she is the unsung hero. And I feel like that’s the role of the mother, lots of times. They are the true heroes, even when it's not all about them. 

Today shares Tomorrow's distinct tone and style, but differs in format. Where Tomorrow features three distinct storylines following three friends, Today moves back and forth between siblings, aunts, and cousins, highlighting small challenges and triumphs within their lives. Why did you choose a fluid format for Today? 

That was intentional. Today is written for today. I feel like people don’t have the patience to read one story at a time anymore. So the storyline just goes from one to the next to the next, you don't need to hold a lot of thought to get immersed in it.

I feel like the tension in my latest novel is very appropriate for today, when everybody is tense and carrying heavy loads. It’s a book that starts out a bit dark and heavy, but as it goes, the tone lightens up, and I hope it comes to a satisfying resolution. The frenetic energy in this story is also indicative of what we’re all going through today. And everybody just has to get through today. Nobody can even think about tomorrow. I have Mali saying at the end, I cannot think about Tomorrow. I can only think about Today, but today is a very good day, I'm filled with gratitude. We don't know what's going to be, we're just happy with what we have at this moment. So I thought that theme and title were appropriate. 

I never noticed the correlation between the titles of your first three books until Today came out. And then I said, hey, I think she's done this pattern before.

The pattern was Heart Rhythms, then Brain Waves then Mind Games. But then Tomorrow was a bit different. And Today is kind of a sequel of Tomorrow, it just veers into a different direction with different characters.

So many authors talk about how their characters kind of write their own stories. Were there any specific characters that you had that surprised you the most?

I would have to say Eva. She was my favorite character from Tomorrow- those chapters wrote themselves. When I was writing Tomorrow, Eva had a small part, she was the little evil mother-in-law. But somehow her character became more of a key figure in Tomorrow then I intended. I had to revisit her in Today because Eva and Dr. Don Fisher became such a part of my life. Like I said, my characters are like my friends. And I made her happy, because why not? I want everybody to be happy. I will always try to leave off my stories with a happy ending. I myself don't like reading a book and feeling depressed at the end. 

I also wanted to show Eva in a better light. Eva had a tough life in Tomorrow, and her personality was naturally affected by it. In this book, I try to show what a person can accomplish when they’re happy. Because she is much more secure in herself and is in a better place in her life, she has room to be an aunt to a niece who is a little insecure and needs a little bit of attention. 

One of the themes that I took from the book is how all these children are victims of their situation in some sense, but they come to a place where they can take control of what's in front of them. With Eva, its seems like what you're getting at the opposite. We have Rikki who's finally taking agency of her life and Eva who's just a victim of the goodness that's been given to her.

That is true. But Eva chose this path – she could have not chosen it. Going back to Tomorrow, she had to choose between the two very different people she was dating. She went the route of Don Fisher because she felt validated and that he gave her the attention she craved. She chose that route and that's why she's happy.

Authors fall on different sides of the spectrum between writing for the mind and for entertainment, the drama versus the message or theme. As a literature teacher, where do you fall?

I would say it's all of the above. I want people to learn something, either about themselves or others. But enjoyment is number one. I write because I feel like it is my niche, and this is my chessed for the world. If a woman works hard all week with her job, with kids, and everything, and then Friday night she has a book to read and crawls up on the couch and gets engrossed, that is a chessed I can give to her. That's really why I do it – obviously not for the fame and fortune. I'm compelled to do it.

I want people to enjoy my books. We've all gotten lost in a really good book; when you turn that last page, you don't want it to end. That is total enjoyment that only a book can give to you because when you read a book, your imagination takes hold. You can conjure up what the people look like, what their house looks like… your brain can do it better than someone else's brain. I read all the Harry Potter books, of course. And any timea Harry Potter movie came out, it was always a disappointment. Because you are limited to what the movie producer is telling you to see. When you're reading a book, you are limitless. You can go wherever you want. 

It's so fascinating that you talk about tapping into people's imagination because something unique about your writing is your description. Description of the food, of France… making something mundane feel exotic through that rich description that pulls your five senses in. Is it something that you work on?

It probably is unique to my style. I always throw in food. I'm a big foodie, my daughter has a huge Instagram following, @hubbyishungry, and has a cookbook out. So being a foodie and going to restaurants is in the family. So I do throw in the food. Chef Gali had a whole little empire going, and in Today I have Eve and Don in a restaurant, Mindy and Ezra in a restaurant, that cute ice cream parlor from the fifties… I guess I throw it in because I'm the one that's writing it and it's fun to write about! But also, I think it's important for writers to give a bit of detail, because without that you can't connect with characters. I always tell my students the reason I ask about specific details on a test isn’t because I'm trying to torture them, but because if you don't know the details, you don't know the story. The more details there are, the more connected you get to the character. Without details, why is the character interesting? Why am I even reading the story?

It's like a cue for the imagination: here's where you could take over. Here's a little something to grab onto.

Exactly. In Today, they ordered lamb riblets at the restaurant. So your imagination will conjure what they smelled like, what they looked like, and what they tasted like. But if I don't even mention it, it doesn’t exist. So I have to give the reader something to go with…

As we get to know the Fishers, we learn that they're an extremely wealthy family, and this comes to play a big role in the perspectives of each of the children. Can you talk about your decision to include that and how that plays out?

I might be getting into some hot water, but I wanted to include a bit of a message. There is a scene in the story where Rikkiis giving a little bit of a speech on a date and she says something to the tune of, everyone in America is a slave, no one is free. And he said, I thought that America is the land of the free. And she said, No, everybody is a slave. Everybody wants bigger, more.

It's become like a sickness. If people live in a normal size house or are not driving the latest car, it's somehow less than. People are embarrassed of living a normal life. I wanted to touch on that without being too preachy. Rikki envisions a different kind of life for herself. She wants to leave all of that behind, move to Israel, and live a simple life.

And I wanted to include that perspective on Eretz Yisrael as well – even Eva bought an apartment in Yerushalayim. I did that in all of my books. At the end of Mind Games, Nina bought an apartment in Yerushalayim, and Sarah moved to Israel at the end of Brain Waves. I'm trying to subtly give a gentle nudge to my readers, because I can! So I am. I try to inject a little bit of that perspective.

What have you been reading recently that you can recommend?

I just read Snapshots of the Divine- Seeking the Sublime in the Mundane, by Rabbi Shlomo Horwitz. It’s comprised of short true stories, each one of them fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also recently read a secular novel, The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman. It was a very engrossing read, albeit very sad, set in a bygone era. The time period was reminiscent of the books I grew up with-the “All of a Kind Family“ series.

What's coming next for you? Are you working on Yesterday?

I am not working on Yesterday, but I am working on my sixth novel. All I can say is that it's the story of two very different couples. It's only the beginning and I haven't thought everything through, but there’s a major plot twist in it. Stay tuned!

Looking for more Sukkos reading? Find the full roundup of new releases here, and a conversation with Rachel Newton, author of newly released Fault Lines here.