Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound

Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound by Judith Katz is an examination of the lives of a Jewish family in the late sixties. The story is told from a variety of viewpoints, but centers around the experiences of Nadine and Jane Morningstar, two daughters, who leave their home for the small college town of New Chelm. Both of them happen to be lesbians, and both of them quickly settle into the lesbian subculture of New Chelm's feminist movement. (Actually, it is questionable whether or not New Chelm houses any heterosexual residents, as they play no role in the experience of the women who live there.) Although the story centers around a thrice-marginalized group (e.g., lesbian Jewish women), the themes of alienation, familial dysfunction, coming-of-age, identity formation, drug addiction, and romantic obsession make the story extremely accessible to anyone who did not have a perfect adolescence. Perhaps the crux of Katz's genius lies in her ability to render each character in such an honest, realistic light that one begins to really understand and experience the uncommon struggles of these women. She creates such intimacy between the reader and the characters that the reader finds himself or herself forgetting the cultural, sexual, or religious differences that may exist between them and instead experiencing the events of the story along with the characters. The book's ability to produce this profound understanding, which is needed so desperately, is reason enough to recommend it to a wide readership, but Katz has done much more than producing a book that promotes understanding and empathy. Upon closer examination, one discovers that Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound is not about lesbians, Jews, the mentally ill, or females. It is in fact a penetrating, honest, and entertaining examination of the human condition in modern society. Katz's greatest strength lies in her characterization, specifically in establishing a unique voice for each character, the realistic portrayal thereof, and her ability to advance the plot through the subjective viewpoints of such different viewpoints and voices. Her greatest weakness, perhaps, lies in her usage of clichéd elements, such as Rose's "trip through the mirror." These clichés, though very rare, do mar an otherwise beautiful piece of writing, but the impact of these flaws on the total experience of reading the work is quite minimal.