When the City of Miami Beach celebrated its Centennial in 2015, it launched a citywide book club reading experience titled, One Book, One City, featuring Thane Rosenbaum’s novel, HOW SWEET IT IS! A novelist, essayist and law professor living in New York, Rosenbaum was raised in Miami Beach, and his familiarity with, and love of, the city is evident in the story.

The novel is a tale set in Miami Beach in the summer of 1972, telling the story of the Posner family, survivors of the Holocaust. Reading the book reminds me of Forrest Gump, in which the characters are weaved into historic events in a slightly comical setting. There are the Democrat and Republican conventions, the desegregation of schools, the Olympics. The characters cross path with Mohammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Fidel Castro and more. At times funny, at times stirring, mostly brilliant and witty.

This book will be included in the Sunshine Florida raffle prize. I hope the winner enjoys it!

Bringing some books from Floridian authors to the BC con.

Hi! How wonderful you've found one of my books! Thank you so much for checking out the journal. I would really appreciate if you can take a moment to let me know you have it now. Trust me, it'll totally make my day to hear from one of my "wild" books.

Bookcrossing is a wonderful online community of book lovers dedicated to sharing books with each other and the world at large. We are also curious to see how far and wide our books can travel. I would appreciate if you can make a journal entry on this book so we know where the book has been. You don't have to set up an account.

Feel free to keep this book, return it to where you found it, or pass it on to the next reader. If you sign up as a member, you will hear from the book as it travels and gets journaled. Feel free to explore the BookCrossing site, and visit our forum to meet other booklovers. Membership is confidential, free, and spam-free. Happy reading!

Book taken at the bookcrossing convention in Bordeaux.

An interesting book which made me learn many things about the life in Miami Beach in the 70s.
I didn't know that there was a jew community in Florida and it was interesting to learn how this dreamed place made itself during the last decades.

Thanks a lot for this discovery Azuki. :-)

Hello and welcome to the world of free books!

You have just found a travel book.

Here you can indicate:
- the place where you found this book
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By registering on the Bookcrossing website (free and anonymous), you can be notified by email as soon as the book is found and commented on again and start releasing books if you wish!

Have a good reading!

Wilena

Hi Azuki - wilena is at my place for a special meetup in Lausanne, and I stole this book from the pile she is intending to release at our OBCZ!
Merci wilena!

Miami Beach, Jewish mafia and holocaust survivors are words that have never come together in my thoughts in all my 70+ years so this book was an education!
At first I stepped warily into the unfamiliar streets of the island-city and felt a little out of my depth, until I (soon) made the acquaintance of fearless Sophie Posner who immediately became one of my favourite literary heroines. My only reservation is that I didn't see enough of her - though of course space had to be left for her husband Jacob, their 12-year-old son Adam, and the larger than life cast of supporting characters, some I knew (Isaac Bashevis Singer, Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra) and others I'd never heard of and didn't even realise they were real people till I started looking them up when they all congregated on the bleachers in the apotheosis of the baseball game in the last chapter (Jackie Gleason, Meyer Lansky [photo], Rocky Pomerance...) and it's amazing umpire (I will not say who to keep a bit of suspense).
The writing style is very vivid and witty, and I paid careful attention so as not to miss the savour (despite the sweetness of the title which I presume is a quote from a Gleason show?). I shall copy out some parts of the text that made me look twice, below. The action all takes place in the 7 miles of Miami Beach, in 1972, with its political wranglings, free love, integration, or rather, desegregation (the ludicrous school bus business...), the music, the food, even the sport (which normally I would gloss over), a fabulous tapestry of emotions and colour (a lot of ice cream pastels).
I also kept looking at the photo of the author who looks so bouncy and crinkly - he made me smile.* Thank you for the laughs. Closing the last page, I feel I have come home to an empty house after a very eventful holiday.

*And now I have looked him up, I see that his parents could be the models for Sophie and Jacob, as both were holocaust survivors.

Afterthought: a map would be a useful addition for those unfamiliar with Miami's geography.

Photo of young and handsome Frank Sinatra

Some quotes (I stopped noting them down after a while as there were too many).

p. 22 Jacob's manhood was manifested solely in cashing his Social Security checks.

p. 23 When in their presence one had the sick sense that they could not be restrained, that ignitable rage was always simmering in their veins like embers inching toward lighter fluid.

Something that reminded me of Primo Levi's If this is a Man, surviving the death camps:
p. 24 Sophie says: "The lazy die, even if lucky. From when you wake up in the morning, all through the night, every day you have to look for the edge, find the angle, make the right moves - even in your sleep."

p. 25 She put the hammerhead into the old loan shark model

p. 28 Knowing the look of disapproval he was about to receive from his wife, Jacob popped yet another nitroglycerin tablet into his mouth, keeping a cyanide tablet tucked inside his trousers for a more special occasion

p. 33 Vito Perpignano, who was betting heavily and downing screwdrives as if he owned a hardware store.

p. 86 The Super Bowl was only in its fifth year, and Super Bowl V was being played in Miami. Today one can't tell what number the Super Bowl is without having taken Latin in college.

il est en anglais mais peut-être qu'il intéresse un bookcrosseur romand?
Taking to the meeting tonight; if no one wants it, I'll take it to Mainz.

Well, it did come home with me, so will rerelease it in three weeks' time (starting to count the days!)

I hope someone will pick this up from the book buffet, to enjoy and pass on

This has come with me yet again (is that a sign?) because no one picked it up from the book buffet even though I kept laying it down flat so people could see the lovely cover. There was no release walk and I didn't want to leave it to fate, so will take care of it until I find someone who'd like it. Such a good book.

have lent it to a friend.

And now she's returned it so I'm going to release it in our very popular book box.

You’ve found a bookcrossing book! If you’ve no idea what it is, then read on.
The original idea behind bookcrossing was to track books left “in the wild”, for someone to find. Over the years it has developed into a worldwide community of friendly and generous readers who love to swap, share or give away their books.
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I hope you feel at home here and that you enjoy reading and then sharing this book!
Note for booklovers in Lausanne and region: we meet up on the first Tuesday of the month in Vapiano (in the secluded part between the desk and the door giving on to Petit-Chêne), from 18:00. Come and join us for book-swapping and friendly discussions!