Book Review: House of Detention

Title: House of Detention
Author: Jean Ende
Genre: Literary
Book Length: 368 Pages
Format Read: Paperback
Year Published: April 1, 2025

Date Started: April 4, 2025
Date finished: April 10, 2025

This story is about the Rosen family, a Jewish close-knit family from Poland living in America after WWII. They lived in an upper middle-class community in the Bronx where they practiced their faith and worked hard as business owners.

The story follows a family of four: Harvey, Elaine, Rebecca, and Marvin from the 50s into the 70s. Elaine dies from cancer early in the story leaving Harvey to take care of his young family. He’s not very good at it and becomes abusive to both his kids. Rebecca doesn’t take it well, needing more help and guidance in maneuvering through her teenage years as a first generation. Harvey remarries a woman named Batya and no one in the Rosen family likes her. She’s very different from what they are familiar with and spend a lot of time gossiping about her. Batya is not all that guiltless herself. She’s pretty rough around the edges and clashes with almost everyone, including Harvey, at times.

Rebecca is the main focus of the story. She’s a typical American teenager with typical teenager problems, but the Rosen family doesn’t know how to handle her problems. It’s all new to them and they struggle with how to help her. Harvey’s new wife doesn’t make anything better for Rebecca. In fact, she makes home life even more difficult, and Rebecca ends up living elsewhere and stays away unless it’s necessary to visit. As the years passed, Rebecca finds her way out of a troubled-life and makes something of herself.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. Not too much was going on with the Rosen family: the aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. They all seemed a bit too perfect. Even Marvin seemed perfect. Rebecca was the only teenager who was different and difficult. I’m not sure if this was to show that without a Jewish mother a family will crumble. Harvey wasn’t perfect either and only became abusive after his wife died. So, does this too mean a single Jewish father will not know how to raise his children?

What I thought was excellently done was how family-oriented everyone was, yet no one knew how to help Rebecca. The women were great at raising their own kids but were afraid to give their all to her. I felt a sort of anger toward them for being such strong women yet failing one of their own. Strangely, what brought me tears was when Marvin was drafted to the Vietnam War. That moment was written in the fewest lines yet held the most emotions.

Who should read this book: If you enjoy literary works within a time period this one is excellent. I didn’t find Jewish culture very prominent in this story (maybe I was expecting a little more cultural differences?). It was mainly about life in America for an immigrant family.