Shmutz
“A Dirty Book With a Pure Heart.” — The New York Times
SHMUTZ:
1. Dirt, stain, or filth
2. Something lewd or profane
Buy Now
“Berliner finds the bridge between ecstatic and carnal.”
New York Times bestselling author of LUSTER
“Clever, subversive, juicy, and surprising….A stunner!”
author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
“I read this pitch-perfect debut all in one sitting.”
Author of My Salinger Year
Reviews
New York Times ● L.A. Times ● Cosmopolitan ● Arts Fuse ● Alma
In this witty and provocative debut novel, a young Hasidic woman on a quest to get married fears she will never find a groom because of her secret addiction to porn.
Like the other women in her ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn community, Raizl expects to find a husband through an arranged marriage. Unlike the other women, Raizl has a secret.
With a hidden computer to help her complete her college degree, she falls down the slippery slope of online pornography. As Raizl dives deeper into the world of porn at night, her daytime life begins to unravel. From combative visits with her shrink to the arranged dates where something always seems to go wrong, Raizl must balance her growing understanding of her sexuality with the more conventional expectations of the family she loves. Shmutz explores what it means to be a fully realized young woman caught between the traditional and modern worlds.
More Praise for Shmutz
“Malamud meets Melissa Broder in this deeply charming, soulful novel. Not since Eve tasted the forbidden fruit has a story about curiosity and shame felt so vital. Berliner has given us a true comedy: beautifully rendered, fully earned, and suffused with love.”
—ELISA ALBERT, author of Human Blues
“Shmutz is a precise exploration of the abject terrain between faith and yearning. Berliner finds the bridge between ecstatic and carnal and welcomes their contractions.”
—RAVEN LEILANI, New York Times bestselling author of Luster
“Shmutz is a provocative and propulsive debut. Felicia Berliner comes to this story with a deep tenderness for her characters and a keen feel for the pain that arises when desire collides with custom. Shmutz probes the desperation of being caught in systems, both religious and secular, bent on telling everybody, but especially women, who they should be and what they should want.”
—SAM LIPSYTE, author of Hack
“Shmutz is like nothing else I’ve ever read anywhere by anyone, a thoroughly wonderful novel made on the bones of the unlikeliest of setups. It is a testament to Felicia Berliner’s considerable skill that the story of Raizl, obedient daughter, Orthodox Jew, porn addict, is absolutely authentic, hilarious and poignant. In heavier hands, this could have been a parable or a satire. Instead, it’s a masterstroke.”
—JACQUELYN MITCHARD, New York Times bestselling author of
The Deep End of the Ocean and The Good Son
“Clever, subversive, juicy, and surprising, Felicia Berliner’s Shmutz had me laughing out loud one minute and clutching my pearls the next. Raizl and her story are both so full of heart. A stunner! Raizl forever!”
—DEESHA PHILYAW, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
“I read this pitch-perfect debut all in one sitting, barely breathing until I’d reached the stunning, poignant conclusion. I’m in awe of Felicia Berliner’s wisdom and insight into the human condition and her virtuosic ability to turn a highly specific story into a thoroughly universal one.”
—JOANNA RAKOFF, author of My Salinger Year
“An engrossing, irreverent, deeply felt, and often funny story of a woman finding her place in her body, in her language, in her family, and in the wider world, Shmutz is perhaps the one thing I always want a book to be but seldom find: like nothing else I've ever read.”
—LYNN STEGER STRONG, author of Want
“Bold, heartfelt, furious and funny. A wonderful debut."
—SHALOM AUSLANDER, author of Mother for Dinner
“Shmutz to me, as a native Yiddish speaker, is first and foremost a love note to my Mama Lushun (Mother Tongue). This book is a beautiful creation, both as a powerful story of a community that rarely talks about life's most basic nature: love, romance, and sex—intertwined with the richness of our language.”
—ABBY CHAVA STEIN, author of Becoming Eve
Events
About Felicia
Felicia Berliner lives in New York City. Shmutz is her first novel. She has an MFA from Columbia University, where she was awarded a Teaching Fellowship and the Henfield Prize, and a BA from Yale University. She grew up in Los Angeles and attended yeshiva high school.
Felicia coaches writers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, and other change-makers. Learn more about Felicia’s Coaching.
Coaching
“I had this wonderful experience with Felicia as a coach on issues of creativity, structuring my time, and finding new ways to overcome my obstacles. This was different from other people I’ve worked with on similar issues. Felicia brought empathy and intuition because she’s a writer, engaged in her own artistic process.”
Felicia has been a creativity and leadership development coach since 2019. She coaches writers, educators, artists, entrepreneurs, and people working for social justice. Felicia has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Columbia University and is certified by the NeuroLeadership Institute as a Results Based Coach. Her coaching combines neuroscience-based principles with creativity strategies from her own training and practice as a writer.
Felicia believes that coaching makes space for people to be both dreamers and doers. In her private practice, Felicia explores with her clients what works well—and what isn’t working—to move them toward their creative and career goals. Her coaching combines blue-sky thinking with small, practical steps to get into action. Clients have the space, in coaching, to surface their current patterns, imagine what’s possible, and explore something new.
Moving toward your vision happens through a series of coaching conversations about the change you want to make professionally, personally, or out in the world. The first conversation is complimentary.
To contact Felicia directly, or invite her to join your book group, please use the form: