My Lover, the Rabbi
By Wayne Koestenbaum (Granta, £14.99)
To the majority of a small New Jersey congregation, Lover, their rabbi is merely the The leader of their pack. A Rabbi middle-aged, somewhat unkempt and arrogant man. But to our unnamed protagonist, he is so much more. Why? He couldn’t say. It is this search for reason in the irrational pit of emotion that guides the narrator, pushing him to seek answers in the rabbi’s past. Whatever the rationale that pushes the narrator on, this third novel by queer American author, poet and artist Wayne Koestenbaum sets out to explore a devotion that goes beyond the realms of religion and into psychosexual fixation.
By Danielle Goldstein
This article appears in the Summer 2026 issue of JR.
