American writer Allegra Goodman is a leader, as critics characterize her, of writers who entered literature after B. Malamud, S. Bellow and F. Roth. The collection of stories “The Markowitz Family” is, in fact, a novel about three generations of American-Jewish families. In the best traditions of Jewish storytelling, it combines compassion with humor, and vigilance and ruthlessness with love for its heroes. Grandfathers and grandmothers, immigrants, traders and small entrepreneurs, and their children, professors, writers and engineers, are already half assimilated, but some of the grandchildren are returning to their roots. At the same time, in the relationships of three generations, misunderstanding does not interfere with love, but irritation with tenderness. The brilliant skill with which A. Goodman sculpts the images of her heroes makes her book an irresistible read.