Title: Polish joke
First published: 2003
Description: "A comedy about ethnic identity and the eternal American search for 'roots.' Jasiu (thirtyish) is a Polish-American who has been taught not to value his own roots, so he decides to make his own roots, reinventing himself first as a sort of non-ethnic everyman, then as an 'Irishman.' Jasiu's adventures--alternately zany and heartbreaking--take him through a job interview with an Ur-Wasp; to an attempt to become a Catholic priest; to a flower shop where he can't get service because he is weirdly invisible; to a doomed love affair with a Jewish woman; to a wacky Irish travel agency where he has to prove that he is Irish before he can buy a ticket; and to a doctor more interested in ethnic pain than in healing. Jasiu is also bedeviled by a reappearing Polish relative and has to face off with the ghost of a dead Polish patriot. In the end, by trying to get away from his ethnic background, Jasiu finds out who he is and what it means to be 'a Pole.'"--
Subjects: Drama, Ethnic identity, Polish-Americans, Polish Americans
LC classification: PS3559.V435 P64 2003