MEYER MEYER

by Helen Hudson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 1966

A gentle irony paces this modest, skillful tale of turning points in the deep-city lives of two middle aged men. Of the pair perenially breakfasting at Schraffts, Meyer Benjamin Meyer dominates imposingly. Chairman of the Economics Department of a New York university, authoring articles, stoutly insulated against the terrors of self-revelation by soothing visits to his devoted sister in Westchester, occasional suitor in affairs to which he offers no commitment, Meyer Meyer regally accepts the uncomplicated ministrations of Mendel. For Mendel, scholar, survivor of uneasy nights, made miserable by dripping sinuses and memories of grief and the acute awareness of world suffering, only exists to confront the agonies of humanity. For Meyer, however, the world owes him comforts. The arrival of two women alter the destinies of the two men; Lena, lovely red-haired widow dispensing comfort and cosiness, like Meyer is unable to love freely; Joise, bitter, rejected, cannot bear another death of love. Meyer suffers the loss of Lena but in the end is released from the strain of being required to love. For Mendel there is finally love and assertion. An absorbing, compassionate and affecting portrait of all Meyers and Mendels.

Pub Date: Feb. 9, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1966

Categories: FICTION