Several weeks’ worth of good reading, and an invaluable gathering of the best of a remarkable literary tradition.
The ordeal of an embattled populace and the variety of a robust folk culture are preserved in this enormous anthology: an admirable labor of love executed with matchless skill by the veteran translator of Mann, Proust, Kafka, and many others.
Neugroschel’s compact introduction and headnotes make essential distinctions between classical-formal Hebrew and vernacular Yiddish, while soberly reminding us that “Countless Jewish manuscripts and books have been destroyed by Christians.” Nevertheless, what remains (much of which has long lain buried in Yiddish-language periodicals) includes a rich profusion of early religious tales (many of which revise familiar biblical stories), parables, and folktales (one of the best: a harrowing tale of demonic seduction, “The Queen of Sheba in the House of the Sun”), and the dense symbolism of early modern master Rabbi Nakhman of Braslev. Other classics include excerpts from the book generally considered the first Yiddish novel, Yoysef Perl’s Revealer of Secrets (1819), and The Little Man, a popular chronicle of village life in tsarist Russia written by the much-beloved Mendele Moyker-Sforim (a forerunner of Sholom Aleichem). In the long section devoted to “Modernism,” Neugroschel offers impressive work from Aleichem himself (the dark, powerful “Seventy-five Thousand”), the great short-story writer Y.L. Peretz, the conflicted Dovid Bergelson (a Soviet apologist who was a delicate Chekhovian stylist), and the pseudonymous “Der Nister” (whose gorgeously wrought symbolic fantasy “Beheaded” is a standout). Also among the volume’s choicest surprises: Yudl Rosenberg’s vivid retelling of the legend of Rabbi Levi of Prague and the Golem he created; Leon Kubrin’s harshly naturalistic “Apartment No. 4”; Yoysef Smolazh’s stark “The Open Grave” (which is reminiscent of Stephen Crane); and Bertha Lelchuk’s racy summa of the immigrant experience, “The Aunt from Norfolk.” The anthology concludes with excerpts from Yehuda Elberg’s Joycean The Empire of Kalman the Cripple, Chava Rosenfarb’s elegiac Bociany, and Isaac Bashevis Singer’s classic story of unshakable faith, “Gimpel the Fool.”
Several weeks’ worth of good reading, and an invaluable gathering of the best of a remarkable literary tradition.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2002
ISBN: 0-393-05190-0
Page Count: 880
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
