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Title: The Fixer (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Bernard Malamud ISBN: 0-14-018515-1 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (34 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: an unforgettable book
Comment: "The Fixer", written in clean clear prose that has terrific strength is one of those seminal books that the reader will most likely never forget. Malamud understands (as the author of the negative review clearly does not) that good prose is architecture, not interior decoration. The story of Jakov Bok is a story of the triumph of the human spirit over the crushing weight of anti-semetic hatred. It ought to be on the shelf of all Christian reading rooms and church libraries so that the full bestiality of the persecution of the Jewish people can be understood. The story is riveting. The only thing that disturbs me is that the ending is unresolved and we never know Bok's fate. No other reviewer has mentioned this and I would be interested to know if this disturbed anyone else, considering the fact that the entire novel is building up to Bok's trial.
Rating: 5
Summary: a universal story
Comment: Most of the other reviewers take this book at face value as a story about Russian anti-Semitism in the tsarist era. I think they are missing the point. This is a story about the feeling of complete helplessness experienced when one realizes that all the institutions that are supposed to be there to protect and defend the citizen - courts, defense attorneys, etc. - are in fact doing exactly the opposite. In other words, it is about the feeling that there is no recourse to the law, that one is on one's own in a hostile world. Malamud certainly had not only tsarist Russia in mind, but also the experiences of Jews and dissidents in the Soviet Union, as well as those of black Americans faced not only with lynch mobs but also the hostility (active or passive) of the public institutions that should have protected them from those mobs. This message is a universal one about what happens when the respect of public officials for civil liberties and human dignity breaks down (a message particularly worth remembering in the context of the so-called USA PATRIOT legislation).
But perhaps more importantly it is great literature (and certainly not an essay tortured into the form of a novel, as one reviewer wrote). The open-ended form of the novel that some reviewers found irritating is in fact a great innovation which testifies to the artistry of the author, and a device which Malamud was particularly fond of and used often in other books.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Story of Fortitude
Comment: Yet another case of man's inhumanity to fellow beings. The story is a fiction, but could very well be a true one. Yakov Bok is a remarkable character who hung on to dear life, even in instances where the average person would have just given up. Bibikov brought some beam of hope into Bok's life, only to be taken too soon - an example of hope being shattered in the most desperate of situations. Familiar? The story was well written and is easy to relate to. It's a fiction that is consistant with historical facts. It is highly reminiscent of Nazi Germany and the experiences of Jews in general all over the world. Most admirable, however, was the relationship between Bok and Shmuel (his father-in-law). This book is a must-read!
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Title: The Assistant: A Novel by Bernard Malamud ISBN: 0374504849 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pub. Date: 07 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron ISBN: 0679736638 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 January, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Executioner's Song by NORMAN MAILER ISBN: 0375700811 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Magic Barrel: Stories by Bernard Malamud ISBN: 0374525862 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pub. Date: 07 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Humboldt's Gift (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Saul Bellow ISBN: 0140189440 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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