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Label: audible.com Manufacturer: audible.com Publisher: audible.com Studio: audible.com Editorial Review: Product Description: Frank Alpine, an Italian -American drifter on the run from his past, stumbles into the orbit of struggling Brooklyn grocer Morris Bober. Seeing a chance to atone for his sins, Frank becomes Bober's stock boy and runs the store when the owner takes ill. But it is Bober's daughter , Helen , who gives Frank a real reason to turn his life around. Considered one of the greastest Jewish novels ever written. The Assistant is a classic look at social and racial divides of America in the early twentieth century. Filled with riveting scenes of life on the edge, this is an enduring story of how love and the human spirit can triumph over any adversity. Book Description: Introduction by Jonathan Rosen Bernard Malamud's second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who "wants better" for himself and his family. First two robbers hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But then there are complications. Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time he begins to steal from the store. Like Malamud's best stories, this novel unerringly evokes an immigrant world of cramped circumstances and great expectations. Malamud defined the immigrant experience in a way that has proven vital for several generations of writers. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A literary classicArguably one of the greatest novels of our time (up there with Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" ... Should be a must read from high school through college. This was my third read (over a 30 year span) ... I expect my next few reads to be even more fulfulling. Rating:  - A Long Unyielding LaborI learned of Malamud's work when I read a short story of his in a vintage paperpack. Seeking out something more, I found this novel, and, after reading several 'stellar' reviews, bought a copy. Well, I felt initially that the opening of the book was very different from the 'voice' of the short story that compelled me to begin with, but chalked it up to being an entirely different genre and storyline. Long story short [no pun], I found myself treading water to keep afloat within this tale of endless ... Read More Rating: - Universal humanity!This was a very enjoyable read. The characters were painted as real people, and each of them had flaws, and most of them had an admirable quality. The dialogue, the descriptions of New York (Brooklyn) post-war struck up my own memories of that period, when people struggled with the changes of the past decade, when changes occurred in everyday things (like milk in cartons rather than in bottles) and when neighborhoods started to change, in some cases to something approaching the sinister. Read More Rating:  - intriguing story but a bit too melodramatic'The Assistant' is clearly an interesting read. Set in 1950s New York City, a young gentile enters the lives of elder Jewish shopkeepers and their daughter. The gentile is a tormented soul with questionable morals. The shopkeepers distrust him, especially around their daughter. But this gentile ultimately affects their lives in profound and everlasting ways. Certainly 'The Assistant' is rich in dialog, characterizations and in capturing anti-semetic feelings during that era. However the author seemed ... Read More Rating: - Assistant is spelled with the letters S.A.I.N.T. [T]The word "Assistant" includes the letters S.A.I.N.T And, the person who is the assistant herein well reflects Christianity's concepts of sainthood or someone who is "born again." A simple ground floor grocery man, Morris Bober, lives in a simple second story flat with his wife, Ida, and beautiful 23-year old daughter, Helen. Business is worsening, and while it falls, he meets Frank Alpine - an Italian goyim. Frank works for peanuts for Morris and manages to raise the business from ... Read More |
