So who could say that Bernard Malamud didn't write well ? Not me. He writes very well indeed. These 13 stories, mainly about first-generation Jewish immigrants in America, but also about visitors to Italy from America, capture so much of life in a society where one is an outsider---that feeling of "being here but not here", or of living in a country, but not belonging. The wasted ex-coffee salesman, the harassed landlord, the loner rabbinical student, they all seem to pulsate with failure, with uncertainty, and fatal mistakes. Ah, this is a book about life all right, but it's a book in which the vision is almost tunnel vision. Every single story, without exception, deals with people who cannot rise to their own imaginations of themselves. They meet frustration, failure, death or disappointment, they are deflected from any purpose they might have once had. They are melancholy shades of fruitless endeavor. Does even one reach his ambition ? (They are all male.) No, the student doesn't find a house in Rome, the would-be art critic abandons his research, the would-be lover lies about his Jewish origins and loses the beautiful girl, the buyer on credit never pays back, the so-called reader never reads, the shoemaker allows his daughter to marry an unsuitable man. Only once, after humiliating an angel to tears, does an old man admit his mistake and save his wife from death, and this occurs in the only fantasy among the thirteen. Most of the characters lose, their labors come to naught, they grow wiser, but sadder. I would assume that Malamud himself felt an outsider everywhere, comfortable nowhere. If that is not true, his dreams must have been filled with worry, because this is a most melancholy collection. Does anyone smile ? Does anyone laugh ? Does anyone dash down the street radiant with love ? No. Life is full of personal shortcomings, a bald spot, a stubborn rejection of family, an inability to swim or make money. Frustration and lies run rampant--people certainly do shoot themselves in the foot again and again. Life is a tragedy, life always ends in disappointment-these are truths told in half the literature of the world, but there is more to our humble existence than that. Even when Malamud writes a humorous story, it is filled with underlying doubt in human nature, concentrating on the tendency of people to try to be what they are not. If you want thirteen superb stories to illustrate that sad point of view, here they are. If you think life is more of a mixed bag, then perhaps this book will only depress you.

This set of stories surprises one with breadth of understanding which it exhibits. From the first story ("The First Seven Years") which deals with a father's desire to provide the best for his daughter through the last story ("The Magic Barrel")which provides an interesting contrast to the first, all of these stories expand on the single theme of human experience.

The frustration built upon in "The Key" and "The Last Mohican" if offset nicely by the humor in "A Summer's Reading" and "The Lady of the Lake". "Take Pity" and "The Mourners" offer great insigth into growing old and dealing with lonliness. While "Angel Levine" is probably the most off beat of the set it still manages to increase hope, whereas "The Prison" causes an equal loss of faith in the human race.

The 12 stories here provide a wonderful evening's reading, however if your looking for more they are included in the books of his complete stories.

Since this book won the 1959 National Book Award, and I had not read it, I found a copy and was amazed at the power of the stories. I usually am not too enamored of short story collections, since I don't appreciate starting anew every few pages in a book. But this book is an exception. I was amazed at how quickly one became caught up in each story. The first story is The First Seven Years, and is a most touching story, setting the reader up most felicitously for enjoyment of each of the following 12 stories.

Professor Avery has performed a great service by revealing the extraordinary contributions of Professor Malamud. I must confess that I had read very little of the author's work. If I had been awakened at 3:00 A.M. and asked about him, I would have said that he was a celebrated American Jewish writer. Dr. Avery reveals him to be much more than that. He should be classed with masters of world literature, involved with but not dependent on ethnicity or religion.
Evelyn Avery takes us on an excursion exploring all aspects of Malamud's work. She begins with her personal friendship with the man extending from 1971 until his death. She then offers analyses of the author and his work by his son Paul and by five other colleagues who knew the author on a personal and social level. She goes on to present essays by five scholars who knew Malamud on a professional level. She then offers six analyses of the themes in Malamud's fiction. One of these by Evelyn Avery compares Malamud's work to that of Cynthia Ozick. The book concluded with a select bibliography, a contributor's list and an index.
When you are through with those Magic Worlds you ought to know Bernard Malamud on a very intimate level. Certainly Professor Avery has enriched American literature by familiarizing her readers with a writer who transcends the limited role of "Jewish authorship."

Anyone who enjoys the stories of Bernard Malamud will love this extraordinary collection of essays.Written by people closest to him-- his son, his friends, his colleagues-- we become acquainted with Malamud on a personal level. Anecdotes and reminiscenses bring out what matters most to Malamud. And knowing what an artist values most is key to understanding his life's work.

Beyond becoming acquainted and enamored of this man's values, I learned from scholars about recurring themes, archetypes, and personality traits found in all his stories. All of this, of course, helps one understand and enjoy the stories even more.

In the words of Cynthia Ozick Bernard Malamud was a "Master" of American Jewish literature. I agree. I also think this book is a wonderful tribute to his memory.

Editor Evelyn Avery is one of our most important Malamud scholars whose work on the author extends back to her early (1979). The new book has a comprehensive introduction and an excellent collection of essays on Malamud's fiction by top literary scholars including Avery herself, Daniel Walden, Sanford Pinsker, and Lillian Kremer. The subjects range from Zen Buddhism and Yiddish Archetypes to Universal Menschen in the fiction. The book also has Paul Malamud's memoir on his father, Cynthia Ozick's "Remembrances," and Joel Salzberg's discussion of Malamud's correspondences. Annotated bibliography is very helpful. It's a terrific read!

A strong book that engages the reader in its story as though s/he is a character. Taking you on a rather poignant journey through the seasons, not only of the year but of William Dubin's life, his stayed yet tender relationship with his wife and his fun, youth replenishing affair with the 23yr old Fanny Bick. All the time we are reminded that life is for living and the moment for siezing.

malamud in staight away into the story.He has a prudence of verbiage! as usual this tale counter points all his other fictions. althoughI have the notion this is premised on his own encounters in life. I heartily urge thoughtful people to read this book.

Along with Arthur Miller, Bernard Malamaud helped to redefine the tragic hero for the 20th century. Gone are they days when the fall of kings were the only things that could move us, now we can see the tragedy in the death of salesman or the destruction of a baseball player. Kathleen Ochshorn's words paint an acurate portrait of Malamaud's works, a must have for any collection of criticism.

Ah, Malamud.... his poetic prose can affect even the most flinthearted reader. Who can forget his wonderful tale of that baseball player who was really good. You know, they made a movie out of it. Here, Kathleen Ochshorn delves into Malamud with her lantern of Diogenes in such a thorough and brilliant manner that, after reading it, I found it impossible to believe that Ochshorn was the author. I told my co-workers how I felt it must have been written by someone else. But alas, it appears that she did indeed pen this beautiful tome. I congratulate her here, unshackling myself of the burden of grudges. To you Ms. Ochshorn, I tip my cap. Huzzah!

I happened to be assigned this book for a college lit class, and knew nothing of Malamud at the time. After reading the story for which the book is named, Idiots First, I could not stop reading. His stories are so deeply insightful into the complexities of the human soul, and the painful and paradoxical nature of everyday life. Aside from the philosophical aspects, he writes with the voice of a true New Yorker, and reflects the universal experience of growing up as an immigrant in a big city. Read it! You'll love it!

It is just sad to realize you live in a world full of hate and violence. That's just what this book was all about.

The story takes place in Russia just before WWI. The main character, Yakov Bok, is accused of murdering a young, Russian boy. To make things worse, he's a Jew. Because of this he is looked upon with hate and unjustful eyes from the surrounding Russian community.

This book was very intense and kept me wanting to read (which is very tough for a high school student). I couldn't believe the amount of hatred towards Yakov just because he was Jewish. And to think that that same amount of hatred still exists today.

The Fixer was a well written, well configured book. Personally, this book made me think about how to treat people no matter what they do or how they act, or even for who they are.

I would encourge others to read this book and hopefully finish with the realization that racism and hatred are completely destructive to any civilized society.

"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.

In chains all that was left of freedom was life, just existence; but to exist without choice was the same as death. -Bernard Malamud, The Fixer

In this National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, Bernard Malamud presents a fictionalized account of a notorious anti-Semitic incident, the arrest and eventual trial, following a great outcry in the West, of Mendel Beilis in pre-Revolutionary Kiev. Beilis was accused of murdering a Christian boy, despite evidence pointing toward the boy's own mother. After being held from 1911 to 1913, he was finally brought to trial, where he was exonerated.

In this novel the protagonist is Yakov Bok, a nominally Jewish handyman ("fixer")--nominally because he has abandoned his Jewish beliefs for a Spinoza influenced kind of "free thinking"--leaves his village after being cuckolded by his wife. Eventually ending up in Kiev, he one day comes upon a man collapsed in the street and decides to help him, despite noticing that he is wearing a Black Hundreds pin (symbol of a vicious anti-Semitic organization). The man, who turns out to be a local merchant who was merely drunk, offers Yakov a job managing his brickyard, not realizing that he is Jewish. Yakov accepts, despite much trepidation, goes to work under an assumed name, Yakov Ivanovitch Dologushev, and moves into an apartment in an area forbidden to Jews.

Once on the job he runs afoul of : the merchant's daughter, whose sexual advances he deflects; local boys, who he he chases out of the factory yard; and the employees, who he warns about stealing bricks. These seemingly petty disagreements prove to have disastrous results when a local boy is found murdered, stabbed repeatedly and drained of blood. Yakov, who the authorities have discovered is Jewish, is accused of committing the murder as a form of ritual killing to harvest Christian blood for use in some imagined rites for Passover celebration :

The ritual murder is meant to re-enact the crucifixion of our dear Lord. The murder of Christian children and the distribution of their blood among Jews are a token of their eternal enmity against Christendom, for in murdering the innocent Christian child, they repeat the martyrdom of Christ.

The victim is one of the boys that Yakov had chased, and both daughter and fellow employees are only too willing to give false testimony against him. The initial prosecutor assigned to the case is relatively friendly, and obviously skeptical about this theory of the case, but he does not last long.

His rivals and replacements try with great brutality to wring a confession from Yakov. In part, they are motivated by an understanding that the evidence they have against him is terribly inadequate : they are determined to keep the case from going to trial. Yakov, on the other hand, recognizes that he if he can just get to a courtroom he has a chance to clear himself, and Jews generally, of this blood libel. There follows a harrowing, years-long, battle of wills, in which Yakov takes on truly heroic dimensions : a simple, non-political, nonbeliever, is transformed before our eyes into a powerful symbol of resistance to anti-Semitism, injustice, tyranny and hatred. By the end of the story he resembles nothing so much as one of the Titans--an Atlas holding the weight of the world on his own shoulders; a Prometheus, having his innards picked out by carrion birds every day; or a Sisyphus, futilely pushing a boulder up a hill every day, only to have it roll back down every night. Yakov too seems sentenced by God to bear a punishment for all mankind, and he too bears up under it with superhuman strength and transcendent nobility. Superficially then it seems to resemble an existentialist novel, but Yakov derives his strength, and the story derives its universality and its power, from his determination to prove his innocence, a determination which would not matter to an existentialist.

Through the culture-consuming hegemony of the movies, Malamud is today best remembered for The Natural, but The Fixer is the book upon which his reputation should rest. It is a great novel; one that deserves a place on the shelf with the works of George Orwell, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Arthur Koestler, and the other great novelists of the Twentieth Century whose theme was the struggle of the individual against the machinations of the State and against the soul-destroying ideological pathologies which undergird totalitarian states.

GRADE : A+

Absolutely wonderful-a literary classic. Rich, real characters that come to life on the page. Funny, human, moving. You won't forget this story and you'll be so glad you read it. Mink has told all her friends to read it and most have. Those who refuse have been warned.

As a teacher of literature for 23 years, I have watched students from age 16 to 80 become fully engaged with The Assistant. After they finish, they feel fulfilled, uplifted, enlightened, and even (God forbid!) more knowledgeable. The main characters -- Morris, a modest Jewish grocery store owner in New York, and Frank, a young Italian hoodlum trying to change into a mensch--steal your heart away. Of course, Malamud is never sentimental. He uses your mind to reach into your heart. It's not just Frank who changes for the better in this book; it's all who read it well.

This book was one of the few I have read that seem to just flow. Trying to pay attention never was a problem and the story continued as necessary. The character development was incredible, as this was an emotionally endearing novel. The reader feels the pain of the Bober family and the anguish of Frank Alpine when he is humiliated time after time. I highly recommend it.

Malamud's book is the story of a man who moves across the country to try a new life as a college instructor. As a college instructor myself, the politics he deals with rang true. I was mainly impressed, however, with the thoughts inside this characters head. I often read novels in which I come across something and think "No man I know would ever think this", but I never felt that way here. I didn't like the ending (I thought the character made a bad choice) but Malamud is under no contract to clear his endings with me first. A good solid read.

Malamud has written an entertaining novel about the attempt by the "hero" Levin to begin life anew in Cascadia (Oregon) in the 1950's, an era it is hard to imagine interesting - but it is here! And the end creates its own questions about new beginnings, love, the meaning of life, and all sorts of serious subjects, without ever feeling weighed down by them.

I first read this book in college - I found it in the stacks in our library and chose it as a recreational read. Needless to say, it has become one of the most memorable novels I have ever come across; so much so that I bought the book to read again last month. Malamud's talent lies in his effectual portrayal of true to life characters and situations: S. Levin has a history of making the wrong choices, struggles to do what his conscience tell him is the correct path in life and battles to maintain his personal dignity -- all while living in a new state without emotional support. The administrative tug of war that defines his experience as instructor at a small state college are realistic and well portrayed - but also, they are written with a good deal of wit, making this quite the enjoyable read. I recommend it without any reservation!

While Malamud is without doubt a very skilled writer, I gave up attempting to read this book approximately 1/3 of the way through it. The atmosphere of the book was overwhelmingly dour and depressing: story after story of loneliness, poverty, bleakness, bitterness, struggle, alienation from family. It leaves one ready to jump off a bridge somewhere.

This is the first time I read Malamud based off a recommendation from my well read grandfather. I asked him who are the best modern Jewish fiction writers. Bellows, Roth, and Malamud are definitely the best he noted. I was very impressed by the depth of all of the characters introduced in this novel and I was especially pleased at the constant reappearance of an artist down on his luck but completely in love with making art. And that is exactly what Malamud does - create art.

Many of his characters are the outcast types that feel like outsiders hardly understand them and their passions (we've all felt that way at times haven't we?) Many of the protagonists are writers, artists, store owners, janitors - an ordinary walk of life. I recommend this book despite the incoherency of the last couple short stories - but don't worry the 50something before it are wonderful.

Nobody comes close to Bernard Malamud as master of the short story in the 20th Century. As roll-overs from the 19th Century Thomas Mann and Henry James come pretty close but only pretty close.Its easier to write late Victorian and mal du siecle
stories than the less formalized stories of the common man who
frequents Malamud tales of the grubby depression-shocked heros
of the 30s and 40s.

In my english class I was told I had to read a book of my choice and write a review. So I chose this book just because I am a fan of baseball, and it was short. Let me tell you, I am glad I read this book. I myself hate to read but I couldn't put the book down. The inspirational story of how a baseball player lives out his dreams kept me captivated the whole time.

The story is about a young man, Roy Hobbs, who was on his way to try out for the Chicago Cubs and on the way he met a girl who took him back to her hotel room and shot him. The story resumes years later when Roy begins his brilliant come back and over comes adversity to become one of the best baseball players of all time. He wins the love and respect of the baseball community who at first thought he was to old to play, but once they saw him play the fans fell in love with him. I got so into the story I wanted to get out of my seat and go play. This is a must read whether you are a baseball fan or not, it is a great story and you should not pass it up.

Roy was just a semipro player when a scout found him and begged to help bring him a career in baseball. The story begins during Roy's journey on the train to Chicago in order to get into the game as a pro. It is a dream come true for Roy, who has all faith in himself to become a legend. He has his share of troubles, and at times remains in a state of despair as he journeys to the top. Some, like Harriet Bird and Bump Bailey, wish greatly to bring him down for their own gain. Others, however, want Roy to achieve success as badly as he wants it for himself. Pop Fisher, the manager of the Knights only wants to help Roy succeed. While reading The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, one soon discovers his use of motifs and themes in this great story of baseball. Throughout this novel, Malamud links his story with allusions of past historical events in baseball. Perhaps Roy Hobbs reminds you of Babe Ruth and perhaps you notice the White Sox scandal of 1919 somewhere in the novel. Malamud also makes reference to Roy's bat "Wonderboy" as his lance, linking the story to a time of legends and knights (Knights also being the team Roy plays for).There are elements of comedy like Pop Fisher, the manager, and his odd rash, and elements of tragedy, too. Roy's want for success is paralleled with his desire for food and his overconsumption, and also is linked to his desire for the love of Memo Paris. Malamud also uses the train theme from the beginning as a source of constant motion for Roy's life. Roy encounters many women that he intends to love and their relationships spin out of control like the game of baseball he plays for The Knights. Roy discovers he is not always free like a bird, sometimes even "caged", which is another motif Malamud includes in the novel, showing the nievity and suseptability of people. Roy is a bird of baseball in this incredible novel by Bernard Malamud, which solidifies the game of baseball for your own understanding and enjoyment.

The Natural is a powerful work that contains some of the most vivid imagery I have ever read. It is a story of human struggle and redemption through suffering. Roy Hobbs, the protagonist, is a flawed figure whose shortcomings are only surpassed by his ability to hit a baseball. Malamud manages to weave a tale that makes you want Roy Hobbs to succeed to be "the best player ever to play the game." To its credit the book bears almost no resemblance to the movie of the same name. Roy Hobbs is not Robert Redford! Malamud's use of imagery is well illustrated when a young Roy, on his way to a major league tryout as a pitcher has a showdown at a carnival with the Slammer. Each pitch is described in a way that shows just what a natural Roy is. His first major league at bat is also beautifully described. I must say that this book is not for the squeamish. It is an adult drama, well written and finely crafted. In short this is a book that is about more than baseball yet is baseball in its truest essence.